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NASCAR does not have a playoff problem. It has a playoff eligibility problem

Austin Dillon and Richard Childress Racing are not championship contenders. Dillon is not going to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship. 

But after winning at Richmond Raceway on Saturday night (main image), Dillon is going to be in the postseason. He is one of 14 drivers guaranteed a spot in the playoffs with one race left to finalize the 16-driver field. Dillon won a Cup Series race fair and square, and that should be celebrated. Whoever wins on any given Sunday should be celebrated.

Except, winning quickly takes a backseat in the current age of NASCAR conversations. Instead, focus on the playoffs, and specifically the format, is far more prevalent.

NASCAR doesn’t have a playoff problem – or at least, nothing that can’t be fixed with some format tweaks. NASCAR does, however, have a playoff eligibility problem. 

Ever since Joey Logano won the 2024 championship, arguments have been made that the system is broken. Or, that the playoffs don’t belong in auto racing. Considering that it seems a long shot that NASCAR would ever go back to a season-long format – and nor should it – the biggest variable that deserves attention is how NASCAR determines who competes for its championship.

The win-and-in format sounds good on paper and on television. It was intriguing and exciting when first implemented in 2014, but a decade later, it has served its purpose, and the flaws are showing. A driver winning a race should not mean an automatic championship bid.

Dillon and the No. 3 team are not championship contenders. Shane van Gisbergen and the No. 88 team are not championship contenders. Josh Berry and the No. 21 team, if the summer is any indication, are not championship contenders. But all three have won races and are headed to the postseason.

Dillon, van Gisbergen, and Berry are the lowest among those the championship standings who are going to move up into the 16-driver postseason field. Their overall body of work, after 25 races, has only been good enough for 25th (Dillon), 24th (van Gisbergen), and 22nd (Berry) in the championship standings. As a whole, those aren’t fire-setting performances, and a switch is not going to flip in the final 10 weeks to make them good enough to be a champion.

Then there are the seasons of Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, and Chris Buescher. Reddick and Bowman sit inside the provisional playoff grid, and Buescher is the first driver on the outside looking in after Dillon’s victory.

Tyler Reddick is seventh in the points, but he still needs the cards to fall the right way this weekend to secure his place in the play offs. Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Reddick is seventh in the championship standings. Bowman is ninth. Buescher sits 11th. All of the drivers sitting above and in between them are headed to the postseason via wins. But while those three are winless, they have put together a body of work solid enough to be in the top half of the championship standings. 

Those drivers should be championship-eligible. Saturday night in Daytona will determine which of them ends up accomplishing that.

In the meantime, those drivers are a case study on why NASCAR’s playoff eligibility needs a revamp, and how the conversation became so loud since November that a playoff committee was formed in the offseason to examine the format. There have been multiple meetings by the committee, a number of ideas presented, and it’s clear that a change is needed. But time will tell what that will look like, and when NASCAR goes about implementing it. 

One topic is indeed eligibility, and the fact that 16 drivers is too many. The case can be made that less is more, and the drivers competing for a championship should be the ones who have put together a body of work worthy of such an honor: A body of work that combines winning and consistency, such as the original Chase format (2004-2014), where drivers in the top 10 or 12 in points after the regular season made up the postseason field.

There was no win-and-in, or any other special requirement that moved a driver from where they were in the point standings after 26 races into the postseason. At the beginning of the season, everyone was aware that 12 or higher was the benchmark, and the way to get there was through winning, and if not winning, a solid day’s work that correlated in the point standings.

Beginning next week, some coverage will attempt to gaslight people into believing everyone has a chance at the championship. Anything can happen. Survive and advance. 

It’s a ridiculous narrative. Although the season’s most successful driver might not wind up the champion (the ill-fated flaw of a one-race championship system), it is more realistic to believe 

that will happen than to believe some of the others in the postseason field will end up the champion. But that’s what happens when you need content and there are 16 drivers who have been given a golden ticket.

A playoff format in NASCAR is not a terrible thing, and it is likely going to be part of the game well into the future. But if the sport – and certainly fans and drivers who have made their voices heard in recent months – is worried about its integrity and having a worthy champion, then a conversation needs to be had about who NASCAR is sending to its postseason. 

Dillon and others are headed to the postseason under the current rules. No ill word toward any of those drivers and teams and their accomplishments, but those accomplishments should be the end of the conversation and praise. It should not extend to how any of them are in the championship picture.