NASCAR insider names huge 'PROBLEM' with current playoff format

NASCAR insider Chris Gabehart has named a huge ‘problem’ with the current playoff format.

Gabehart has served as Denny Hamlin's crew chief since 2019, but will leave this role to become competition director at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025.

READ MORE: Hamlin announces NASCAR RETIREMENT verdict

Hamlin has previously been critical of NASCAR's playoff system, with his former crew chief agreeing with his sentiments.

Joey Logano's 2024 title victory has garnered criticism over the current playoff system, after he claimed the championship with the worst statistical aggregation in Cup Series history.

Are the NASCAR playoffs currently fair?

Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Gabehart was asked about the championship format and discussed the balance between entertainment and sporting integrity.

“I mean, that’s the focus every year, that every race is about winning, but the difficulty in that is there are so many variables that go into an individual race that are out of the team’s control, things that are different than any other sport you want to talk about,” he said.

“You name it, there’s no sport that comes close to having as many variables in it that a team cannot control as Stock Car racing at the Cup level.

“So that’s really what makes it so different and why you hear all of this playoff angst. It’s not that anyone disagrees with the entertainment value that the playoffs provides, or in my view would even want to change that.

“But you do have to acknowledge the reality of the fact that a caution flag can change your champion.

"It can be David Starr’s brake rotor exploding like it did for us in 2021 while we’re running down our other teammate, Martin Truex Jr. at Phoenix for our shot to win the championship — it’s clearly going to come down to the 19 or the 11, one of the two.

"It was a no-brainer, we were checking out from everybody. The brake rotor blows up, the caution comes out, and we come down pit road and next thing you know, Larson wins the championship.

“The problem is, is this really how we want to define our champions because of someone else’s brake rotor blowing up and so many other examples like it? That’s the only issue. We all agree there needs to be an entertainment value of what we currently do. Anyone who contends with that is not being honest with themselves. It’s simply getting the balance right of sport and entertainment that is unique to racing.”

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