NASCAR legend Richard Petty, who is a seven-time Cup Series champion, has joined the list of drivers demanding a playoff format overhaul after Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney spoke about how they would like to see the playoffs change.
Petty believes that the championships should span the entire season, rather than being limited to just 10 races. His argument is straightforward: if the season consists of 36 races, then the championship should determine the best driver based on their performance in those races. In reply to a fan question, who asked if NASCAR should go back to the 10-race Chase format or the playoffs, Petty said:
“I still think that to have a champion of NASCAR, that is a year-long championship. It’s not a one-race championship; it’s not a four-race championship. If we run 36 races, who is the best out of those 36? They should be the champion.”
NASCAR reportedly gathered drivers, team owners, manufacturers, track representatives, media partners, and independent media to form a playoff committee to decide whether the playoff needs changes for 2026. But the question is, will a change be implemented next year?
Blaney expressed that he didn’t mind going back to an older playoff format as long as the ‘if you win, you’re in’ playoff policy is removed from NASCAR. Newsweek Sports reported his comments:
“I don’t personally like the win and you’re in type thing. I think you got to be top X in points no matter what guys they take, whether it’s 12, 16, whatever, I think it’s just those guys in points. Think you can put a bunch of more emphasis on winning, as far as a ton more bonus points for winning.
“You know, right now, I think it’s just five extra points for winning. Like, not even playoff points. Like, it’s just five extra. I think you can get, like, 20, put a big emphasis on winning, and the points gap is bigger there.”
He added:
“I do think, personally, I would like to see some kind of, if you do a playoff chase format, I would like to see more races to the end with the final guys… If you do that, and it’s your 16 guys, and it goes 10 weeks straight, and you have, you know, if you win a lot in the regular season, you have a bunch of bonus points to start it, and then it’s a 10-week sprint where you have to have some consistency.
“I’ve also thought about if you have 10 races to the end, you have five, then you cut off the bottom eight, and then you have five to the end, and those eight guys will race, and you just kind of carry over your points from the regular season and the first part of the playoffs, and then that goes on. I don’t know. I mean, there’s a lot of different scenarios out there, but I would be game for a change, you know, some kind of a change.”
Keselowski spoke about going back to the full season format after the recent playoff race at Charlotte Roval. He said:
“Clear as day, Not enough talk about winning and winners (star power) but covering 15th for known elimination is easier for media storylines.
“Fans are voting with their eyeballs and it’s definitively a Net loss for the sport vs full season format. Now is the time to fix this.” [sic]