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A hot topic of late has been the former top 30 rule in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the rule limited who’s “win and in” is Playoff eligible based on regular season ranking. This conversation devolved from the rule’s absence to fans and drivers talking about the Playoffs as a whole. Of course, Denny Hamlin has an opinion on the matter.
During NASCAR Playoff Media Day Wednesday, Danielle Trotta and Larry McReynolds of SiriusXM NASCAR’s On Track asked Hamlin his opinions on the current Playoff system.
The conversation moved from top 30 rule talk, into talk of the system as a whole, with Hamlin advocating for the old “Chase for the Cup” as the best system, with the veteran driver saying:
“But certainly, I believe the best format we had is when we had the ten races… in the final ten. And you took the points of those final ten, and you crowned a champion. Because there’s a big enough sample size there to really know that… that champion was well-deserved from that year.” –Denny Hamlin on SiriusXM’s On Track
Hamlin’s point came from a discussion of whether the playoff is too overpopulated with drivers. The system he was referring to is the old Chase for the Cup, NASCAR’s original Playoff, which Hamlin participated in in 2006.
But what else is different about this system from what we have today?
What came to life from multiple seasons in which the championship was either too close to call or decided five races before the finale, the Chase for the Cup was first implemented in 2004.
The system, similar to the current one, began with ten races left in the season. The top-ten drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series standings were statistically grouped away from the rest of the standings.
NASCAR then boosted the first-place driver’s point total to 5,050 points, with the rest of the ten dropping in increments of five. After ten races, the best driver won the championship.
There were no win-and-ins, no playoff points, no eliminations, just racing. Though this system changed in 2007, its simplicity is still a hit with fans and drivers alike.
This season, almost two drivers outside the top 30 of the regular season standings made it into the Playoffs. Austin Dillon had his automatic bid revoked. Harrison Burton, however, will face the Playoff mountain on Sunday in Atlanta.
NASCAR revoked the rule to expand the playoffs with more underdogs. Something Hamlin complained in the same SiriusXM interview had gone on for far too long. NASCAR began with ten drivers and progressed to the now 16-driver format.
Whether they want to or not, other drivers have spoken on the current format multiple times. This week, Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports even asked drivers to anonymously review the current Playoff Format at NASCAR Playoff Media Day to some comedic results.
Many parties have been critical of every version of the Playoffs. This recent boiling tension has failed to see NASCAR change the system. However, in the future, a major change could happen, something NASCAR did in 2007, 2011, 2014, and 2017.
For now, NASCAR is keeping with its current system and continues to back its validity by revoking playoff win eligibility from Hamlin and Dillon this season due to penalties. NASCAR continues to show it believes in its system, which hasn’t seen a major overhaul since 2017.
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