Friday Faceoff: Which Matters More, Regular-Season Title or Playoff Points?

Chase Elliott leads the NASCAR Cup Series regular season standings but has only six playoff points. Which is more important: accruing playoff points or winning the regular-season championship?

Luken Glover: It’s a position-dependent approach, but if you have a shot to win the regular-season title, not only is it a great accomplishment, it also pays out in playoff points. Chase Elliott might have only six playoff points currently, but what if he were to win the regular-season crown? That total would ascend to 21 playoff points, and that’s assuming he doesn’t win another race or stage, as the regular-season points leader receives 15 playoff points. Now, hypothetically, let’s say he ends the regular season third in points. Assuming he doesn’t add another playoff point, he would enter the playoffs with 14 playoff points since third gets eight points. If a driver has a realistic shot at earning the regular-season crown, that proves more valuable, especially if one picks up for more wins or stage wins along the way.

Andrew Stoddard: Well, by pursuing the regular-season championship, Elliott can essentially kill two birds with one stone. After all, the regular-season championship is worth 15 playoff points, the equivalent of three race wins. Since the regular-season championship was implemented in 2017, three of the six such champions have gone on to win it all: Martin Truex Jr. in 2017, Kyle Busch in 2019 and Kyle Larson in 2021. Elliott will need to start winning races sooner or later to become a championship favorite, but if he keeps running consistently as he has been of late, the wins will come — and a bigger batch of playoff points along with it.

Steve Leffew: The regular-season championship is a great accomplishment. In the ultimate goal of a championship, playoff points are more important. They kick in three times and could carry a driver all the way to Phoenix Raceway.

Would Chase Briscoe succeeding Martin Truex Jr. in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 be the best move for the organization?

James Krause: Yes. No disrespect to some of the other rumored candidates, but Chase Briscoe is by far the safest bet to keep the No. 19 Toyota a consistent frontrunner with 13 top 10s over the last two seasons in subpar Stewart-Haas Racing equipment. What’s even more impressive when you analyze Briscoe’s performances is how clean his rap sheet is. In the 100 races since being parked for spinning Denny Hamlin late at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2021, Briscoe has just 10 DNFs. Six were crashes on superspeedways. Briscoe also has a Cup win already to his name, making him the best candidate — for now — out of all the drivers vying for Truex’s seat.

Austin Bass: Busch would be the best move for the organization. It is a crime that it let him walk when it did. Statistically, he should be in the prime of his career and instead of finding a way to keep one of the GOATs in its equipment, it opted to save money and went the nepotistic route with a rookie, and the former No. 18 team is still searching for its first win since making that decision. Now it has a chance to right its wrongs and bring back its historic driver with its iconic car number. Choosing Briscoe over Busch would be another epic blunder based on finances and sponsorship instead of talent and performance.

Leffew: This would be a great move. Briscoe should be a good cultural fit, probably brings the Mahindra partnership and hasn’t hit his ceiling yet. He hasn’t really had a top-tier team behind him since his final year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series when he won nine races. It might not be the flashiest move, but the guy he’s replacing was never described as flashy either.

Stoddard: Briscoe is the best possible option for JGR on the Silly Season market right now. Briscoe has a race win and a Round of 8 playoff appearance in 2022 to his credit, all with the SHR organization that began its steep decline the moment he arrived in Cup. If the rumors are true, it’s intriguing to see what Briscoe can do with top-shelf equipment. An argument could be made for Corey Heim due to his dominance of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series over the past season-and-a-half (seven wins and 29 top 10s over the past 34 races). That said, Heim could use a full season or two in NASCAR Xfinity Series before making the final leap to Cup.

How important will New Hampshire Motor Speedway be in setting up Cup teams for the season finale at Phoenix Raceway?

Bass: This weekend’s race in the Granite State is too far away from the finale to have much of an impact on it. That said, the Goodyear test at North Wilkesboro Speedway prior to the All-Star Race could be considered the most important track time of the season. With ample time to make wholesale changes, Team Penske and its fellow Fords appear to have found some magic that has carried over into every race since that test. With a 20-minute allotment to practice this weekend, teams will be forced to work with what they’ve got and won’t be able to focus on the bigger picture. That any subsequent tire tests conducted later this year, regardless of track type, will prove to be the most beneficial track time for teams looking to gain an advantage for the championship race.

Glover: Considering the fact that I’m not a driver or crew chief, I can’t give a fully dissected answer. However, based on conversations from drivers and crew chiefs, it doesn’t translate quite as much as it used to. NHMS and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway are the best comparable to Phoenix, but with the Next Gen, it’s hard to get a read. Something to watch will be the tires, as the left side code is the same as the spring Phoenix race while the right sides are different. Phoenix’s frontstretch and lines closer to the wall separate the two, but there are still similarities in the flat track design. So much changes from June to November, however, both weather- and performance-wise. Last year, the Championship 4 all collected stage points at New Hampshire, but only Larson finished in the top five. There are just so many tangibles to factor in that separate the two.

Stoddard: Success at New Hampshire can translate to Phoenix. For example, Christopher Bell is the most recent winner at Phoenix earlier this year and the second-most-recent winner at New Hampshire from 2023. Recently retired Kevin Harvick is well known for his nine wins at Phoenix, but he also took the checkered flag four times at New Hampshire. On the other hand, while both are flat tracks around a mile in length, that is pretty much where the similarities end. Phoenix possesses a little more banking in the corners and a different configuration with the dogleg for drivers to cut through between the start/finish line and turn 1.

Krause: In some senses, sure, it’ll help to find something that works at NHMS for straightaway speed and the sweeping flat turns 1 and 2 at Phoenix. As for results, it’s a mixed bag in New Hampshire performance translating to Phoenix. Brad Keselowski won at New Hampshire in 2020 and finished runner-up in the championship race. Bell claimed the win at New Hampshire in 2022 and made the Championship 4. The eventual champion’s NHMS performances in four years of Phoenix being the title race? Two top 10s (Elliott and Larson) and two finishes outside the top 20 (Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney).

Is Sam Mayer an Xfinity championship contender?

Leffew: Absolutely. In the last 29 NXS races, nobody has won more than Sam Mayer. This season he’s added wins on intermediate and short tracks to his resume. As I wrote in Eyes on Xfinity, he’s been the most boom-or-bust driver all year in any series. He needs to clean up those bust days and salvage something, or he could be at risk for a premature elimination in the Round of 8.

Glover: Right now, absolutely. Mayer is the winningest driver since his breakthrough at Road America last season. He has won on different track types, with his two wins this season coming on an intermediate and short track. Mayer has a relatively newfound confidence in his ability to get the job done in Xfinity, and his clutch performances in the playoffs last season give him the experience to look back on. If he gets hot and limits mistakes, he absolutely could be hoisting the championship trophy.

Krause: Yes. With his win at Iowa Speedway, Mayer has six victories in the last 11 months over road courses, intermediates and short tracks. He’s tied with Austin Hill for most top-five finishes with seven, all coming in the last nine races. He’s going to be a contender to win at probably every track the series runs until Phoenix, so who knows how many more wins he can stack until then? His main competition for a spot in the Championship 4 might be his teammate Justin Allgaier, so an interesting internal battle might be brewing at JR Motorsports.

Bass: A talented driver with a fast car and a chip on his shoulder is a dangerous combination for the Xfinity competition. Mayer recently made it known that he feels slighted by Cup team owners because he’s not been contacted for any of the rides that are available next season. The best way to prove those doubters wrong — real or perceived — is to perform consistently at a high level and remove all hesitation that he is composed and mature enough to make the leap to the top level of the sport. His boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., certainly understands that dynamic and will do everything possible to harness his young driver’s energy and concentrate it into laser focus for a strong playoff run. Mayer will enter the championship race with a shot to win the title.