Questioning the Playoff System

By ZECH YODER

In a span of a week, Joey Logano went from being eliminated from the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs to claiming a spot in the Championship 4. Note that he was not close to elimination or on the brink of elimination. Joey Logano was eliminated from the Cup Series Playoffs after the cut-off race at the Roval in Charlotte. He was beat out by Tyler Reddick, who claimed the eighth and final spot in the knock-out style playoffs by just four points.

It was later revealed that Alex Bowman, who was solidly in the top eight, was disqualified from the Roval race and consequently eliminated from the playoffs because his car was more than 17 pounds underweight. Joey was back in.

In what has come to be classic Joey Logano fashion, he went out and won last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to grab a spot in the Championship 4. But it was not merely that Joey won that has people in an uproar, it was how he won.

In a race dominated by Christopher Bell, Logano gambled on fuel and put just enough distance between him and Bell to steal the win. Despite qualifying in the top five for Las Vegas, Joey hung around the back of the top 10 for most of the race. He made his move in the last 40 laps when, contrary to nearly every car on the racetrack, he stayed out, attempting to stretch his fuel and tires to the end of the race. With plenty of fuel and four fresh tires, Christopher Bell rocketed through the field, looking like he would catch Joey with one or two laps left. Ultimately, Bell came up about a half a lap short and Joey went to victory lap.

A stunned Bell could not believe what had happened. He had been perfect all day. He team made the correct strategy calls. Joey and crew chief Paul Wolfe’s strategy, however, was just a hair better. Don’t forget that this same scenario played out when Logano won at Nashville this summer, stretching his fuel far beyond anyone thought possible.

He snuck into the playoffs. He snuck into the round of eight. And he stole a race to sneak into the Championship 4. Do not for a second count Joey Logano out of this 2024 Championship. Unquestionably, Joey Logano and Team Penske have lacked speed all year. He and his team have simply not had the speed to compete with Hendrick or Gibbs and have not been serious contenders on pure race-pace. All his three points-paying wins this year were strategy wins.

So, if he wins the Championship, is he a deserving champion? Is the current playoff system a legitimate way to crown a champion?

I guess my answer to those questions are yes and no. Logano would certainly be a deserving champion because he will have won according to the established rules. If he prevails at Phoenix, he will deserve a Cup Series Champion. Was he the best car (or even top five) all season? No, certainly not, but rarely does the fastest car win, especially in the Chase/Playoff era.

The second question: is the current playoff system legitimate? That’s not easy to say. It is hard to argue that there is not some arbitrariness to deciding the champion. Theoretically, a driver could win nine playoff races and lose the championship. As unlikely as that would be, if such circumstances became a reality, NASCAR would surely change the championship format. In fact, that very thing happened when Matt Kenseth won the 2003 Championship after winning only one race. NASCAR, rightly, concluded that more emphasis must be placed on wins.

Now it seems that the championship format has swung in the opposite direction. Too much emphasis is placed on wins. Logano surely will remember that from the summer Richmond race when he got bulldozed out of the lead by Austin Dillion.

If NASCAR is going to keep a playoff system, it must work to eliminate some of the randomness associated with crowning a champion. There were a lot of great championship battles in the mid-2000s. The problem was Jimmie Johnson won all of them. Perhaps it’s time give some thought to reimplementing a mid-2000s style points system. It does not have to look exactly the same, but the current knock-out style playoff system may have run its course.

Zech Yoder is a local resident, an attorney at Adler Attorneys in Noblesville, and a lifelong race fan.