Jeff Burton explains why NASCAR playoff critics still have him “a little bit flustered”

Jeff Burton has been around NASCAR for a long time, making his debut as a driver in the Xfinity Series back during the 1988 season. He went on to make nearly 700 starts at the Cup level, winning 21 races. But for the past decade, he has worked as TV analyst for NBC’s NASCAR coverage.

This week, I had the opportunity to speak with Burton on behalf of Motorsport.com, discussing a myriad of topics including the hotly debated playoff format. Rumors are accelerating around possible changes, focusing on opening the final round beyond a single race. No official announcements have been made, but one could be coming very soon.

“I want to be clear about something,” Burton said about the current format and potential changes. “I believe that the people who do it best are the ones who are successful, and so if the rule is changed, it doesn’t mean that the people that won championships under this format weren’t deserving. The competitors have to play by the rules that the sanctioning body creates, and the ones that do it best are the champions – period, end of story.

“I know people say ‘well a playoff is not indicative of who had the best season.’ Well yeah, you can make that case in every sport. And then they’ll say ‘well it’s different in motorsports’ – okay, I can hear that argument. It is different, and motorsports is different than other sports, but other sports have their challenges too. Look at the injuries in football, basketball – there are all kinds of things that make every sport unique to themselves”

Burton “good with” possible format changesNASCAR Cup championship trophy

NASCAR Cup championship trophy

Burton addressed those critical of recent champions, such as three-time champion Joey Logano, who won the 2024 title with an average finish of 17.1. Burton said he “doesn’t buy into this thing where some people want to say that the way this works, we don’t have a legitimate champion. I call complete horse crap on that.

“I will also say that if we had more races to determine a champion, I’m good with that. I think that does do some things that some critics of the current playoffs where one race shouldn’t mean this much – I can get around that. That is a realistic argument, but I also can’t sit here and tell you that Joey Logano, or Ryan Blaney isn’t a deserving champion. They did it. No one else did. That’s where I get a little bit flustered in this conversation. People can disagree whether one race is right or not. I understand and hear both sides of it. But don’t diminish the accomplishments in a super high-stress, high-pressure environment who delivered. Teams, pit crews, drivers – don’t diminish their effort. That’s not fair to them.

“I’m good if the industry decides let’s have more race to determine a champion. I’m 100% good with it. It’s an argument and discussion worth having, for sure. If it goes in that direction, I’ll be a supporter of it.”

Evolution of NASCAR playoffs

The format has changed quite a bit over the years. After decades with a full season points system, NASCAR implemented the ten-race ‘Chase’ in 2004. This followed a year where Matt Kenseth won a single race in March, and then used consistency in earning points to win the crown. However, after Jimmie Johnson won a record five consecutive ‘Chase’ era titles, the format started to change some more. There was a push to reward winners, especially after Jamie McMurray missed the 2010 postseason after winning both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400.

Eventually, the 2004 change evolved into the multi-round, elimination-style format we now have in 2025, where winning a race is equivalent to a golden ticket, erasing any points deficit and ensuring advancement for title challengers.

Despite the unpredictable nature of it, Team Penske has managed to win the last three playoff titles over drivers who had better seasons overall.

Burton also predicts that some of the current complaints won’t go away, even with a format change, as some will always want the points system of old.

“I also know that somebody eventually that had a really good regular season will have a problem in one of the races and somebody we’ll say ‘well that’s not fair. They should have won the championship.’ “I’m pretty sure the New England Patriots could make that same argument. I’m pretty the Panthers had a regular season that was the best regular season of anybody, but they didn’t win the Super Bowl so they weren’t the champions. Every single sport can have that same discussion … I know how hard everyone works to win the championship, and I’m not gonna diminish the people who won it – I don’t give a damn what (the format) was,” he emphasized.

Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford

To further prove his point, Burton went on to reference Benny Parsons, who won the 1973 title despite only managing to finish on the lead lap in one race (his only victory that year).

“He did what he needed to do to win the championship, and that does not diminish his championship just because he finished on the lead lap one time,” declared Burton.

“The person who won it deserved it because they did it and the other ones didn’t. That’s my take on it and I clearly see both sides of it, and it’s worthy of a discussion. I’m glad I don’t have to make the decision because I think it’s a difficult decision.”

Motorsport.com then asked if Logano’s recent triumphs have supercharged this debate, which has been ongoing for a while before gaining momentum in recent months. “I don’t know,” admitted Burton. “I certainly think them not having the best regular season and then winning the championship puts some people in the position to say that.”

The final top-10 for the

Burton also looked back on the old format and why it was changed in the first place following the 2003 season. “There was a genuine belief that fans wanted to see a more competitive championship battle, and for the last race to mean more,” explained Burton.

“We had some unbelievable championship battles too under the old format (full-season points), but we also had some that weren’t even a battle. So there was a thought, ‘Hey how can we make this better?’ If you look around, (racing) is the only sport that doesn’t have a postseason. So that’s why that happened, to try and create a postseason the same way every other sport does. It’s fascinating to me why people say ‘racing can’t have a postseason’ but every other sport in the world can. I just don’t get that argument. I’m not saying it should be the same.”

Regardless of where you stand in this debate, change appears to be just around the corner.

The current format has been mostly unaltered since 2017, and while there won’t be a return to the pre-Chase era, NASCAR appears to be close to doing away with the one-race finale. If it was opened up to four races as some have suggested, then the final round of the 2026 championship would consist of Phoenix Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

We’ll have more from Jeff Burton on Friday, where he will discuss his son’s journey back down into the Xfinity Series, and how difficult it will be for rising stars like Connor Zilisch to make the leap into Cup next year.

Jeff Burton explains why NASCAR playoff critics still have him “a little bit flustered”

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