NASCAR on TV this week

Up to Speed: ‘Win and You’re In’ Exposes Playoff Illegitimacy

For the second time in three NASCAR Cup Series Races, a driver below 30th in the points standings emerged as the winner.

A few weeks ago at Richmond Raceway, Austin Dillon scored his fifth career win after dumping Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap. Then, at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night (Aug. 24), it was Harrison Burton who shocked the NASCAR world. Burton captured his first victory by slipping past Kyle Busch on the last lap, then holding on in a frantic dash back to the finish line.

It was an enormous triumph for Burton, who got to celebrate with his family and earn the Wood Brothers’ 100th win before he departs the team at the end of the season.

Additionally, Burton is locked into the playoffs.

Yes, you read that correctly. NASCAR ditched the rule where a winner had to be in the top 30 in points to be playoff eligible. Burton entered Daytona 34th in overall points, dead last among all full-time Cup Series drivers this season. Even after the victory, he is still 34th in points. Burton’s only other top-10 result so far this season is a 10th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway.

See also
The Big 6: Questions Answered After the Wood Brothers Make It 100 at Daytona

Until Saturday, he and the No. 21 team had not even shown flashes of competitiveness on any type of track. However, NASCAR’s rules for postseason qualification give priority to race winners, no matter where they are in the points standings. So, with one race left in the regular season and only 13 eligible winners, Burton is guaranteed a spot in the 16-driver playoffs.

Rules like the “win and you’re in” provision make it impossible to take NASCAR’s playoffs seriously. The championship format should always be, first and foremost, an agreed upon set of rules for fairly determining who the best driver is each year. How to define “best driver” is always going to be up for interpretation, but the stakeholders should agree that the champion is someone who exhibits excellence over the course of the whole season and demonstrates a high level of performance.

Even with the current postseason system, you should expect that the drivers and teams who qualify are the ones who have shown the most potential to compete for the championship. Given the lack of success he has had in 2024, Burton’s inclusion in the playoffs calls these principles into question.

To be clear, I am not under the impression that everyone who qualifies for the postseason is going to make a serious run at the championship. That ship sailed 10 years ago when NASCAR expanded the playoffs to 16 drivers, which was entirely too many in 2014 and is still too many now that the field has shrunk.

But why is it that Burton, who won a single race in an otherwise awful season, is more playoff worthy than winless drivers like Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace or Ross Chastain? Burton’s win means that two of those three will probably get left out of the postseason, even though Buescher, Wallace and Chastain are 11th, 13th and 14th in overall points respectively. In this case, points position is clearly a better indicator than wins regarding who has had the better season.

The fact that Burton will get in the playoffs at the expense of one of the other three is completely ridiculous.

Some fans might argue that it doesn’t matter who gets the last few playoff spots because those drivers were not going to challenge for a championship either way. Indeed, Burton, Buescher, Wallace and Chastain would all be longshots for the title at this point.

However, not everyone who is a longshot is equally competitive. Going into Daytona, Burton was 340 points below the playoff cut line. To put that number in perspective, he could have earned the maximum 60 points in five straight races and still would not have made up his deficit to the cut line, even if the bubble driver did not earn a single point. Drivers like Buescher, Wallace, and Chastain could at least challenge for a spot in the Round of 12, or even the Round of 8 if they catch a few breaks. Burton will almost certainly get knocked out in the first round.

Still, others might insist that Burton racing in the playoffs is good for the sport because it is an unexpected underdog story that gets people invested, or that fans should not complain because other sports have upsets all the time. Those arguments quickly fall apart when you remember that auto racing is not like other sports and should not try to emulate them.

Playoffs are more appropriate in football, for instance, because teams do not get a chance to play every other team each year. The same holds true for the annual March Madness tournament in college basketball. You cannot be sure who the best teams are each season with so many different schedules, so it makes sense to have a season-ending tournament to match the best teams against each other. In NASCAR, everybody races each other each week, so you have more assurance that the points standings are an accurate reflection of who the best drivers are each year.

Furthermore, upset victories like Burton’s are still great stories without a playoff format. Burton deserves a lot of credit for driving a masterful race and making the right moves when given a shot at the win. Yes, a lot of other drivers crashed out of the event, but races of attrition at Daytona are nothing new. Burton did what he was supposed to do, scored a milestone win for a legendary team and proved that he can win at NASCAR’s highest level. Hopefully, the victory will help him land a new ride for 2025.

It is not hypocritical to celebrate Burton’s achievement and still argue that he should not be in the playoffs.

See also
Thinkin’ Out Loud at Daytona: A Superspeedway Cinderella & the Beauty of Win-and-You’re-In

Before the 2025 season begins, NASCAR needs to rethink the “win and you’re in” rule. It should be noted that Dillon was also set to be in the postseason until NASCAR revoked his eligibility from the win for his last lap antics at Richmond. It is completely ridiculous to think that two drivers outside the top 25 in points could have playoff priority over several in or near the top 10.

The sanctioning body must either reinstitute a rule that playoff drivers must be above a certain position in overall points, or restructure the eligibility rules so that drivers in the top 10 in points get priority for the playoffs again. Anything else would continue to cast doubts on the legitimacy of the championship system.

Alternatively, NASCAR could abandon the playoffs completely and simply award more points for wins. But without the sport’s leadership having a major change of heart, that ship has likely sailed too.     

Bryan began writing for Frontstretch in 2016. He has penned Up to Speed for the past eight years. A lifelong student of auto racing, Bryan is a published author and automotive historian. He is a native of Columbus, Ohio and currently resides in Southern Kentucky.


14 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
kb

The “achievement” is an interesting way to phrase things. I would say a whole lotta luck is more like it. A competitive win, no freaking way. He will never win a CUP race on merit, not gonna happen.

As for the attention “journalists” are going to give this “win”, it is nothing more than hyping something that isn’t so, and they will milk this “achievement” to death. The Wood Brothers lucky win or not.

What an embarrassment. Are we going to hear about this the way we STILL hear about Trevor Payne with the 500, with the push me pull you bumper glue “Cinderella” win? And, old Trev has milked it for all it is worth…

How embarrassing….

Bill B

Every aspect of NASCAR has been crapshootivized, why should the championship be different.

Last edited 5 months ago by Bill B
RCFX1

If you’re going to keep the chase, make it the top 10/12 in points. That amount of consistency, even without a win, makes you deserving of being in the chase. Also, stop with the yellow flags at the end of the stages. Award the points but there’s no reason to stop.

Kevin in SoCal

Top 12 seems best to me as well. Since we usually have 10-15 winners each year, it would make making the playoffs more of a challenge and more special, rather than any driver getting lucky.
I also wish they would not count yellow flag laps after stages. We lose enough laps as it is to regular yellows.
I’m ok with the stages as it gets drivers to race and strategize the whole race, not just ride the first 3/4 and then race at the end.

Jeff H

I’ve been a Nascar fan since working a Daytona while in college back in the 80’s. This playoff concept has always been dumb and should go away. No other sport would give the last place team a wildcard chance to enter the playoffs. It’s just like if MLB gave the White Sox a wildcard slot.

Just go back to points for the season like every other auto series.

Kevin in SoCal

Uh huh, because watching a driver run away with the points every year is more exciting. And I was even a Matt Kenseth fan.
Without the playoffs, there would only be 3 or 4 drivers with a shot to win the championship already. Now we have at least 8, and 4-5 other long shots.

Tony

I remember when it used to be about the racing first and then the points, and nobody even really cared about points until there were a few races left. It was your guy versus my guy, and that other guy who may not be high up in the points but is always a threat at [insert track]. NASCAR pushed “playoffs” and “titles” because they wanted to be like other sports. Forgetting in the process that many people came to them because they weren’t like other sports.

CD

Let’s not talk about how legitimate or illegitimate the win was. The Chase has got to go. Award 25 bonus points for winning, 10 points for second, 5 points for third, 2 points for leading a lap and 10 points for leading the most, and 5 points for the pole sitter. This will take away the “one-off” winners that struggle the other 35 races, it will also not screw the guys that consistently qualify and race well. I would also like to see the “hard chargers” that come from the back get a point or 2. Oh and Dillon, should have been suspended for a race just like Chase was.

JL

NASCAR oughta just give more weight, in points, for a win.

Tack on an extra 25 or so.

And if there’s a caution five laps or less before the scheduled end, finish the race under caution.

This overtime crap has gotta stop.

Echo

As long as the networks pay Nascar the ridiculous amount they just did, it’s only going to get goofier. Like our friend on here tells us all every week, Nascar is about more money for the family, that’s it, period. Nothing else counts. And we are already seeing Ben’s goofy changes. He’s like Brian totally.

DoninAjax

Gee, give more POINTS to the winner? Go back to the Latford system and just give the winner 250 POINTS and second 170. Problem solved.

Kicks

I thought going below the double yellow was out of bounds. I guess it doesn’t count if you are throwing a block on the 2nd place car.

Pete

I think the best way to race for the championship is to have the 4 top in points race the final race for the championship. They are the best of the season and deserve the spotlight

DoninAjax

If there was no “playoff” there would not be this discussion and the changing of the “rules” every year.