NASCAR champ questions INTEGRITY of playoffs after Daytona shock

Former NASCAR Cup Series regular season champion Kevin Harvick has questioned the current format used to decide the championship's playoff spots.

Any driver who wins a race is automatically qualified for the playoffs as things stand – contrary to a previous rule which meant that drivers also had to be in the top 30 in points at the close of the regular season.

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Until last weekend, that rule change wasn't relevant to the current season, especially with Austin Dillon's controversial win in Richmond ruled ineligible for playoff participation, but Harrison Burton's victory in Daytona has thrown the system into sharp focus.

Burton is 34th in points, last of any driver to have started all 25 races this season despite his surprise win, and Harvick has questioned the 'integrity' of the playoff system in allowing a consistently slow car into the last 16.

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Things are going to look a bit different in the #NASCARPlayoffs next year. pic.twitter.com/eg4ug4RSXv

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 29, 2024

Who could miss the NASCAR playoffs?

As things stand, top-10 points drivers Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs are winless – although they currently figure to make the postseason dance, as fewer than 16 different cars have won races this season. Bubba Wallace is currently the highest-scoring driver set to miss out.

Speaking on his Happy Hour podcast, Harvick said: “Well I just, I just wonder what the balance is between, do we want our best 16 cars? Or do we want it to be exciting?

"This is exciting. And I agree with everything that’s going on and this is not anything against Harrison Burton, this is not anything against Daniel Suárez but are those our best 16 cars that we’re going to have racing for the championship? Or does it matter?

"If you have five or six guys that are in there that were gonna be 30-something in the points or 20-something in the points, is the integrity of the playoffs, is it putting our best foot forward as far as representing our best 16 cars as we go into the playoffs.”

He continued: “As a top-10 team just because they haven’t won should that mean their season should be completely lost when you have a 30th-something place car make the playoffs and kick a top-10 guy out that could make a run in the playoffs?

"Because the 21 is not making a run in the playoffs, the 99 is not making a run in the playoffs. There are just some of those guys who have won a race, Austin Cindric’s not making a run in the playoffs. I just, I think, are we wasting spots?”

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