The NASCAR Playoffs are Worse than You Thought

Introduced in 2014, the playoff system has its origins in 2004 with the original Chase, and despite a good first outing, after that it has only chipped away at the legitimacy of the sport, bit by agonizing bit. And ratings, in turn, have nose-dived. So what are the playoffs and why are they so detrimental to NASCAR? Well, let's take a look. . .
#NASCAR #Playoffs
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[@GodzillaGaming111]

Mario Kart has a better points format then NASCAR.

[@alexander1485]

so does Twisted Metal

[@InklingGamer7626]

ha ha ha!!!

[@blueredlover1060]

Shots fired.

[@fishproductions22]

yes

[@mitchell-wallisforce7859]

The amount of times I've tied on points with Peach is insane. When the AI have the measure of you MK championship fights can be nail-biters.

[@joe24ever76]

Winning a race in this format is somehow extremely important and completely useless at the same time.

[@TheJudoJoker]

Two of the most iconic wins in NASCAR: Dale Sr's 1998 Daytona 500 and Dale Jr's 2001 Pepsi 400, both had virtually 0 championship implications.

[@BacsCruise]

I think Rick Allen said it best (oh god, never thought I'd say that sentence!) when Harvick was about to be eliminated at Martinsville. "Wins don't mean a thing." That told me right there Nascar traded it's sport's legitimacy card in for a TV entertainment card.

[@JohnSmith-mk5jt]

@@TheJudoJoker Sure, but the year's champion's position in that race still contributed something to their year-end points.The only reason that Dale Sr's Daytona 500 win had little points implication is because, well, it's the first race of the season. They still have 32 races to go. Not all races will have a points implication. But I'd rather 5 or 6 races be not important over 2/3 of the entire season. As for Jr's Pepsi 400 win, sure, Jeff Gordon's 37th place finish would not have affected his drive for the championship all that much, but because Jeff Gordon had already won earlier in the year, it would've been far, FAR less important than had it occured under the playoff's format. At least under the Winston points system it would've been an encouragement to do better because he couldn't be consistently finish like this. Under the playoff system, he wouldn't bat an eye. He could just sand bag until the final 10 races.

[@dylanbradford7863]

The only time winning matters is in the last 4 races if you're among the eight drivers (22.22% of the chartered field mind you) still in the playoffs. You can just points your way into the round 8, win one race in that round, then go on to win the championship at the seasons end. If you win 10 races before then, you get 50 bonus points. But if you don't win a race and all the winners of that round are playoff drivers, if you aren't the points leader because of mediocre performances, you're screwed. Harvick who had a season on par with Jeff Gordon in the 90s didn't even get a CHANCE to win the championship at Phoenix. Out of protest, when the playoffs start, I don't watch the races anymore because it's all the news crew talks about is this stupid format. I just wanna watch a race and all I care about is who wins that day. The only time I ever care about championships are in the final few races if it's a dead heat, (assuming it's in a format where a dead heat is not guaranteed like in this format).

[@scjacket611]

@@BacsCruise Except Rick Allen is an idiot and wins mean everything. Wins are why Logano and Elliott advanced and Harvick didn't.

[@iqbalhussein5434]

For all my fellow outsiders, imagine an f1 season with this system: Verstappen wins 19 races then comes second in Abu Dhabi Hamilton does just enough to stay in at each round but wins in Abu Dhabi Hamilton wins the championship

[@Ob1tuber]

This could also happen in NASCAR You can win the first 35 races of the NASCAR season putting on a clinic and taking some records, and you finish second in the final race, you should be champion, your points total is massive, but you don’t win the championship, the guy that won the race who was also probably in the top 4, is champion, that would the biggest slap in the face

[@darthandeddeu]

@@Ob1tuber and this is what pushed me to F1, DTM, GT, WEC & other series. NASCAR screwed themselves.

[@notmasyn41]

@@darthandeddeu Same.

[@franklinlane1357]

There would be a Riot of F1 Fans screaming at the FIA

[@EricBurns1]

I'm so glad Indycar doesn't do the chase or playoffs. Every year it comes down to the wire without it. This year 3 people were in contention at the last race.

[@Chasta1n42]

You forget one thing. You proposed an intelligent idea. That type of idea will never pass in modern Nascar.

[@chromediesel444]

unless the leadership changes

[@TotoDG]

“The NASCAR Playoffs are Worse than You Thought” Is that even possible?

[@charlespetersonjr1994]

after watching this multiple times I can say it's very possible

[@scjacket611]

@Ridiculing Fools The only people who hate the playoffs are dispshits who don't understand how it works.

[@soliderfromtf2]

@Ridiculing Foolsyou described this perfectly.

[@BlueflagAlpha]

Not really

[@kickeramp88]

No, never liked this points system and then Kyle Busch didn’t race half the season and became champion.

[@whatincarnation95]

yet more evidence that S1ap should be NASCAR's God Emperor

[@joshuapboston1999]

And we also need the voice of the people.

[@martiniboy1811]

I would love to see that points system when the Cup Series runs at Cleveland on a summer afternoon

[@Busch22Fan]

Or, referencing an old Domino's commercial with Jr and Mikey, "The 'KING DADDY' of NASCAR."

[@noviranger239]

Let's start a coup.

[@martiniboy1811]

@@Busch22Fan No, he's the Czar of NASCAR

[@EpicChickens1916]

This is even more relevant this year with Truex missing the playoffs while being 4th in points.

[@Landmasters]

Absolute farce. Let alone due to that rain wreck at the Daytona finale because NASCAR decided to ignore the radar

[@joelsittler6997]

AND THEN FRIGGEN AUSTIN DILLON WHO KNOCKED HIM OUT DOES ABSOLUTE SQUAT IN THE PLAYOFFS WHILE TRUEX ALMOST WINS A FEW RACES

[@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT]

2023 Trucks Phoenix is another reason why the chase in racing is wrong

[@vreschen939]

I was about to say.

[@mr.boomer8794]

It's like everyone in charge after Bill France Jr never heard the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[@scjacket611]

When nothing matters and the title is wrapped up and you still have two months left in the season, then it's broke.

[@kylefunderburk4194]

I mean, Bill Jr. fixed a lot of unbroken things too. I don't know why he keeps getting a pass, he set NASCAR on this course in the 1970s.

[@kylefunderburk4194]

@Austin Weston Well yeah, Brian France deserves a ton of blame. I just don't think Bill Jr. should get a pass.

[@jordantraenkner1883]

Brian France in a nutshell: If it ain’t broke, bash the shit out of it with a sledgehammer until it is.

[@robertstone9988]

@@scjacket611 no that's just how it happens sometimes. I don't understand these new fans. If a guy dominates a race then we got to change the whole arrow package and get rid of that track the guy wins the championship and wraps it up two races early when we got to scrap the whole point system. Do you watch other sports? If the Buffalo bills blow out the New York Jets does the NFL have to change the entire game football so that doesn't happen again? Sometimes people just win big that's how real sports work. If you want to see a scripted nail biter every week watch WWF wrestling.

[@joshglenn2115]

Your update on the old points system makes perfect sense. That's exactly why NASCAR won't do it until they're about to go bankrupt.

[@scjacket611]

Except it makes no sense at all. The old points system literally encouraged drivers taking it easy and stroking for points. The new system encourages the opposite. Yet, he falsely claims the antithesis of this exists.

[@alaeriia01]

I'm not a huge fan of pole being worth the same number of points as leading a lap, though. Make pole worth 10 points.

[@alfonsagelwei5280]

I've seen Jr back WAY off at Daytona as to get out of the pack racing to avoid the big one. He finished 20th. On his radio while he was doing this, he was caught saying "why? I already got my win". That ain't racing. Saw Johnson back way off. So his teammate could get the win so teammate could get in the chase. Johnson was already in. That ain't racing. And as I said, the 18 car missed one third of the season and still won the championship. Impossible, but that's today's Nascar. A joke.

[@j9vlikz683]

@@alfonsagelwei5280 well I'ma about to test it in a nascar game to see if it's possible to miss half the season and still won the championship in thunder 03 Ill get back at ya when I'm done k?

[@hornetguy9063]

Ben Gunby then weight wins more. F1 uses a year round point system and it’s doing just fine. So does super formula, V8 supercars, IndyCar, and basically every other code of Motorsport. The current point system is a gimmicky mess that’s totally devalued the cup.

[@jacksonrailroad]

How to win the nascar championship win 1 of the first 26 races. Finish in the top 5 the next 9,and finish better than 3 other drivers and boom your champion.

[@danielmustico008]

F1 literally has a points based championship. That's how NASCAR should be

[@blankman6681]

Well they had one, and fans literally complained about it.

[@kevindavid9948]

F1 RULES!!🏎️

[@juulinator9100]

imagine if Sir Lewis Hamilton would go to Nascar in 2022

[@willschwarze9856]

@@juulinator9100 He’d never win

[@dramageek745]

@@juulinator9100 I want Grosjean to race in nascar and have Will Ferrel be a commentator. Nothing like a French F1 driver in Nascar

[@johnkiunke4508]

Even goddamn Mario Kart knows to do a regular points format

[@pepkoko2229]

Worst part is that I think that that points format has given us closer finishes than the playoffs

[@smokefan4000]

@@pepkoko2229 To be fair that's mainly because there's not that many races and not that many points available

[@charlespetersonjr1994]

As a Mario kart 8 Pro I agree completely. Has Anyone tried to do a VS race with all 48 tracks on the game and have a fierce points battle? Lord knows few people have done it.

[@Mister_Matt_X]

@@charlespetersonjr1994 have you played Mario Kart without the power ups? Well for me I’m still trying to test that out on the Wii to see how many points I get by trying to win every race possible. Now I can hear in the reply’s to me asking “Why stick with the Wii?” turns out I’m not ready to try the new games yet but I’ve tried Mario Kart 8 on the Nintendo Switch at the local Target... yea I know it sounds lame...

[@ThiccRicc]

@@Mister_Matt_X 8 is awesome. Very fun

[@DennyDeliversYT]

_“How do you really crown a real champion now?... It’s just the Wild, Wild West...”_ *-Denny Hamlin Martinsville 2015*

[@larymemayberry7081]

What a jerk. He didn't even win.

[@simoneburini4036]

@Woobiecrew he is now delivering one of the most consistent seasons ever

[@samthomas6045]

As a new NASCAR watcher, and coming from F1, I just cannot wrap my head around the nascar points system. If I'm understanding it right, you could dominate the 'regular' season with say 10 wins, your nearest opponent gets 3 wins, yet if you have 1 or 2 subpar performances in the finals, then all those wins means nothing. In no world does that make sense.

[@hdfreekicker2341]

id stick to f1 if I were you till nascar pulls some miracle and brings back its old ways again. I suggest you watch some classic races, that was when the sport was at its best (1990s early 2000's)

[@thatcarguydom266]

That’s exactly what happens. It happened to harvick in 2020.

[@judethompson3917]

dude same this is my first year well it was 2020 part 2 but i almost exploded trying to understand the playoffs so much things were happening at once but the fact that denny hamlin was so close doing JUST THAT (like how did larson not get in front of points not really a fan of cause wellllll you know hehe 2020 incident) but he made to the 4 with 2 wins i respect it

[@mike04574]

There’s been f1 seasons where the winner won less races than 2nd

[@shrimpshrubbery7664]

@@mike04574 ok and?

[@shottyjonny3972]

This video came out just under a year before the absolute nail biting, and absolutely enthralling conclusion to the 2021 F1 season finale. Those game 7 moments? Happened at 90% of the weekends between Lewis and Max. That point system works as best as possible in racing. People DNF and what not but that’s racing. Having the entirety of your season destroyed in one weekend because of the weather or because someone crashed into is just bad competition

[@nate567987]

that said 2021 was also made by shit rulings

[@georgebull-mclean3333]

The difference between motorsport and Traditional sports (football, basketball, Soccer etc) is that those are team sports. If there's a really bad tackle and your best player gets knocked out, it sucks but you can still win. It's always possible to overcome a substantial amount of bad fortune and have your team win until the final minutes of a game. More so in soccer, since games rarely go beyond a 2 goal deficit. Meaning thar there's always at least some hope of an equalizer, unlike its just an absolute demolition. Which isn't the point. Now, in motorsport, you could be leading the race by miles and have one mistake that ends your whole race. NASCAR is particularly rife for this, since fans care more about the drivers than a team. In F1, if Ferrari lose one driver, the tifosi just turn to the other guy. And, NASCAR has a greater chance of not finishing a race due to someone else's mistake because of how close the racing is. Of All sports, I would argue that NASCAR is *THE WORST* one to have this format. Except for something like the Tour de France.

[@sulphurous2656]

I wonder where the hell that guy who was shilling the playoff format all over the comments in this video was when that went down.

[@yeahmhm2345]

​@@sulphurous2656maybe he died of boredom watching the last two seasons of F1

[@lorddrac_dontaskmetodance]

As a person who watches 7's Rugby (who uses a points system), it turns out that a full-points system works for all sports.

[@kylefunderburk4194]

It only works when the entire league plays each other an equal amount of times and you can do that in smaller leagues. The NFL, MLB, NBA and now the MLS are so bloated that playing everyone in one season, the same amount of times is not possible. That's where playoffs come in and the only time when they are necessary.

[@chrisfloyd7316]

@@kylefunderburk4194 MLB and NBA play enough games to do a points system but yeah. I'm sure geography and travel, tradition and other factors play into why they don't do that tho

[@kylefunderburk4194]

@@chrisfloyd7316 With baseball, all you need to know is that the MLB has two leagues instead of conferences. Even though they are essentially just conferences, MLB wants to create an illusion that the leagues are separate. So NL teams don't play every AL team, even though they easily could. But I think that adds to the MLBs charm.

[@lorddrac_dontaskmetodance]

@@kylefunderburk4194 True; it's a bit easier for Seven's Rugby because they play multiple games a day, and up to twelve per tournament. Every team shows up and plays on the same field for 12 weekends per year.

[@xSoccerxCorex]

@@kylefunderburk4194 MLB before 1968 and interleague play literally did this, lol. everyone in the NL/AL played everyone within their league exactly 22 times and whoever won the most games won the pennant and played a WS. baseball switched to the division system for the same reason nascar switched to the playoffs: entertainment!

[@salvadordollyparton666]

Hmm...wonder why people keep abandoning a sport, that itself has abandoned every single thing that made said sport...

[@scjacket611]

Yes, racism, sexism, and outlaw law breaking. Definitely should have clung to those things.

[@Jimaybob]

@@scjacket611 those things sure but just talking about the actual structure of the competition they’ve totally fucked with it and ruined the point of 60% of the season, and made the scoring overly complex

[@sulphurous2656]

@@scjacket611 Why am I not surprised one posting with such arrogance, venom and temper all over the comments section of this video would eventually bring up something like this to give them a moral high ground to their argument for current modernity...

[@scjacket611]

@@Jimaybob No, sweetie, you're just too dumb to understand the format. The entire season still matters. If you can't figure that out, I'm done helping people like you.

[@scjacket611]

@@sulphurous2656 Awwwww, you really wanna protect your right to racism, huh?

[@lndhold6609]

"[the Premier League system] can feel a littie anti-climatictic" *_laughs in "AGÜEROOOO"_*

[@Kiddynamite3341]

That was a great game!!! Great moment.

[@LG_XD]

Playoffs are just so stupid. It manufactured excitement created by Americans, it can't compare to a legitimate title clincher like that moment

[@LuciferLonseraph]

@@LG_XD I mean, it isn't manufactured by Americans, bud - the FIFA World Cup has the exact same format. A series of qualifiers, two sets in fact due to the qualifiers for the tournament itself and then the group stages, before you get to a playoff elimination bracket where the best team in those elimination games is the champion, not the best team of the entire tournament who could be knocked out by a freak performance in the quarter-finals leaving just a bunch of effective no-names in the running to win the entire competition. It even has the stupidity of an automatic bye being handed out to every hosting nation and the previous winner, meaning that those teams do not need to worry about hurting their potential team just to qualify for the tournament. All of these things are artefacts of a time prior to justify things, but these days with the sanctioning body of FIFA having rotated the World Cup hosting rights to just about whoever can be bothered to put a pitch in for the damn thing it leaves some things to be desired. Due to the way the World Cup is played, it allows teams who barely qualified by the skin of their teeth (or as the hosts manage to avoid that issue) to make a gutsy 2nd place position, again through the skin of their teeth, in the group stages to go onto the elimination rounds; and then if they get lucky and manage to take every game to penalties, a position which makes things even more arbitrary and pointless, a relative no-name such as Qatar this year could reach the Finals of the World Cup and somehow win the damn thing. Has it happened yet? No, because Football/Soccer is a team sport that is dominated by the same footballing nations without any kind of "cap" to stop dominant teams from shooting ahead of the pack, and among those nations at least one of them will make the Finals every year without fail due to the number of them that exist, but fundamentally the same potential for a huge upset exists just as it does in the American League sports. Is there a way to change it? Sure - in fact I'm a big fan of the new planned method going forward for 2026 and beyond as it allows various nations to split the bill of hosting the damn thing while both opening up the scene to allow for more nations to compete as well as allowing for less egregiously daft hosts to crop up, but the fact remains that when there are 48 teams competiting at a tournament and four to a potential six+ teams are guaranteed a spot no matter how awful they are in competition, it goes to show that the current format is flawed. Travel time is going to be a huge impact on the 2026 World Cup because it is completely impossible to play games across all three nations without flying to and from stadium cities - and I suspect some upset contenders will emerge late into the competition because those teams will deal with the travel better than otherwise championship-level contenders will manage.

[@LG_XD]

@@LuciferLonseraph you have wrote an entire essay that meant exactly nothing. It mentions the premier league not the world cup lmao

[@LuciferLonseraph]

@@LG_XD Yes, the initial response mentioned the Premier League, and then you went out there and claimed that playoffs were invented by the Americans and solely by the Americans because they don't know how to decide what makes a winner a winner, and I disproved it, and now you're backtracking to save face.

[@Scourgemaster193]

Please just bring back the Winston Cup points format. 2003 was probably the most memorable season to me due to Kenseth becoming champion with one win and being consistent all year long. He did exactly what he needed to do all season over just being good for the final ten races.

[@6Six6Six6Bruh]

Agreed. Much as I love Kurt Busch, he did not deserve the 04 championship.

[@spectrelfc1152]

Easy solution. Go back to the year-end points system. The average person doesn’t care about racing, so stop trying to adhere to them.

[@RabblerouserGT]

Part of the problem with that is when the championship is clinched before the year's end... you risk the racing getting boring since people already know they can't win.

[@eldiablort1461]

@@RabblerouserGT yeah, no.

[@ekimp252]

@@RabblerouserGT Lewis Hamilton clinched the Formula 1 championship a month ago, but there's still damn good racing going on.

[@scjacket611]

@@ekimp252 And what are their ratings in America compared to NASCAR???

[@ekimp252]

@@scjacket611 Do you really care about ratings? I don't, I just want to watch good racing. Whether it's NASCAR, F1 or frigging go-karts.

[@morganerickson439]

You lost me at points for stages....but won me back when you said no flag for stages.

[@blueredlover1060]

The stage cautions make things really boring. For instance, in Heat, if you can manage to keep the tires on the truck, you can get easy one or sometimes two lap leads depending on the track. Then there's a stage caution to trap them all laps down, while you pit under yellow and everyone else had to take the wave around or free pass. This makes the second stage even worse as you can get top 10 drivers stuck 3 laps down. Making stage 3 an absolute snoozer.

[@1GuyGaming]

@@shutyamouf2 And all the competition cautions are annoying enough. Makes it hard to watch live.

[@theragingdolphinsmaniac4696]

You nailed it. The NFL expanded playoff ratings are down 8% so far this season. Like you said, nobody wants to watch more teams, but the best teams...

[@Sloppyplane37]

Pretty sure covid has something to do with it

[@heirofaniu]

@@Sloppyplane37 You think that Covid has an effect on driving down TV viewership?

[@jameswalton4518]

@@heirofaniu yep the the NFL put up great numbers during this season, and the numbers for the playoffs were massive .

[@TheVirtualSportsNetwork]

That and Goodell keeps running the league into the ground every year. Hopefully those ratings continue to go down until they get a new commissioner who understands real football.

[@rtdreep]

Jayski today reported Nascar's 2023 season TV ratings, and the downward trend continues. "The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season averaged 2.86 million viewers across FOX, FS1, NBC and USA Network, down 5% from last year (3.03M) and the least-watched season on record. The previous low was 3.00 million for the 2021 season. Including the preseason “Clash” from Daytona and the All-Star Race, the season averaged 2.87 million - down 6% year-over-year." The article said that the final race, the one for the championship, had the lowest ratings ever for a final race. S1apshoes, your thesis continues to ring true.

[@nothinghere7391]

The moment at 10:10 is such a Mark Martin moment. And it makes me physically hurt

[@ItsTrinton]

It made all of us hurt. At least we still have IROC.

[@hornetguy9063]

Dude it pains me to this day how little accolades mark Martin ended his career with, given his talent level. It’s brutal to think he has no major “moments”, yet Trevor Bayne has a Daytona 500 trophy

[@screamingeagles5156]

Matt is one of a kind if he was still racing I would have to watch.

[@jc1424]

When he said "...AND Mark Martin, UGH!" I felt that.

[@curtcollins6659]

This is exactly what I was thinking.

[@tofikhabie9193]

I’ve spent this whole vid saying “I agree”

[@StudioDaVeed]

No shit; need an aspirin my neck hurts...

[@zlinedavid]

I didn't even need to start the video and I was saying that.

[@tofikhabie9193]

@@zlinedavid lmao fuck the playoffs

[@grantmourning189]

Kevin Harvick would have easily won the championship this year. When playoffs started this year Harvick was like 500 points ahead. (Honestly can't remember)

[@oxtail8923]

If my favorite drivers are out of the playoffs why watch? Its the same for all sports for me.

[@Nitron2097]

*NASCAR* "Bonus points for the pole? No, that won't make qualifying more intense." *F1 and IndyCar* "Hi there...we need to talk."

[@aldouscoroza]

I watch F1, They don't award a Bonus Point for being on Pole

[@antonioakiki3716]

F1 dont give any award for pole, but its alot easier to win if you have pole and a good start as passing is less frequent and harder in formula 1

[@GarkKahn]

F1 doesn't give points for pole. Maybe you're confusing it with fastest lap in race? They give 1 extra point for that (if you finish in the top 10)

[@nascarfanatic2425]

@@antonioakiki3716 Well that's the same thing in NASCAR; especially with the current package. Except on Superspeedways/Restrictor Plate Tracks.

[@davidwoermansr]

nascar started giving bonus points for sucking a pole when they started the playoffs

[@scottwolf497]

Man do I miss Winston Cup racing. All those great Champions earning their championships in an era where bad races had to be overcome, not merely erased. Petty, Waltrip, Allison,Labonte, Rusty,Earnhardt, Kulwicki, Gordon, etc what a time to be a race fan. NASCAR truly lost me as a fan when Kyle Busch won his first champioship after missing 11 races. What a joke. An obvious gifted title to keep Toyota happy. I've attended 31 NASCAR races at 6 different tracks: Dover,Pocono,Bristol, Watkins Glen, Martinsville, and Darlington. I will always be a HUGE JEFF GORDON fan. I love your new system, but NO STAGE RACING.

[@RJLightning68]

I agree with ya on that, stage racing is nothing but BS.

[@Mister_Matt_X]

I don’t like the stages, the regular season champion and the playoff format... not only that but NASCAR also uses a five minute rule for crews to work on their cars on pit road that’s ridiculous...

[@williamjames648]

Kyle busch overcame a major injury... he checked off every box nascar told him to. its a little different nascar hasn't been the same since the early 2000s, pretty much when earnhardt senior died

[@Nc3three]

15:33 he IS a traditionalist. At least he’s a good one who uses valid points and comparisons in contrast to attacks.

[@screamingeagles5156]

Do you even know the history behind nascar. Alcohol and fast cars. If you could rope your brother in you had a pit Crüe Richard Petty is my favorite driver. Who is yours.

[@Nc3three]

@@screamingeagles5156 I was kind of making a joke...there are some prominent “traditionalists” in the NASCAR community, and they have a reputation for being troublesome. NASCAR has a great and very interesting history, and I’ve spent countless hours reading it. However, being a “Modern” fan, (2012 casual, 2016 followed closely), my favorite driver is Chris Buescher. I’d seen plenty of potential in him in the National Series, and I want him to be able to prove that potential in Cup.

[@benbrown2119]

Great analysis of the current state of NASCAR. Also, thank you for properly referring to the past. After all, five of Richard Petty's trophies are inscribed "Winston Cup Champion!"

[@Nc3three]

@@benbrown2119 Did you mean to reply to this thread?

[@benbrown2119]

@@Nc3three yes. Sorry for the comment fall. 🤦‍♂️

[@zlinedavid]

Slapshoes: "The NASCAR playoffs are worse than you thought." Brian France: "Hold my beer..."

[@tonyyost331]

I feel not enough people get the joke. Underappreciated comment

[@jamesbraun9842]

Other person: "Hey that bottle is empty"

[@TwazkemUSAbi]

Hold my LSPCPD

[@Ob1tuber]

Brian France: Actually give me that beer back

[@ethanhenrichs5677]

I think it's crazy because you can win 35 races and miss the last one and not be the champion. 😆

[@ccx806]

Technically, you could win all 36, and then get DQ'd during post-race inspection in Phoenix

[@jwilson2899]

Imagine winning 35, then finishing second to someone and not winning the championship

[@rtdreep]

S1apSh0es, I've seen your video several times, and I feel more strongly than ever that you are right. I'm a pretty passionate NASCAR fan, but playoffs or no, I find that my interest tends to wane over the course of the long season. When the playoff system was first created, I thought its goal was admirable, and I thought it would heighten my interest. Initially it did, but now it does not. In fact, I find its contrived nature diminishes the far more difficult accomplishment of high performance consistently across the long season. Your proposal is spot on as a nice balance of prioritizing wins yet rewarding consistently good performance over time.

[@andrewwilson1811]

You want to why there was 2 checkered flags being waved in 2014 at Homestead... because one of the NASCAR flag men, Rodney Wise was retiring after that race.

[@DanielNuteson]

I never knew that.

[@jbernfinger5494]

14:29 your point sistem, sounded like a mix of Winston cup, F1 and FE points sistem, and I LIKE IT

[@doomusrlc]

The only thing I don't like is 5 between each position. I like how Winston format changed the difference as you got lower in finishing position

[@LorenzoBrunoBossio]

If anyone is curious, the Winston Cup points format had a 5 point difference for each finisher from 1st - 6th, a 4 point difference from 7th - 11th, then a 3 point difference for 12th - 43rd.

[@shawnconder4984]

@@doomusrlc I seem to remember the old points being more tricky to figure out as they went down positions. The simplified gap of just 5 points does make it easier to follow along at home. Also really like the idea of no stage break cautions.

[@doomusrlc]

@@shawnconder4984 yea I get that. I just prefer the slightly weighted difference as the finishing position got worse. And agreed in stages, no caution and I'm happy

[@jbernfinger5494]

@Owly123 Well yes, but actualy no, in FE there's points for fastest lap AND pole position, while F1 only has for fastest lap

[@UncleT4life]

As a Byron fan I echo Harvicks quote from 2020 of rather having the season we did. Blaney is arguably the weakest champion ever

[@warrenself]

The tide turned and Hendrick fans get a robbery like Ford guys got in 2020. It’s the reason Indycar, F1, etc. fans stand together and point and laugh at Cup racing.

[@cunever]

I totally chanced on your channel and instantly subscribed. At the time I wasn’t even sure why I subscribed, not only do I not live in the US, nor have I ever seen a NASCAR race. Here now at your latest video, I found some reasons: I like listening to someone talking in an intelligent fashion about something they really like. On the other hand I really like your dramatic talent: the tone, tempo, cadence of your voice makes your frustration not only believable, but your hints of irony and sleights of sarcasm perfectly understandable. It is also beautifully evident that you love what you’re doing, and a side effect of that is the production value of your videos. Thank you!

[@petrafied]

I've been watching NASCAR forty years. Seeing a good race on any given Sunday was always more important to me than who was the season champion.

[@kakluver]

Exactly petrafied mike. Playoffs aren't the reason. The boring races with these poster boy drivers at the same old cookie-cutter tracks are the reason.

[@quasimoto7662]

@@kakluver I’d have to disagree on that one The lack of parity with Johnson winning 5 straight certainly didn’t make things look good.

[@hornetguy9063]

Quasimoto7 and I think a lot of the scorn for the playoff system is rooted in that. He won 7 titles but only achieved the highest average finish in 2 seasons (2006 and 2013). Compare this to Earnhardt (7) and Gordon (6). Gordon also finished top 10 in 59.3% of his career races, compared to 54.5% for Johnson. Basically, Johnson wasn’t even the dominant driver of his era, but thanks to being the best team at gaming the system, was able to rack up “7 championships”

[@ChrisPoindexter98]

That's another good counter-argument; whether a hardcore veteran spectator like us, as young as I am, or a fresh new patron in the grandstands with no context, we all, more often than not, especially during an event, care far more about what's right in front of us, or immediately before and after the passing moments and laps of a given race.

[@ChrisPoindexter98]

@@hornetguy9063 Part of me still is impressed plenty by the 7 championships, and still finds _some_ legitimacy in them; his 83 wins speak for themselves a *lot* more, but I don't blame you there; the Chase was *very likely* _far easier_ to game and take advantage for Johnson, Knaus, and crew than no playoffs.

[@bluecup1129]

“The nascar playoffs are worse then you think” NASCAR Reddit: *IMPLODES*

[@weylinwest9505]

NASCAR Twitter: *"The nukes are armed and ready, sir!"*

[@notthatfriendly596]

Shows how wrong reddit and Twitter can be sometimes.. most times..

[@Konformation07]

They defend the Playoffs so hard on Reddit

[@INMATEofARKHAM]

I actually see more haters of the playoffs than not on reddit.

[@GamersHolyArmy]

What Reddit are you looking at? People who defend the playoffs are more often downvoted into oblivion.

[@materthetater]

Right now Martin Truex Jr is 4th in points and could miss the playoffs for a guy who is 20th in points. This video aged like fine wine.

[@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT]

Yeah, Daniel Hemric just broke the format tonight! (2021 non-chase champion is Austin Cindric) But too bad NASCAR doesn’t care and continues to horribly manage the Top 3 series

[@aldouscoroza]

Honestly speaking, when you keep Bringing Up the Latford Points Format. I hate it. It rewards consistency too much. Plus Basically the Entire Field got Points, which I also hate. Thats why I love F1s Points Format, it has a Balance of Wins, Hard Racing, Points, and Consistency. Plus F1 Points have no Bonus Points for Leading Laps, Only Half the Field gets Points, and its Focus is Winning. So Yeah. If I were NASCAR I would overhaul the Points with this, its a Hybrid of F1 Points and the Latford Points Format Here's my Points Format: 1st - 100 2nd - 80 3rd - 65 4th - 55 5th - 45 6th - 40 7th - 35 8th - 30 9th - 25 10th - 20 11th - 18 12th - 16 13th - 14 14th - 12 15th - 11 16th - 10 17th - 9 18th - 8 19th - 7 20th - 6 21st - 5 22nd - 4 23rd - 3 24th - 2 25th - 1 26th and Below get no Points No Bonus Points for Leading Laps, the Goal is to win, and No Stage Points

[@aldouscoroza]

Hemric even if he won in 2018, he would not have Deserved the Xfinity Title, why because he was Winless, and he truly did not Deserve the 2021 Xfinity Series Title

[@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT]

@@aldouscorozathat’s better than the chase anyway

[@aldouscoroza]

@@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT No F1s Points are Better compared to the Latford Format. Watch nascarman history's Video on NASCARs Points Format and how even the Latford Format was Criticized. Again F1 points > Latford and the Playoffs

[@aldouscoroza]

@Travis Glanton The Tower Enthusiast No F1s Points are Better compared to the Latford Format. Watch nascarman history's Video on NASCARs Points Format and how even the Latford Format was Criticized. Again F1 points > Latford and the Playoffs

[@moperry8399]

That points format proposal is basically exactly what I want in a points format. I couldn't possibly make a better one if I tried. Great video!

[@TomBoi]

Plus, if NASCAR wanted to incentivise wins, just make the point gap a little bigger between first and second.

[@seanconner7932]

It's a great idea. All I would suggest would be one-point intervals and one-point bonuses (for the sake of simplicity), and to remove the fastest lap bonus (since that would be too chaotic for casual fans to track). I also think there should be a way to prevent the second-place finisher from gaining more points than the winner in a race, lest a driver lose a championship despite winning the season finale after entering the race in the points lead (or tied for it).

[@scjacket611]

@@seanconner7932 No system that enables the championship to be decided with multiple races left is a great idea. You can cry all you want about other motorsports, but tell me how their ratings are in the US? If the NASCAR title was wrapped up with multiple races to go, the ratings in the fall would be far worse than they already are.

[@seanconner7932]

@@scjacket611 That's not really an apples to apples comparison. You can't just say that because NASCAR ranks ahead of all other motorsports in terms of popularity in the Unites States, that its points system is automatically superior. NASCAR ranked ahead of all other motorsports when it had a full-season points system, the original Chase, and these new playoffs. The points system had absolutely no impact on that ranking whatsoever. But in the final years before NASCAR implemented the Chase in 2004, NASCAR ranked second only to the NFL on the list of the most popular sports in the United States. As NASCAR evolved its championship format chase entertainment while abandoning legitimacy, its popularity tanked.

[@BlackFlagsMatter]

S1ap continues to do the lords work

[@S1apShoes]

😔🙏

[@redhalogaming7581]

Hey black flags nice job on Tree’s sportsball bud I had no idea you were into football

[@jer_ryb_]

@@redhalogaming7581 I saw that tooo!!!

[@jer_ryb_]

Don't disrespect March Madness Slap, ever again....please....

[@LP_8723]

69 likes *nice*

[@russianbot8576]

this is super late but having just got back into nascar at all, i like the _idea_ of races being divided into three stages for points purposes and to give drivers more reason to not just hang out til the final 25 laps ‘when it counts’ for positioning…. but nothin in this world makes me fuck off and get distracted by something else than throwing caution in order to cap off the stages. caution flag is boring as HELL and i don’t think a single person was clamouring for more caution laps. what were they thinking with this? anyway yeah the points system is nuts and overly complicated, and i kinda think they emphasis it way too much.

[@garetkonigsfeld2]

I wish they would have left the points system the way they where. Jeff Gordon would have 7 championships and Jimmy Johnson would have had 2.

[@jtpal12]

Eh, I would give the 04 championship to Jimmie under a full season since I don't think Knaus would have run the experimental engine in a full points season that caused the 3 consecitive DNFs.

[@GeorgePerakis]

@@jtpal12 Jimmy abandoned NASCAR for Indy. Fuck im. Take his championships away from him.

[@jtpal12]

@@GeorgePerakis That's a bizarre stance to take. Are we also supposed to take away Tony Stewart's 97 Indycar title for going to NASCAR or Fernando Alonso's 05 and 06 F1 titles for going to WEC?

[@Jrez]

@@GeorgePerakis that's not how it works lmao. Should we only let people who essentially die for NASCAR keep their wins? Should Michael Jordan have lost his championships when he tried to switch to MLB.

[@truedarklander]

@@jtpal12 are F1 fans supposed to hate Grosjean for going to Indy or hate Jos Verstappen for going to DTM? That reasoning truly is idiotic.

[@TomLehockySVK]

It is such a POINTless system to have really.

[@braydenlewis7438]

Send this to NASCAR office please 😂

[@JonathanGaeta]

Yes

[@Mister_Matt_X]

Amen to that!

[@Trainlover1995]

This video: *Gets sent to NASCAR corporate* Mike Helton: Okay, redo this video, and take out anything unrelated to money.

[@BlueflagAlpha]

They won't listen

[@theconnorcupseries2071]

Yes

[@Tmccreight25Gaming]

NASCAR needs to go back to the old Winston Cup points style.

[@Mister_Matt_X]

I agree! No regular season champion, no stages and no playoffs! The regular season champion is so weird in my opinion and when did NASCAR had regular season championships before and when did NASCAR had stages?! Oh yeah I forgot in 2013 Mud Summer Classic truck race at Eldora and it still sucked... These gimmicks NASCAR is doing now is so absurd and I hate the idea that NASCAR makes crew work on the cars in the pits for 5 minutes and when times up they’re out of the race... that’s just ridiculously stupid... I like the old Cup points format it makes more sense... whoever has the most points at the end of the season wins the championship...

[@chrismaxwell6192]

There’s no way this system can possibly get worse. A Florida Storm: Hold my meth.

[@justinking332]

A little piece of my heart dies every time I hear slap talk about Mark Martin. I believe we need a support group.

[@VGF80]

Make that 3 pieces then for this video. Jokes.

[@R.A.Keyser]

agree!

[@plantfeeder6677]

He won in 1990 in my book.

[@badbooking3221]

@@plantfeeder6677 Richard Childress' crying and moaning over a not-that-important part was the reason why Martin lost the Cup in 1990.

[@denisetidwell3425]

Mark was my driver from the time I started watching in the mid 1990s up until his retirement. I'll always have a soft spot for him.

[@thejman3489]

7:28 Kyle didn't just miss a few races. He missed 10 races. That's almost 1/3 of the season.

[@williamhorton9763]

And NA$¢AR made sure Kyle won the ¢heapened$hip when he returned, too.

[@Spooky711B]

@@williamhorton9763 Lets not forget how many races he won that year.

[@m.carrot7730]

@@Spooky711B but you have a rule, why not enforce it?

[@zachhatten261]

Ned Jarrett won the 1961 championship despite only starting 46/52 races. David Pearson won in 1966 missing 5 races. Rex White missed 4 races on route to his 1960 championship. This is nothing new, it just hasn't happened in the modern era

[@Spooky711B]

@@zachhatten261 Yeah NASCAR fans just need something to cry about when it's not their guy.

[@bppmurphy]

The thing I think people can sometimes forget is that, particularly as we saw with formula 1 last season, there can be great midfield battles and battles further down the table. Drivers battling to keep their seat or teams battling for survival in NASCAR/F1. Like sure, somebody might have mopped up the title with 6 or 7 races to go, but more often than not, there's still so much more to play for as far as some drivers lower down are concerned.

[@adambroyles9582]

Casuals don't like to see that though. Its exhilarating for us race fans but you have to realize that the playoffs appeal to the masses. The ratings would take the deepest dive ever if somebody won the championship with 5 or 10 races to go.

[@bppmurphy]

@@adambroyles9582 I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. The fact that NASCAR was growing as a sport and basically hit it's peak before The Chase and all that nonsense kind of proves that play-offs aren't necessary. F1 is growing like crazy in recent years and it doesn't need play offs. On top of that the English Premier League is the arguably the most widely followed league of any sport in the world and it doesn't use play offs either (Although there are play-offs for promotion from third-sixth in the championship, but it doesn't go in to complete over kill like NASCAR is doing now)

[@oliveiradmdiogo]

@@adambroyles9582 NASCAR has spent the last 25-30 years chasing the casuals and look where that got them

[@ishierrogamer7798]

That's what happends in the European league system, it's not only about the Championship you have battles for Continental Cups and Relegation plus the extra payment of finishing higher on the ladder.

[@bppmurphy]

@@ishierrogamer7798 I know I was only using it as an example

[@racerj2.03]

Winston Cup was my era in the NASCAR timeline. I am glad of that. Just Saying.

[@ThePackerMan71]

Ever since you mentioned it during your 2020 schedule suggestion video, I've been waiting for this video to come out, and it basically speaks to everything I've said about the playoff. Thank you.

[@fishproductions22]

Hopefully Dale Jr. sends this video to the NASCAR execs

[@Nc3three]

Do you expect them to listen?

[@fishproductions22]

@@Nc3three they wont listen to the video, but if dale jr wants something, he usually gets it

[@DanielNuteson]

no even better, Carl Edwards

[@ky_muskie]

Playoffs: win and you’re in Michael McDowell has entered the chat

[@Pickleman9000]

@Kfir Shoham sorry to be that guy, but no not really Daytona RC: 8th Homestead: 6th Las Vegas: 17th Phoenix : 23rd Atlanta: 19th Bristol Dirt: 12th If this is somehow a joke, let me wallow in my own shame.

[@torak_34]

@Kfir Shoham your comment ages worse and worse every week Daytona RC: 8th Homestead: 6th Las Vegas: 17th Phoenix: 23rd Atlanta: 19th Bristol Dirt: 12th Martinsville: DNF Richmond: 27th Talladega: 3rd Kansas: 13th Darlington: 27th Dover: 25th COTA: 7th Charlotte: 20th Sonoma: 28th (due to being dumped last turn, wouldve finished in the top 10) Texas: 12th Nashville: 16th Pocono-1: 19th 12/18 (should be 13) top 20 finishes in a mid-pack team.

[@oldmanjenkins3321]

This is taken from the Matt Kenseth wiki, the last Winston cup winner. After the 2003 season, Kenseth's championship became a source of controversy and criticism. Critics of the Winston Cup points system, most notably Roger Penske, questioned how a driver could win a season championship despite winning only one race out of 36 during the season. Additionally, the fact that Kenseth led the points standings for 33 weeks despite only having the one victory, as well as already having clinched the Winston Cup title with one week to go in the season (rendering the final race in essence a non-event) led to discussions on how to prevent Kenseth's feat from happening again (by comparison, in 2000, under the same points system, Bobby Labonte had won the Winston Cup championship after leading in points for 25 races, but unlike Kenseth, Labonte also won four races in his championship year). Kenseth finished that year with 11 top-five finishes and 25 top-ten finishes. A championship should go to consistency not that you can’t have that be somewhat tied to wins, but it is clear who the best driver was that season lol

[@toddtaylor6506]

Yeah, that moron Penske is now part of something that crowns a champion based on shit luck the last ten races of its season ...instead of who did it best for 36 races.

[@DinsdalePiranha67]

3:55 That's me waving the blue flag.

[@kenbowser5622]

Exactly, that's why I quit watching, or even paying attention.

[@scjacket611]

Yet, here you are.

[@tonygunk2226]

I've said it before and I'll say it again PLAYOFFS DONT BELONG IN ANY MOTORSPORT

[@TheRoseBoy11]

This system basically killed the big popularity it had back in the 90s and in fact, almost killed it to some extent

[@mrFiiSKiiS]

Every stupid thing they've done in the last 15 years has shot them in the foot every single time. The Chase was stupid. They even argued that it was going to be a playoff. Now it's openly a playoff system and it's a failure. Then there's the "stage" bullshit. "Oh it harkens back to days of heat races!" Yeah. Annoy hardcore fans who say, "No, it doesn't," and confuse new viewers who don't get either. Just race. Give points for finishes, and be done with it.

[@jordza2k11]

preach it, I'm not even a fan of people like Kevin Harvick but when F1 1991-present is an improvement when dictating champions wise... thats shameful

[@Showstoppa103]

“If Newman passed Harvick he would’ve been a winless champion” except if he passed him, he would’ve won the race and Cup. Thus not a winless champion.

[@S1apShoes]

That's why I said "Had he been passed after that, he would have been the first winless champ"

[@scjacket611]

@@S1apShoes But the guy behind him would have been Harvick........

[@OBG791]

First winless cup champion yes but Austin Dillon won the xfinity championship one year with 0 wins

[@ballerbeast8283]

What he meant was if harvick got passed as well

[@scjacket611]

@@ballerbeast8283 so a world of stupid assumptions.

[@FloridaMan9426]

Here after 3rd in points missed the playoffs because there were too many winners in the regular season, now it's really time to scrap the format

[@Blackazza]

As an Australian NASCAR fan i thought it was just me who felt this system was stupid, so glad to find out i'm not alone. everything you said in this video is spot on even your suggested solution. would also like to see something on the other things that bother me about NASCAR like the complete lack of penalties for obvious driving discretion's like taking out other drivers to take like Hamlin does regularly (others do too). Another one would be pit lane, as a foreigner it seems stupid not to use speed limiters and along with the many other differences that only exist in NASCAR (Crews jumping out in front of incoming cars, multiple lanes on pit road etc.)

[@penguin0402]

NASCAR needs go back to the Winston points system.

[@soulbass1842]

No. If they did then the entertainment of nascar would drop significantly. NASCAR would actually die

[@OBG791]

Anything but the Winston format

[@scjacket611]

Yes, I absolutely LOVE when a guy only needs 11 top 5s and can lead the 10th most laps and have a championship wrapped up with two months left. So deserving, and so fun to watch.

[@scjacket611]

@Rugar 22 Yes, it absolutely would. With this rules package, having the title wrapped up in September would lead to absolutely dismal ratings in the fall.

[@mlwilliam213]

@@scjacket611 that makes no sense. Way more people watched when they had the old system. There is literally proof that people found it more interesting. It's not even close.

[@NascarAllOut]

Another gem of a video!

[@S1apShoes]

Love your content, man! Really cool seeing the old restored stuff all compiled in one spot.

[@7natcho]

@@S1apShoes Love your videos too !! Your comment on the viewership drop off for MLB and other sports in 2020 had little to do with formats of play-off's in any sport . Many lost interest in watching sports due to the WOKE movement that was going on . Lets hope politics and opinion are left out this year so many viewers come back . Thanks

[@kevintotimeh6648]

@@S1apShoes Good video, while I do agree the NASCAR playoffs are pretty rigged, I still like them and adore the sport in general in my opinion! Been a fan of NASCAR all my life! I hope you respect my opinion even though yes the points system is kinda rigged!

[@RedRoth]

I like Slap's format, where you earn points for specific finishes, and I also like the English Premier League format with points for wins, ties, and losses. Both of those formats ACTUALLY make sense other than the current hot garbage of a failure. (#EndThePlayoffs)

[@thatcarguydom266]

Yeah. Although something to note: how hard I laughed at 10:18

[@toddw6716]

this is why i stopped watching nascar. go back to the old system.

[@scjacket611]

You didn't stop watching.

[@dom.rockchalkjayhawk.8990]

Its not happening

[@BDLforever24]

Its a shame too. The racing is good but the system is what's keeping it back.

[@martinhenderson1359]

I’ve gone back and forth on Harvick for twenty years, but no logical fan can deny that #4 Team put in 100% effort each and every race. They finished all but three laps all year. That is insane and well worth a championship.

[@scjacket611]

If it was worth a championship they would have won a championship. They didn't run well in the playoffs. If you don't show up when it matters, you don't win.

[@lemonjuicegaming6551]

NASCAR is not like other sports. Stop comparing.

[@G.R.Kash11]

Wow, this is NASCAR gospel! This needs to go viral so maybe somebody will see it and fix our sport. Thank you Slapshoes!

[@MinisterManDan]

Aside from hero KZbinrs like Slapshoes, this is also the topic nobody is seemingly allowed to talk about. The more mainstream NASCAR media will talk up and down about what can be done to fix NASCAR, but nobody seemingly ever brings up “hey let’s dump these fucking worthless playoffs.” Kevin Harvick will go on Dale Jr download and they’ll talk about “why is it Jimmie Johnson doesnt have the fan base of a Richard Petty or Dale Sr or even his teammate Jeff Gordon” and nobody ever says the obvious: “NOBODYTHINKS HIS TITLES MEAN THE SAME”

[@chromediesel444]

Nobody within NASCAR and the media wants to address it. They will just keep their heads down and act like its normal. They will just say "We like what we saw". If Harvick doesn't care about the title, Why should we care when the drivers themselves don't. Another problem stems with the current people who run NASCAR with stick n ball philosophy. Always compare themselves to football like when they quoted the 2007 Superbowl. NASCAR itself forgets racing is a complete different animal. 32 NFL teams don't play each other in a same arena 36 weekends a year. That's where NASCAR is missing the point here.

[@slwsnowman4038]

The media that brings these actual legitimate claims and ideas up will lose their hard card.

[@nabii5951]

"You can get lucky once, but you can't get lucky 36 times." Sure. But in defense of college basketball, you can get lucky once, but you probably can't get lucky 6 times in a row.

[@scjacket611]

He's also being ignorant about the getting lucky once. If you haven't won in the first 35 races, you're not going to be in the final four anyway. He's an idiot with an agenda.

[@scjacket611]

@Kfir Shoham Let me know when a 16 seed makes it to the nascar final four

[@monstermikeheinrichs]

@@scjacket611 Ryan Newman and Matt Crafton would like to have a word with you.

[@Nitro55555]

@@scjacket611 Three times did someone with a double digit seed make the Final 4 and not win. Newman was a #16 and did that in 2014. Gordon did it in 2015 as a #13, and Edwards as a #10 in 2016. 3 out of 7 years of knockouts we’ve had a double digit seed make the final 4. And that doesn’t even include the Round of 8. Kurt Busch, just last year, got to the semifinals as a #15 seed. Blaney got to it in 2018 as a #12, And in 2016, Jimmie Johnson entered the playoffs as an 11th seed and won the whole thing.

[@michaelkeha]

@@Nitro55555 okay let's assume that play offs are the superior system just for the sake of argument then why hasn't any other major motor sport picked up the system if it's so amazing

[@Gucesarl]

Also, I’m surprised I didn’t see one argument that, at least to me, break all logic to adopt a playoff in motorsport: in a “traditional” playoff, you are drawn to face another team and your perfomance against this team will determine if you advance or get eliminated. Simple as that: it doesn’t matter if it’s a elimination, a series of 3, 5, 7 or any finite number. In motorsport, you just... can’t do it. There’s no viable way to isolate the participants and say “Perform better than him”, even considering we would isolate just the participants of the playoffs. There’s no way: in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs couldn’t be defeated in the playoffs by a team that’s not what he was designed to play against or one that didn’t even make it. In Nascar, you can have your race for a playoff spot spoiled by someone who couldn’t even get a sniff of getting a spot. Add this to the natural chaos of racing and you get championships that are basicallly useless, because you didn’t determine who was the best driver of the season. That, and only that, should’ve been enough to make the Nascar board realize that the playoffs have no logical application and doesn’t produce anything resembling a reward for whoever gets the championship.

[@connorbrown8045]

Your points system is tremendous and would definitely fix some of the issues that they have right now. The playoffs/chase for the cup was a bad idea from the start.

[@scjacket611]

Certainly not a worse idea than one that let a guy finish over two thirds of the season out of the top 5, lead the 10th most laps, and only win once yet still have the title wrapped up and the season meaningless with two months left.

[@Alex_Mac_]

I like your points format. The only thing I don't agree with is I think 4 tire pitstop time isn't gonna work because the new car will have single nut wheels, so the tires will easily be changed before the car is fueled.

[@scjacket611]

It could also be manipulated.

[@ryanhatch7214]

Under the current format a driver could win 35 out 36 races leading every lap and he'll lapping the field 8 times a race but could blow up in the final race and be 4th in the championship. That's why this system is such a huge problem

[@BlueJimmie48Fan]

No one: Absolutely no one: Not a living soul: S1ap: *cries in his beer about Mark Martin*

[@VGF80]

Also no one: "Let's make a championship format which appeases neither entertainment nor integrity."

[@thegreatslug8264]

Oh I've been crying right there with him

[@611_hornet5]

"We finally have a championship that all of the drivers have to run as hard as they go!" That quote from Benny Parsons before the '92 Hooters 500 is what first popped in my head when S1ap mentioned how drivers can simply coast through parts of the season and playoffs.

[@charlespetersonjr1994]

BP had more top 10 finishes than cale yarborough that season.

[@scjacket611]

You mean how guys coasted to championships in the old season by simply trying to stay out of trouble? Nobody can afford to coast with this system. Ask Kevin Harvick. One extra stage or race win in the first 34 races and he advances. One less for Kes or Hamlin and they don't. You are just too stupid to understand how this works.

[@simoneburini4036]

@@scjacket611 you can express your point of view without insulting people

[@scjacket611]

@@simoneburini4036 How about you worry about YOU express your opinion and I'll worry about how I express my point of view, okay sweetie? If calling a spade a spade is an insult, that's not my problem. Don't say ridiculously stupid nonsense, and I won't say you're ridiculously stupid.

[@lemonjuicegaming6551]

Just stop talking at this point. You clearly know nothing about it this sport.

[@Cramhead43]

A lovely time to come back to this video…

[@slipstream7324]

heyo! same here. playoffs are garbage. i've been watching 90's nascar lately.

[@_pimes_]

“If everything were special, then nothing would be.” The Incredibles teaches great lessons

[@WhatiFRacing]

I love you S1ap. this video is exactly how i feel of the format now. its gotten me as a fan of 20+ yrs now to not care about it anymore. why invest in something when its not legitimate anymore. more often then not a champion is crowned when they don't deserve it. This should be in schools on how not to make a pts format.

[@scjacket611]

The person who wins the championship is the person who deserved it. Maybe you liked when a guy who only finished on the lead lap once all year won a title. Or when a guy who only led the 10th most laps and finished over 2/3 of the races outside of the top 5 won the title. I guess they "deserved" it, huh?

[@lemonjuicegaming6551]

Soooo, you’re telling me a driver who has been running midfield all season deserves to be champion? No logic there at all.

[@theruley]

I tolerated the chase at the beginning, but the playoffs coming around is when i tuned out of nascar completely.

[@scjacket611]

Good. The old fan like you needs to go away for this sport to ever evolve and thrive in the future.

[@muhammadzidnii2577]

The reason playoff system works in other sports is that teams who finished higher have advantages like playing more at home and playing weaker teams in earlier rounds.

[@scjacket611]

And neither of those things is as big an advantage as starting each round with more points than their opponents.

[@nickklavdianos5136]

The reason playoff systems in sports work is that usually the teams that are the best in the regular season are the best in the playoffs too. It also helps that there are many games in a series, so the best team prevails. But in racing and especially NASCAR that has a lot of parity, the car that's the fastest today might be slow tomorrow. And there are way less variables than racing.

[@hrtvfan2870]

I always thought of the Chase/Playoff system as one of those ideas that sounded a lot better in theory than it's proved in practice as a case of NASCAR leadership freaking out over Matt Kenseth's 1-win title in 2003 (similar to Benny Parsons' 1973 title years) and/or trying to create what you called a "Game 7" setup while trying to recreate the once-in-a-lifetime drama of 1992

[@chrisuncleahmad]

If he won 2 races ala Kulwicki/Terry Labonte, do we even GET a format change?

[@shadowbolt017]

Where do I sign the petition for the slap shoes points format

[@MultiTurbospeed]

Just shrink the schedule to 20 races and award each winner 100 and who ever leads to most laps gets 25 the rest of the field gets 0 and if you want to win the championship you will have to win basically around 80% of the season

[@Diecast-pj1md]

I would like to sign in!😊

[@freeparking301]

Something, something...1992 finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

[@zlinedavid]

I'll take "What NASCAR has spent 15 years and burned countless bridges trying to artificially replicate for $500, Alex."

[@freeparking301]

@Ridiculing Fools That’s exactly it. Imagine going to a magic show and knowing how all the tricks are done beforehand. Same thing applies here. It’s so transparent I’m surprised birds aren’t being killed thinking they can fly through it.

[@scjacket611]

@Ridiculing Fools So they're chasing not having a championship decided before the end of the season, like every other sport in America. WILD.

[@thehuggingsimmy1765]

I think this playoff system is bad for motorsport because of it's chaotic nature but especially in Nascar where driversare encouraged to just spin you out and boot you out of the way. It's extremely easy to get a poor result because of so many circumstances that are of your control. I don't even understand how people can think this is a good format when even the drivers think a points format makes more sense and that the playoffs haven't succeeded in anything. There's a very clear reason why every other motorsport category are using a point format and that's because it makes sense. the playoffs don't.

[@EiderDuck-Coot]

The playoffs need to go. End of story.

[@DarkVoid718]

One of the more sadder things is is that an entire generation of younger NASCAR fans born from the year 2000 onward have lived with this format for most of their lives and many of them have been conditioned to believe that this the most sensible points format available. When that couldn't be further from the truth. I'll never know how anyone can justify how there's anything inherently wrong with a full-season long championship battle with no playoff interference. IndyCar does it. Formula 1 does it. ARCA does it. Local short tracks across the country do it. All with good, legitimate, and deserving outcomes. Just because NASCAR tries to be different doesn't always mean it's a better system to follow. I fully agree with you, Slap. NASCAR shot itself in the foot with this points system. Good solution that you came up with as well. I just hope to God that the bleeding can be stopped before too long.

[@automan224]

I grew up with the 04-13 chase and considered that better then what we have now

[@ceeinfiniti1389]

I was born in 1999, but have an old school way of thinking when it comes to certain things. NASCAR is one of them.

[@bradykauffman9442]

Honestly, this completely changed my point of view on the playoffs.

[@scjacket611]

Then you're not a smart human

[@drnoise]

@@scjacket611 get a grip there, buddy, you're going to be okay.

[@monstermikeheinrichs]

@@drnoise They've commented about a hundred times on this video but I've yet to see them show an ounce of intelligence. Just lots of making fun of people and starting useless arguments.

[@drnoise]

@@monstermikeheinrichs lol, yeah I noticed that.

[@zlinedavid]

Good....good.....let the hate flow through you.....

[@ATR-Sound]

Did it ever occur to them to just have less races to avoid competing with the NFL. Going February to November is kind of insane.

[@chromediesel444]

having 36 races in my opinion is too much.

[@Arientis]

Now it strikes again with Truex getting shafted by the chaos of a superspeedway crash. Even though he had the more consistent numbers compared to Dillon.

[@PescaraProductions]

The existence of Playoff Loyalists is as amazing to me as DRS loyalists

[@kawauchi2918]

Not a good comparison, DRS exists as a bandaid solution to the dirty air problem in F1. Ideally we wouldn't have to use it in the first place but generations of aero regulations changes and advancements lead us to this point.

[@VictorHedgehog]

@@kawauchi2918 And also FIA is going to remove DRS if the 2022 regulation changes work

[@scjacket611]

@@kawauchi2918 And the playoffs are a band-aid to a horrible rules package that has ruined the on track product in NASCAR

[@spartan18s93]

@@scjacket611 the racing was still very good in 2004, so it was just a problem of Nascar over reacting when all they had to do was giving more points to the winner.

[@plantfeeder6677]

Okay I'm thinking more political than that...but I get your drift. Usually fair weather fans are the ones to go along with stupid changes. My friend hated the playoff format all his life till this year...he's a Chase Elliott fan. Now NASCAR's great again. What a joke. In so keeping with 2020

[@sulphurous2656]

To quote "There's a whole lot more to racing than just winning."

[@scjacket611]

Except, there shouldn't be. You play to win the game.

[@OBG791]

Apparently winning is useless in Winston just ask Ryan Newman

[@scjacket611]

@@OBG791 But you will have people cry about this system for not rewarding winning enough while championing for that one. It's wild.

[@speedbreaker0234]

@@OBG791 Wonder why his 8 wins meant nothing. Oh right...he had 7 DNFs.

[@austinmandin6138]

@@speedbreaker0234 Consistency is key

[@marcelthevirginian1656]

Your point about average finish getting worse for Chase/Playoff champions was really interesting. I've got a number of issues with the Playoffs, but I didn't even know about that problem. Thanks for doing the research. Also, I've only been a fan since 2014, so all I've ever known is the elimination round system. Recently, I've held the opinion that going back to (one of) the old Chase format(s), would be OK. I didn't realize that it was quite iffy too. I thought it would be a nice balance between entertainment and fairness, but after watching this, I'm doubting that position.

[@andrewahern3730]

I like the idea of superlatives, like fastest 4 tire stop. Even in F1, you’ll have teams treat the end of the race like qualifying and try to put down the fastest lap for a point, even if MoV is 20 seconds

[@lordshankracing4724]

All i can say is when I played Nascar Thunder 2004, I did 13 of the 20 seasons and only won 6 races and never made the Chase. I'm A pRo DrIvEr.

[@AfroMyrdal]

25 disgruntled Nascar employees already down voted this. Funny!

[@williamhorton9763]

Just one with a lot of sock accounts.

[@zlinedavid]

@@williamhorton9763 20 sock accounts. The other 5 are all Brian France.

[@trob1173]

I know I'm late to this, but Logano made it obvious how garbage this system is. Won the Daytona 500, then was trash all year, then wins the last race to become "champion"". Yeah. Okay. Every "champion" since Kenseth has an asterisk next to their name in my mind.

[@chrisuncleahmad]

Logano didn't win the Daytona 500 in 2018 or 2022.

[@vishvasivakumar4583]

De gea mistake in a nascar video 😭😭