NASCAR insiders reassess NASCAR playoff qualifying system after Chase Briscoe’s upset win at Darlington
Chase Briscoe winning the Southern 500 gave him a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, which led to a discussion about how drivers should approach the playoff qualifying system. NASCAR insiders Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic said drivers can’t worry about points in the playoff system because you likely won’t make it if you don’t win a race.
“It’s all about winning,” Gluck said on The Teardown podcast. “You have the 11th-place guy in points, he didn’t make it. Chris Buescher 11th in points, Bubba Wallace 12th in points, it wasn’t good enough. Martin Truex Jr., 10th in points, only made it by six ultimately tonight. This is a system that is all about winning. …How this regular season has ended, let’s say Austin Dillon‘s win had stood, you would had 15 different winners counting towards the playoffs. As it was, you had 14 count towards the playoffs with only two spots available, you almost had only one. I just think in the future, you have to go in and forget points.
“…The entire Buescher/Bubba Wallace discussion was irrelevant/ They would have had to win because Briscoe won. In the future, I think you just look at this and you go, alright we have 26 races to win, we have to do it. If we don’t, we’re probably not going to make it.”
More on the NASCAR playoffs debate
Gluck also said that the playoff system makes the regular season compelling, and Bianchi agreed. “It’s a fantastic regular season. If you come into the regular season now, you have to have the mentality of we need to get a win. We’ll worry about getting points and everything else and worrying about the regular season championship later,” Bianchi said.
“First and foremost, we have got to win to lock ourselves in. …Every year now, you are maybe going to have two spots open and if the Dillon thing doesn’t happen, that really throws a monkey wrench in all of this. You need to win early in this system to take that pressure off because the longer you go without winning, it doesn’t matter how big your point lead is.”
The playoffs begin on Sunday, Sept. 8 as drivers compete in the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. There will be 10 playoff races including the championship race at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 10.
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