Things took an unpleasant turn on Tuesday (July 22) in the NASCAR social media world.
Discussion regarding the current playoff format that does not exactly have overwhelming support from fans or competitors, was a topic of discussion on SiriusXM NASCAR On-Track with Danielle Trotta and Larry McReynolds.
While there was some initial confusion of an unnamed driver who was not a fan of the current format, be it Mark Martin or Denny Hamlin (referenced as “a driver who has never won a championship”), a follow up message from host Danielle Trotta was not well-received by the NASCAR community.
If there’s one thing NASCAR desperately needs direction on, it is messaging.
Calling out a universally respected and loved hero of the 1990s and 2000s with a tone containing a level of condescension and gaslighting usually reserved for catty reality TV tripe, stating that the current playoff/one-race championship is the BEST format we’ve EVER had is beyond the pale, even for a channel that later in the afternoon is astonishingly critical of and crass to callers.
There should have been some self-awareness that you are attempting to inarticulately bullshit one of the most popular competitors in the history of the sport, who was in FIVE season-long cumulative championship battles in NASCAR history that went down to the closing laps of the final event.
Comparing that to whatever this current playoff system is – one where crashing out of a dozen races is irrelevant if you happen to squeak out a drafting track win or miss the first half of the season with an injury – isn’t just disrespectful to Martin, it’s insulting to the fans who believe it’s illegitimate in comparison.
Also, it’s clearly NOT everyone’s favorite or better based on:
- Polls
- Ratings
- Attendance
- Merchandising
I also kept seeing from a number of NASCAR spokesfolk the last couple of days that “we can never go back to the way it was!”
Why?
No one can articulate why the current system, that clearly isn’t too popular is the “best” thing ever or why we can’t get things back to the way they used to be.
We HAD the formula and changed it. Even Coca-Cola in the mid-1980s realized they made a mistake and course- corrected within a couple of months, reverting back to the original formula.
Dodge – who since 2013 from all indications was done with anything other than drag racing and resurrecting images of their 1960s and 70s muscle car icons – admitted publicly they made a mistake doing away with the Hemi V8 and exiting NASCAR.
How did the public respond?
In the first 24 hours that order banks were open in early July, Stellantis received more than 10,000 orders for Hemi-powered RAM 1500s.
The biggest stories in music this year have been the farewell performances for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, and the once never-thought-possible Oasis reunion.
In the US, Creed continues to sell out amphitheaters and arenas, and they haven’t had a relevant new song released in over 20 years.
If you haven’t noticed the pattern yet, it’s pretty simple: people like what they like, and like what works.
Here’s the unpleasant truth regarding the playoffs and why the industry likes playoffs and championships. One, the networks mandate it, regardless of what over half of the fanbase wants.
Beyond the never-ending quest to appeal to the casual fan who couldn’t care less once football starts, it makes it easy to frame storylines and generate content around the playoff eliminations, the final four in the championship race and to create simplified wagering odds for online gambling.
If the racing isn’t interesting – which with the current car is a crapshoot other than a few intermediates – they can just focus on the playoff standings.
It is no secret that fans – particularly legacy fans (the ones you can count on to keep the ship afloat during rocky periods – i.e., 2008) – are not fond of the current points format.
And for good reason. Championships have been diminished to the point where NASCAR media spends the majority of their bandwidth talking it up to generate interest, rather than individual race results and incidents (fistfights not withstanding). It’s a glaring issue that’s been a subject of ridicule the last few seasons in particular.
In 2024, Harrison Burton who was 34th in points entering the August race at Daytona International Speedway, became playoff-eligible after surviving multiple field thinner crashes to win one race before the season finale.
Read that again. 34th in points going into the 26th cut off race = championship eligible.
Not exactly the 1992 Atlanta Hooters 500, is it?
Eventual 2024 Cup Series champion Joey Logano entered the playoffs with an average finish of 18th. That’s more than twice what the typical average finish was of champions under the season long format that anyone – particularly first ballot Hall of Fame drivers who are still with us and actively engaged with fans – are chastised for suggesting we return to.
Keep in mind, Martin was part of that six-way title fight in 1992’s finale, just two years removed from one of the most legendary battles in motorsports history with Dale Earnhardt for half the season, with a 46-point penalty a constant obstacle for Martin and his team to surmount.
Follow that up with a three-way battle in 1997 with Jeff Gordon and Dale Jarrett, and in 2002 versus Tony Stewart under the old, antiquated, couldn’t-possibly-be-better-than-what-we-have-now system.
And someone is going to tell him, with a straight face, that this is the BEST format we’ve ever had? That’s not having an opinion – that is working a narrative.
There is nothing pointing to this being a superior system, unless you wait until NASCAR arbitrarily resets the points with 10 races to go, where then 16 (!!!) drivers are now considered potential champions.
Wednesday (July 23) morning, Ryan Blaney was on SiriusXM NASCAR defending the current format he won his title under.
“With the full-season format, you can have someone who wins eight races but doesn’t win the championship,” Blaney said.
Blaney, in his 2023 championship season, had all of eight top-five finishes.
In 1999, Martin had more than twice that number of top fives – racing with a broken knee, wrist and a degenerative back injury that required him to be shoveled into the seat by his team – and was third in points.
In 1998, he had almost three times that number of top fives – with two less starts – and was second in points at the end of the year.
Consistency and excellence for nine months should matter.
In 1985, Bill Elliott won 11 out of 28 races and didn’t win the championship due to DNFs and poor performances on short tracks compared to Darrell Waltrip, who had an average finishing position of 7.3 to Elliott’s 8.7.
As the kids today like to say, “There’s levels to this.”
To further illustrate the fallacy of resetting the points and letting anyone in with a pulse and a win, the current standings have the top four separated by less than 40 points:
Chase Elliott: 702
William Byron: – 16
Kyle Larson: – 38
Denny Hamlin: -39
And Hamlin sat out a race for the birth of his first son. This would make for a pretty fun story on par with Ty Dillon and Ty Gibbs racing for $1 million for their respective team owners, eh?
While I understand the point of the SiriusXM NASCAR channel is to promote NASCAR and the product, there needs to be some humility and honesty with both the audience and those who are legitimately trying to make it better. That time that it once was that we’re constantly told doesn’t exist anymore, doesn’t exist because those making decisions have accepted it, and continue to do things to prevent it from happening, and then get mad if you notice.
There are things NASCAR does right and has improved over the last decade. But ever since 2007, we’ve been stuck in this circuitous one-step-forward, two-steps-back cycle that prevents things from taking off like they did in the 1990s.
I believe it can grow again and reach a new level of popularity from where we are, particularly with some of the personalities we have as drivers today, and willingness to rotate and explore new venues — and return to old ones.
But for Pete’s sake – don’t push things that are immediately disprovable and don’t tell the legends of the sport who made NASCAR a household name that they don’t know what they’re talking about.
On Wednesday, Trotta issued a follow-up on X, explaining that there wasn’t anything negative implied towards Martin from the blowup on Tuesday, and that the two had since spoken and they both respect each other’s opinion. – Vito Pugliese
Vito is one of the longest-tenured writers at Frontstretch, joining the staff in 2007. He’s been a contributor to several other outlets, including Athlon Sports and Popular Speed in addition to making radio appearances and podcast appearnces here on Stock Car Scoop and Happy Hour. He forever has a soft-spot in his heart for old Mopars, late model Fords, and is generally a warehouse of useless automotive information.
Couldn’t agree more, as a legacy fan you speak of my interest has diminished the past few seasons for all of the reasons mentioned TV broadcasting has taken control
Yes, agree too, a legacy fan here as well.
Remember it was a doped up Brian who thought this whole mess up, what a “Legacy” he gave us…ugh!
They invented the stupid stage breaks just to make them race for crying out loud, gave us a car that stinks, totally took away any ingenuity and race in the middle of a smaller oval and call it good. Brilliant!
Trotta is a vapid talking head. McReynolds should stick to mechanical analysis. All he ever did in the booth was squeal “Hiiiindrick cars” like a schoolgirl, when not just blindly promoting whatever was the NASCAR decision of the month (taking away the Southern 500, adding “playoffs,” whatever). Mark Martin is a real-life superhero to legions of race fans. Sh*tting on him is a good way to alienate viewers or listeners.
“Ah troooly buhleeve…” – Larry Mac
“Track temp-a-ture!”
“Jamie MacMary!”
I actually like Larry Mac, but yeah, he’ll never be confused with Patrick Stewart.
Gotta have playoffs. NASCAR also got rid of confederate flags, should those be allowed back into the sport? Hell no, out with the old, in with the new. Get over it, playoffs are here to stay :)
Just run Daytona and call them the champion. From a car that doesn’t resemble anything you can buy off the lot (they don’t even make a Camaro anymore) to a race format that you have to take breaks ever so many laps, to road courses that nobody wants, NASCAR has really done Bill France DIRTY!!!!
Mark is right. FYI the main reason I ditched my XM Sirius radio subscription was because they stopped covering NASCAR and the personalities were just management stooges who told the fans we were stupid if we didn’t like the changes
People got tired of that and gee stopped going to races.
In spite of the fact that Jimmie johnson won 7 ‘championships’, I don’t think he ever has had the same regard (in spite of his talent) that Petty and Earnhardt have for winning 7 titles. They had to survive an entire season to take the championship, not a concocted formula to put some players in a ‘pool’ and pretend it mattered after basically erasing the first 26 races of the season. No slur on JJ…he played by the rules as they were. But, it just doesn’t match up somehow with a full season title.
Great article. Most of those NASCAR shills are paid actors, just like the majority of our politicians
This is why SXM Nascar channel has went to my number 1 preset, to not a preset at all. I mentioned Kool-aid to the very moody Dave Moody, blocked on X. Kelly Crandal also received a Kool-aid reference from me and boom blocked on X. When they say lets debate this, what they mean is, Lets debate this but don’t you dare have an opinion other than ours and Nascar.
Trotta is simply a CRAPCAR stooge…..doesn’t have a clue and whatever CRAPCAR wants she gives them. Typical MSM who only see one side and run with it. A real reporter she is not……
NASCAR has effectively silenced any media that contradicts their myopic view of the sport.
The mainstream media reports what NASCAR tells them to report. Look at the article links on Jayski. All of the articles are the same, just recycled by different writers and their media outlets. It’s always the same, no matter the source.
NASCAR and their so-called media experts blame the fans when their gimmicks and BS fail to produce decent racing.
It is what it is. Nothing will change.
If you’ve been a longtime fan, you’ve already witnessed the best NASCAR has to offer. Those days are gone and will never return.
The NextGen car. Lol. Evidently, the tracks have become obsolete.
NASCAR and their media will continue to sell the same tired excuses for a half-ass product. They’ll continue to tell the same tired stories by the same tired writers. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Just remember, it’s my fault that NASCAR sucks.