Cameron Shirey
Stories (1/0)
NASCAR's "Win and You're In" Playoff System Needs to Change
For those who do not follow NASCAR, there has been a "playoffs" system in place since 2004. Since its debut in the 2004 season, it has gone through various different versions. The current iteration, that was put into place for the 2014 season (with a tweak for the 2017 season), mimics a championship system seen in football. Sixteen drivers make the NASCAR playoffs, with a win being an instant pass in. Should sixteen drivers not win a race, then the rest are in on points alone. Once sixteen drivers are in the Playoffs, there is a series of three "rounds" with four races each, with four drivers being knocked out of the Playoffs after each round. The same rules apply: "win, and you're in." After the third round of four races, four drivers advance to the final race of the season, the Ford 400. Whoever of the final four drivers in the Playoffs finishes the highest wins the championship. For the 2017 season, NASCAR added "stages" to all of the races, with all races having three stages (with the exception being the Coca Cola 600, the longest race of the year). These stages award points to the top ten finishers at the end of the stage, ten for first and one for tenth. The first place finisher also receives a "Playoff point." The winner of the race also receives five of these Playoff points. Because all sixteen Playoff drivers' points are reset at the turn of a round, the Playoff points are added onto that reset number, giving a driver more points to start off with.
By Cameron Shirey6 years ago in Wheel