Polarizing as he is he's one of the best ever and definitely the best current driver. 22 just gets it done

So how would you change the Cup championship/format?

Best of both worlds. Have playoffs but fewer rounds and then cut down to 5 or 6 finalists with a 4 race aggregate be the "finals" that consists of a road course, super speedway, short track and intermediate.

Make stage racing less structured. Each race can have stages but the stage end is a window (e.g. stage one ends between 60-70 laps and the end of the stage will be announced with 3 laps to go. Make winning some number of stages the same as a race win for playoffs. I don't know what number. 5? 6? 8? Make that stage have real meaning.

No more GWC. It's green and a random number of laps, between 2 and 5 to the checker. It's reset each attempt and stated as the pace car comes off to take the green flag. Eliminate gaming for fuel mileage.

Use radically different tire compounds at each race, or at least where possible and make teams change at least once. Something that is super soft and something that has no grip but lasts forever. Use a tire option that makes you a rocket for 5 laps and then it basically turns to stone. Something that could make a car so grippy that you can make up the lost track position from pitting late.

Winning multiple races gives you a bye into round 2.

Stop this BS of towing a car back to the pits to get fixed and race again. If you have to get towed your day should be over.

The towing thing is because of the new car and not being able to roll if multiple tires are down?

Instead of GWC maybe a time deal, like 5 minutes of racing and when the clock is out the next time they cross the line it's white flag.

Do something to change the last race. It's basically 4 guys and a bunch of other cars tiptoeing around a track trying not to get in the way. If the only 4 cars on the track are the ones that matter, get everyone else off.

Didn't a non-Championship 4 driver win the finale last year?

I think it's hilarious how this sport has such big "controversies" regarding the formats and the rules, and in my estimation after about 20 years of watching it, that in almost all cases it really boil down to the fact that all those complainers just wanted the winner to be different.

My feed on X is filled with people tying themselves in knots to make this result "Matt kenseth in 2003"

Man.

RCR finished 20th and 33rd in owner points for the year. That organization has really fallen off the map. Richard Childress should probably clean house. Problem is most of the people he needs to let go family.

I think it's a good discussion point for the offseason. Clearly, Logano was not the best driver this year - it was Larson or Bell and maybe a case for Byron - he just took advantage of the system.

2024 NASCAR Cup Series season breakdown pic.twitter.com/q7sCOsJpan

— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) November 11, 2024

If it was up to me, before I'd mess with the stages, I'd de-emphasize wins once it's down to 8. I think we need a better balance of wins versus consistent finishes. Pretty much everyone will have a win once it's down to 8, so I don't think a win is an auto advance. I don't think 1 win with 4 mediocre race finishes at 20-25 is better compared to say a top 5 finish with 3 top 10 finishes and a top 15.

Round 1 (Round of 16) - 4 races, like before winner advances and the remain slots filled by points, points reset after round
Round 2 (Round of 8) - 3 races of point accumulation only, Top 6 advance, no points reset after round 2
Round 3 (Round of 6) - 2 races of points accumulation only, Top 4 advance
Championship round - like before

Using the old full season points system:

Christopher Bell overtakes Chase Elliott in the last race of the season to win his first #NASCAR Winston Cup Championship by 5 points! pic.twitter.com/mvYpSLVXoS

— NASCAR Winston Cup Series Standings (@NWCS_Standings) November 11, 2024

Logano did end up with the second most wins this season though. He wasn't great in terms of average finish, but thats what the format gives absolutely nothing about anymore.

He's also the one driver (most championship 4 appearances, most wins in the championship race, best percentage with multiple appearances, etc) who's got a case that his team is just good at the format.

The format is just very strange, doesn't mean its not valid. Its just funny that if like Chase Elliott had won (in the same circumstances) very few would complain.

Chase Elliott almost had the Matt Kenseth season this year.

To be clear, I have no issue with Logano winning the championship. He won based on the rules that everyone else had to win by.

I'm not a huge fan of the one race for the championship with the final four, but I don't know of a good system to replace it. Maybe a three race round with the final four instead of one race.

That said, Penske absolutely knows how to find speed for the round of 8 and the championship race every year. It's pretty dang impressive.

Lots of talk of change. Hamlin and Harvick discussing this week on their podcasts. More discussion on SiriusXM NASCAR radio.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/11/12/nascar-reviewing-playoff-format

Quote:

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While the format has always had its share of critics among NASCAR's hardcore fanbase, dissension appears to have reached a fever pitch this year after Logano broke the record for having the lowest average finishing position for a champion in NASCAR history at 17.1, according to media reports. That unleashed a torrent of commentary on the topic on social media.

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Quote:

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Now, two people familiar with the matter confirmed to SBJ that NASCAR planned to review the format this offseason, with one saying any changes for 2025 would be more likely to be small tweaks given that the season is only a few months away. Any change would have an impact on not only teams but also broadcasters, tracks and sponsors. A more complete overhaul would thus likely need to wait until 2026 if one is warranted, the person said. The second person cautioned against assuming that a bigger overhaul will be deemed necessary but confirmed that the playoff format would be reviewed in the coming weeks.

Some senior team executives contacted on Tuesday said they'd be open to forming an industry-wide group to examine the topic. One of the people said that topics that should be examined include whether a win should automatically qualify a driver for the playoffs, as is the case now, and possible changes like whether the regular-season champion should get locked into one of the latter rounds of the playoffs, whether the final round should have more than four drivers, and whether the final round should be contested over multiple races instead of just one. The person noted that the current system brings excitement but may have swung the pendulum of NASCAR slightly too far toward entertainment and away from the sporting side.

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Interesting comments that playoff has created the "entertainment vs. sport" situation. I would argue that the charter system and the standardized car have also contributed significantly toward that. Basically you have teams that are guaranteed make the race driving spec cars. The racing might be close, but I don't know that the competition parity is all that good.