NASCAR star Brad Keselowski wants to see the sport return to a full 36-race championship format. It comes as Dale Earnhardt Jr. warned a JGR star not to get in the way of his NASCAR title contenders.

Keselowski was speaking ahead of Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway, with the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion launching into a passionate, detailed speech about why he believes a return to a championship format would be better than the current playoff system.

Keselowski’s main reasoning for wanting the change is that he believes the playoff format — which he doesn’t hide his dislike for — has diluted the product of the racing.

In a lengthy speech to the media, Keselowski said, “The sport is really interesting with how it perceives itself. It’s one of the sports that has the most noticeable negative feedback loop.

“That said, it’s also a squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease sport where if somebody’s not squeaking, things don’t ever change. The 36 format has had such a loud drum beat as of late because I think most of the industry is realizing it’s probably the best for the sport.

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“There’s a number of reasons for that, but (it’s) also because the sport has kind of revealed itself to be heavily influenced by its own spin, so to speak. So I suspect that drum beat will get just louder from more and more voices.”

Keselowski continued: “Ultimately, I do think that the 36-race season format is what’s best for the sport. It’s not my decision. It’ll come down to the France family making that decision, and I respect that.

“They own the sport, and they have every right to make that decision.

“But if you look at this sport holistically, NASCAR was built on the concept of races connected with a championship — and it has shifted to a sport that is now a championship connected by races.

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“Inherently, that removes some of the big-event feel that I think made NASCAR so special in decades past.”

He then concluded his speech: “We need 38 big events.

“That’s what this sport needs to endure for generations to come, and the best opportunity for that is in a season-long format that is a series of races connected by a championship, rather than a championship connected by a series of races.”