Stage points I don’t mind much, but the stupid cautions ruin the flow of the racing….

Not just that, but even with the midlife crisis reading the fact that this song reappeared in Guitar Hero: Smash Hits also, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s reused this game's stuff here too, bro

ross chastain is the closest in spirit

That's called Domination and should be celebrated.

With this shitty playoff format, you don’t even need to win more than once. Emphasis on winning my damn ass.

​@@SpaceMetalFerrari248 Case in point, Matt Crafton 2019. And that wouldn't bother me so much if he actually earned the most points for the entire year, but he didn't. And it's not like that was some freak accident. Ryan Newman in 2014 was only one pass away from beating Kevin Harvick out for the championship that year. Keep in mind that Jeff Gordon had dominated that race. He started on the pole, led the most laps, and was the only car who could've beaten Harvick that day. Had Jeff not made that questionable pit stop, (which I still claim NASCAR asked the #24 team to tell Jeff Gordon to move aside for the final 4) and Newman made that pass on Harvick, Ryan Newman would've been the first winless NASCAR Cup Series Champion. Literally, the first year of this format proved this format wasn't going to work.

@ it has proven so many times why it’s a broken piece of garbage. If they wanted to be so deadset on putting emphasis on winning, why not let the winningest driver automatically lock into the final four before the stupid playoffs? Newman didn’t even lead anymore than 41 laps, yet Jeff Gordon lead more than 1K and isn’t granted a championship contending spot….. Did not even get one chance to compete for a championship he has the biggest argument to. A side note: To also think Jeff Gordon probably would have been in the final four if there were stage points back then…. But it shouldn’t even determine ONE LAST RACE for the champion…. SEASON LONG champion… Matt Crafton alone proved the original purpose of this format to be completely futile in conjunction to your point. Austin Dillon in 2013 won the NNS title without any wins, though, in fairness, if there were no cup leeches, he would likely have a handful.

@SpaceMetalFerrari248 To be fair on Austin Dillon's case though, I think he did have the best average finish amongst championship eligible drivers that year, and he only got it by like 3 points over Sam Hornish. (Who only got one win that year)

Yeah, your point on why the championship being won on consistency being the preferable way to decide a champion still holds. NASCAR on the other hand is too blind to understand that it doesn’t matter what system operates, a winless championship season can still happen, which defeats their purpose of putting “emphasis on winning”. That’s why those championship battles are exciting. Letting them play out from winter to autumn coming down to the wire on the margin you mentioned. The playoffs don’t put emphasis on winning, they put emphasis on mediocrity and force fed entertainment and no practicality whatsoever, which honestly is very disrespectful to the drivers that have worked the hardest and put the best results all *season* long.

You mean more farcical and force fed for garbage sports entertainment that does nothing but fail to appease to the masses. Stop defending a failed system…

I was not defending the playoffs. I meant it would probably be harder for that to happen with todays cars. I have no problem with a champion who was consistent all year.

Oh right. Sorry if I got a bit agitated. But yes. If todays cars are as competitive as they can be, then there’s a chance that locking up the championship with 2-4 races to go might not be as frequent as one would think

Buddy, are you dumb? You did absolutely no research whatsoever. This race had a rating of 3.2 which is a far superior number to the 1.60 rating the 2024 finale got. Better marketing and “racing” my damn ass. I in every way have every valid argument to provide why this race was far better and greater than the farcical manufactured trash at Phoenix. It’s not even an exciting track for a finale. 2001 New Hampshire with a 3.2 is 100% better than 2024 Phoenix at a 1.60. Many fans have departed from engaging with NASCAR because of the dumpster fire playoff format. Please do your research before you write stupid comments

First of all, the point of these series of clips I’ve been uploading is to prove why we don’t ever need the playoffs in the first place. Plenty of fans hated Sr’s guts back in the day (and I assure you many Hendrick fans hated his guts for this as evident by the reactions of many people in the crowd) Second of all, there was no team orders or Spingate levels of manipulations here. It wasn’t force fed unlike NASCAR’s playoff sports entertainment crap. We want things to unravel organically, not forced like it’s Valentines Day chocolate every single day.

@@SpaceMetalFerrari248 When someone finds their way around a rule then fix the rule ala Hail Melon. MWR should never have been penalized, and if you don't want team directives get rid of teams. I personally would prefer 36 charters with zero duplicate ownership and zero duplicate sponsorship. That would make for better racing than changing playoff formats and points systems. ingenuity used to be how they cheated the rules with setups and equipment. When you have equal cars (supposedly), the ingenuity has to come from another area. For the record I didn't hate Dale Sr., I loved watching him race however Bobby Hamilton said it best " He's supposed to be the best in the world but somehow when you're out in front with him something like this happens."

@ They manipulated the race and intentionally brought out a caution, so obviously they violated the rules and got deservingly penalized. You’re on point when you at least made the point that many racers regardless of the format are always eager to win. That’s the thing here. Just wanting to collect a win to your name without being overshadowed by the media shoving the playoffs down our throats which only cheapens their win. They’re only reducing their accomplishments to a “playoff role” that would eventually knock them out of the first round anyway. Personally, I don’t mind team orders like when Erik Jones was told not to pass Denny, but bringing out cautions to effect the entire outcome of the race is what draws the line.

@@SpaceMetalFerrari248 If there was no effect why tell Eric in the first place? One pass can change the outcome of a race. Either it's manipulation or it isn't. How much money do you have to steal to become a thief?

@@WALTRIPFLAIRor better yet, just don’t have a format that influences trash like this. Difference is that no one is intentionally causing a caution for one’s advantage. Dale Jr got penalized for intentionally spinning himself out in the 2004 Bristol Food City 500 to get his lap back.