Ross Chastain ended his winless 2024 season with a melon-smashing performance at Kansas Speedway last weekend. This Sunday (Oct. 6), the Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway – a track synonymous with unexpected winners, where every car — as long as it’s right side up and has all four tires intact — is still a threat to win. Given the importance placed on the championship, are non-playoff drivers upsetting the intention of this format and diminishing it? This week, Joy Tomlinson and Vito Pugliese break it down in tandem in 2-Headed Monster.
Every Race Matters
Every race matters, even if a driver isn’t in the playoffs. When Chastain won, he broke a lengthy winless streak to claim the victory and play spoiler. If Kyle Busch had won, it would’ve also been meaningful for him, as he would’ve continued his streak of at least one win a year to a record 20 seasons.
These moments of celebration don’t change just because they aren’t competing for the championship. I mean, sure, it would be nice if they did win before the playoffs, so they could have a shot at the title, but a win is still a win.
Why would it disrupt the postseason if a non-playoff contender won? Some may think it takes away a chance for the playoff drivers to lock themselves into the next round. However, if drivers wouldn’t always go for points, they could better plan to go for the win. Yes, points are important, as only three drivers can win in a round, and in this round that would mean five spots available for points besides the three guaranteed winners. But the only way to make sure one is in is by winning.
Denny Hamlin recently said on his Actions Detrimental podcast that “teams become more conservative in the playoffs.”
He also said that non-playoff drivers “don’t care about the stage points. You’re going to see us [playoff drivers] at the (Charlotte Motor Speedway) ROVAL and all these racetracks selling out for stage points. What happens is all the cars that flip [the stage], they’re just going to end up front, they’re going to be the ones that are racing for the win, not the playoff cars.”
If even Hamlin, a driver who’s been in the playoffs for much of his Cup career, says that playoff teams become more conservative in the postseason, then it doesn’t make much sense to think a non-playoff competitor would throw the playoffs in disarray if they win.
Look at what happened a couple years ago. Erik Jones, Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace all won a race in the first round of the playoffs in 2022. None of them were in the playoffs. Tyler Reddick won the first race in the Round of 12 that same year, but he’d been eliminated from the playoffs the week prior. But their wins (especially those in the Round of 16) were perhaps a bit more meaningful and memorable. I couldn’t tell you who won the races after that (except the championship race), but I remember the first round because of how significant it was.
Last season, the championship race at Phoenix Raceway was even won by a non-playoff driver — Chastain. Did he disrupt things by holding the lead over those vying for the championship? I would say no. Those four all competed amongst themselves.
So why don’t we talk more about the non-playoff drivers after they win, or even highlight them on the screen if they’re leading? I can recall NBC Sports showing Busch and Chastain when they were battling for the lead because of their winless seasons to that point. If it’s someone like Michael McDowell or Zane Smith, they might not have showed them in the lead.
I understand the title battle is very important. But so are all the other drivers’ runs in the race. Our sport is unlike many others’ postseasons, as there’s sometimes a full field of 40 cars on the track, and less than half of them are playoff drivers at most. In the NFL and MLB, only two teams play in a game. The NASCAR cars also have sponsors, and attention or just displaying them on the screen is important for the organizations. And winning the race is special for those sponsors as well, as they get to see their logo in victory lane.
Let’s not think that these wins don’t matter. Any victory matters to everyone involved on the team, whether they’re in the playoffs or not. – Joy Tomlinson
Championship Obsession is Taking a Beating
Some of the best racing the last few weeks has been between drivers who weren’t in the playoffs.
While Chastain cruised to his first win of the season, he was squaring off against Kyle Busch and swapping the lead with 50 laps to go. Busch ended up losing it due to air disturbance off the about-to-be-lapped car of Chase Briscoe, and it was the defining moment of the race. The regular-season finale, coincidentally, saw one of the greatest duels in recent memory between Briscoe and Busch in the Southern 500.
Does this departure from the playoff narrative have a bit of a negative impact?
Absolutely it does. But not in the manner you may be expecting.
Since the advent of the current championship format, NASCAR has built the entire season around one thing: The Playoffs.
Win and you’re IN. Drivers doing what they HAVE to do. Perpetual points updates – even in March!
The first 26 races are treated as the regular season, and each race really is treated equally. A win should get a driver into the playoffs, but in the case that it doesn’t, points still play a critical role in determining who is in and who is out. It’s the first thing you hear tuning in, throughout the event and afterwards. So much so that the history and legacy of many races get lost in the handwringing and pearl-clutching over the points situation at any given point during the broadcast.
There are a lot of stories that get lost in the shuffle of playoff prognostication, as NASCAR has taken the stance that the playoffs and points need to be the focal point of any discussion or anytime the cars hit the track.
Does that make for a better product? It’s pretty clear that it doesn’t. But that’s not what is being sold the first nine months of the year.
Let’s take the NFL, for example (since that is basically what NASCAR is up against ratings-wise and the push for the current format). The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t just another team; they are who the NFL has decided to market their entire season around. They’ve been in the AFC Championship game every year since 2018, and have won three Super Bowls since 2019. Good luck going through a commercial break and not seeing Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid or Travis Kelce in an ad.
My team, the Detroit Lions, made it to the NFC Championship game last year. They’re in just as many prime-time games as Kansas City, and have become must-see TV the last two years. You won’t see Jared Goff or Jameson Williams in any commercials – though you may catch half of Dan Campbell’s face in an Applebee’s ad.
Unless you live in Missouri or Kansas (guess they ran out of names over there), you’re probably tiring of seeing red and yellow, but it’s what the NFL had decided needs to be the narrative driver.
Personally, I think it’s great that non-playoff drivers are winning. Even before the advent of the Chase and the playoffs, late season racing and winning made for some of the best stories in the sport. Harry Gant’s four in a row at 51 years old in 1991. Ward Burton breaking through for his first win in 1995. Bobby Hamilton dueling with Dale Earnhardt for the win at Rockingham – then winning the following late in the season at Phoenix in 1996. Johnny Benson finally winning his first and only Cup Series race at Rockingham in the fall of 2002.
Sure, there was a championship happening, but it was woven in with the event. It wasn’t the overarching, dominant theme at every juncture.
NASCAR and the networks have decided to make it so – and when playoff drivers aren’t living up to the top billing, it does kind of diminish the gravity and importance of the all-important championship. Given what NASCAR is dealing with now following the lawsuit brought by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, I’m sure they’d like nothing more than for their championship pursuit to carry the sport and headlines – but with Talladega coming up this week, it’s the perfect storm for a non-playoff driver to disrupt the expectation of championship prestige and dominance again. – Vito Pugliese
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
Vito is one of the longest-tenured writers at Frontstretch, joining the staff in 2007. With his column Voice of Vito (monthly, Fridays) he’s a contributor to several other outlets, including Athlon Sports and Popular Speed in addition to making radio appearances. He forever has a soft-spot in his heart for old Mopars and presumably oil-soaked cardboard in his garage.
Very simple solution. At the first round of the playoffs only the playoff cars can race. All others will run a consolation race held before the playoff race. Repeat at each cutoff. In addition as a car is lapped on track by the leader under green, when the leader completes that lap the lapped car must pull off, he or she is done. Of course none of this would be necessary if the drivers weren’t whining crying little titty babies and were real racers. I don’t feel you can be a champion if you are unable to race and deal with other cars, but I am obviously in an extreme minority.
This is why the whole “playoff” thing is stupid when it comes to racing. What are you going to do? Park all the non-playoff cars and only have 4 cars on the track for the final race? Order all non-playoff cars governed at 5mph slower than the playoff drivers and ordered to ride around the top groove of the track in a parade while the “playoff” drivers race?
It’s all contrived and dumb. Just go back to points for the whole year, or if wins are the only thing that’s important scrap the points and whoever has the most wins after the last race is crowned champion.
Every driver is going for wins, and/or the best position they can. The TV broadcast has always focused on the ones leading the race and leading the championship.
A driver should get the highest finish his car is capable of. If a driver has a third place car and will finish there but tries for second and crashes the car, he didn’t do his job. To paraphrase a movie icon, a driver should know his car’s limitations.
I think this article is missing the point that most fans I talk to do not like the playoffs