Denny Hamlin Says New NASCAR Playoffs Will Be ‘Better Than What We Have’
Things are about to change in NASCAR.
The series is considering updates to its playoffs format and has been consulting a panel of drivers, team owners and journalists for input over the past several months.
The final meeting came last week and Denny Hamlin was one of the participants.
During his latest “Actions Detrimental” podcast he told listeners to “not get your hopes up” about a return to a full-season points championship instead of a playoffs, but said many in the meeting voiced their support for it.
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“There was a lot of arguments for it, a lot a lot of arguments, I understand, and it would definitely crown a deserving champion,” Hamlin said.
NASCAR officials, who will make the final decision independently, have previously said that it does not intend to give up on the postseason concept entirely, but Hamlin is optimistic that a new format will improve upon the current one.”
“It’s certainly going to be better than what we have,” he said.
He’d personally like to see wins during the regular season awarded with a bigger points bonus over second place. Right now its 40 to the winner and 35 to second, but he’d prefer a win being worth more like 60.
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“I want those that perform well over the first two-thirds of the season to be rewarded,” he said.
While he recommends eliminating the “win and your in” system that earns a post season spot with a single win during the regular season, regardless of where the driver is in the points standings, he is a fan of stage points.
“You should be awarded for running up front the entire race,” he said, noting that a leader who gets wrecked during an overtime finish could end up with one point for race.
“It gives us to something to race for the entire race,” he said.
Reports from the meeting suggest that one of the frontrunner formats is a 3/3/4 playoffs that starts with 16 drivers. Five are cut after the first three races, five after the second and then the final six compete over four races with the one with the most points crowned champion.
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“I would love for them to give us the biggest sample size they could give us, whatever they feel comfortable with. Anything more than one,” Hamlin said, referring to the current format where the championship is decided among four drivers in the season finale with the highest finishing driver awarded the title.
“I was such a fan of the 10-race chase because you never questioned jimmy Johnson, one of his titles,” Hamlin said.
As far as when the new playoffs format will go into effect, according to “The Teardown” podcast, it still might happen as early as next season, but NASCAR will likely wait until the end of this season before announcing it. Series leadership previously said that it could make the change in 2026, even though the race schedule has been released and is set in stone.
A four-race final round would then include Phoenix Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
While many have criticized having a Superspeedway late in the playoffs, due to the unpredictability of restrictor plate racing, Hamlin said he thought it was OK in a multi-race championship round.