NASCAR’s current playoff format has been a hot-button topic recently, as fans continue to express frustration regarding the process to crown a champion
2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney was the latest to express his thoughts on the matter during an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Wednesday.
While the majority opinion amongst the fan base is that drivers who win a championship today are less deserving than those who won a title under the full season points structure, Blaney completely disagrees.
“What kind of bugs me a little bit is the people that are so diehard on, like, ‘If you won a championship in this format that we have now, oh, it’s a Mickey Mouse championship and it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t count,'” Blaney said. ‘It’s like, man, everyone has the same opportunity as the guy who won it. This isn’t the full season points. Like everyone always talks about like, ‘Oh, this guy, he would have won the full season points.’ Like, well, that’s great. But we haven’t used that format in 20 years.
“… I look at our championship as like, we had a good year, and we even had a better playoffs than everybody else. And we rose to the occasion when we needed to, and we dug in, and we we’re the best car during the playoffs and had some big wins and I was able to get the championship.”