It’s almost time for the first points race of the season (Daytona 500), and while the excitement is building, there’s a lingering sense of disappointment. Why? Because, well, nothing’s really changed with the playoff format and no one is thrilled about it. After Joey Logano took home the 2024 championship, the NASCAR world was in an uproar. His average finish was 17.11. Yep, the worst ever by a champion. But as we roll into 2025, it feels like the same old story. And Denny Hamlin is not having it.
The problem is that the format doesn’t value consistency. Something that Hamlin has shown year-on-year. In fact, Hamlin finished 8th last season with three wins, twelve top-5s, and an average finish of 13.9. His average finish for the season was better than both Penske drivers in the championship 4. Logano and Ryan Blaney (15.2). So you can do the maths of why Hamlin is disappointed. He recently hit out at the Team Penske dominance and has also got the solution to the ‘unworthy champion’ problem.
Denny Hamlin wants to double playoff points!
If consistency throughout the season was valued. The top two drivers for the 2024 season were Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson. Bell had 3 wins and an average finish of 12.8 and Larson with 6 wins had an average finish of 12.9. But neither were in the final four. Well, Logano prevailed because the format values winning over consistency. Logano bagged three of his four wins in the playoff races en route to his championship. This is the reason for Hamlin’s disappointment. In fact, he feels all the past three season champions (all Penske drivers) have been subpar.
In the recent episode of Actions Detrimental, he said, “What I’m really fighting for in this is that make the regular season great again. In the sense of like make it matter because for the last three years, the regular season had no bearing. The champion did very unimpressive things during the regular season. So why would you tune in? If it’s proven three years in a row you don’t have to be good during the regular season. You can just get in you can just be average at best. That’s been the formula that’s won it just get hot the last couple of races and you’re fine. I don’t think that’s the right way to crown a champion in a sport where there’s so many variables.”
Well, if we check back the stats, Blaney won the Cup title in 2023. And his average finish was 14.1 which was nowhere near the best average finishers for the season. Which was William Byron at 11.0 or the second-best Chris Buescher at 12.1 (did not make the championship 4). So it’s basically the same problem as 2024. However, the same cannot be said for the 2022 season. And maybe Hamlin is just a little salty in that regard as he lost his Championship 4 spot to Ross Chastain in 2022 after a sensational wall ride at Martinsville that is now illegal.
Looking back to 2022, Joey Logano was consistent throughout. And the 4 drivers who made the final four were the best of the season. Logano (13.5), Ross Chastain (13.3), Christopher Bell (13.8) and Chase Elliott (12.5). However, rewarding inconsistencies remain a pertinent issue of the playoff format and Hamlin has a bold solution to fix it.
Denny Hamlin said, “I think I would double the playoff points entering the playoffs. Well, I’m just saying I think all the points the playoff points that you acquire during the regular season should be doubled just simply because it will really reward those that have excellence throughout the entire season. I think if you lower the playoff field to 12 it would stop the 29th place car from making the playoffs because they won a race. Let’s just say maybe on fuel mileage… I’m trying not to say because you won a Superspeedway race. You know what I mean. I think that it really forces you to be on your game the entire season.”
What Hamlin is trying to say is that he doesn’t want a repeat of someone like Harrison Burton making it in. He was in the low 30s in standing when a lucky win at Daytona put him in the playoffs against deserving candidates such as Bubba Wallace or Chris Buescher. Also, Hamlin is of the belief that consistency should also be tested in the final race as well.
The finale should be more than one race…
The #11 driver further in the podcast, said, “I don’t think we’re going to get rid of the elimination. I think that that’s probably here to stay. But do you reward the ‘win and you’re in?.. I believe the championship deserves a round. One race it’s got to be the small sample size of all sports. Don’t tell me the Super Bowl’s one event. It’s one verse one. Not one verse 36 in the Super Bowl. I think yes the championship deserves its own round.”
Denny Hamlin
Maybe the finale can be at the three best tracks. Probably, Homestead Miami, Martinsville, Las Vegas. Or even Phoenix can be one of them. Points get reset and again the driver with the top points in the three races is crowned the champion. This would eliminate the lucky win factor and undeserving champions. And Hamlin is optimistic that some changes are coming to the playoff format in 2026.
“They (NASCAR) rather just if they’re going to do something make a real change and then make it when they have more time or input. Obviously, their offseason probably was really filled with trying to deal with all these other rule changes. I mean when they came out with this plethora of rule changes on this one specific day, I mean they didn’t just dream up that week, right? They’ve been working on this for some time, more than likely you know they want to spend this season really diving into what do we change for the 2026 playoffs. And I am confident they will change something for the 2026 playoffs,” he added.
The rules Hamlin is talking about include the playoff waiver for only drivers who miss a race for medical or family reasons. Or the Open Exemption Provisional, which Hamlin said ‘reeks of desperation’, to allow popular drivers direct entry in the races (after failing qualification). Or the rule that will now penalize even OEMs if found in race manipulation.
So overall, nothing much has changed. We could still have a Logano-like champion in 2025! But let’s hope we get to see some good racing. Who do you think will be crowned champion in 2025? Another Penske year? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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