The NASCAR regular season officially ends this weekend in Daytona, which means we’re on the brink of everyone’s favorite time of year. 

The playoffs! And if I know race fans, I think they are champing at the bit to get these playoffs going. Right? 

… Right? 

Of course not. Come on! We’re talking about NASCAR fans here. They’re the equivalent of softball parents in high school. They just bitch and moan about anything … and everything. 

The racing isn’t good enough. The car can’t pass. What channel is the race on this week? You name it, they’ve complained about it. 

This summer, the No. 1 target has been the playoff format that’s been in place for a decade now. Why NASCAR fans – and drivers (and the media) – chose this summer to launch an attack on it, I have no earthly idea. 

I assume it’s because Joey Logano won the championship last year, and that rubbed folks the wrong way because he didn’t have all the great of a season. 

Austin Dillon, of course, is the latest benefactor of NASCAR’s ‘win-and-you’re-in’ format. He won last week at Richmond, and will now automatically be a playoff driver despite sitting well below the cutoff line in the points. 

And guess what, haters? You’re welcome to kiss his No. 3 ass!

“Well, I mean, it’s the format that we were given,” Dillon told OutKick earlier this week. “So your thought process on things can change over the years, but winning is the only thing that matters. 

“I know some fans are upset, frustrated about it. But if you look at the All-Star race, it’s only made up of the winners of our sport when it comes down to it. So your year is made off of winning.”

NASCAR playoffs need tweaking, not a complete overhaul

Now, I agree with Austin on the playoff format. I don’t mind it. I don’t necessarily agree with his comparison to the All-Star race. Nobody cares about the All-Star race. Using it as a justification for the current playoff format is silly. 

But, I’ve never hated that the playoff format values winning races more than consistent points days. Some folks do. That’s “old school” thinking, Austin said. 

And outdated. 

“Some of the purists of the world definitely, from a performance standpoint, from start to finish, you might not be getting rewarded,” he said. “But when it comes down to having to win and getting a win, I think there’s some clutchability to that.

“That’s just the older school methodology of how champions were crowned. So I think that’s the fight between the two. But I think to relate to more sports fans, that what we have now is probably better.”

I agree with that, too. Everyone always wants to compare NASCAR to stick-and-ball sports. We do it with viewership ALL THE TIME. If we’re being fair, the current playoff format is way closer to what you see in other leagues than anything NASCAR has had before. 

If you get hot at the right time, you have a chance to win a championship. Last year, Joey Logano was NASCAR’s version of a wild card team going on a Cinderella run. 

The 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers. The 2007 and 2011 Giants teams that knocked off the Patriots. The 2022 Miami Heat were a 7-seed and nearly won an NBA title. The Rangers and Diamondbacks were inexplicably in the World Series a few years ago, even though nobody watched. 

It happens in other sports, and nobody bitches about it. But when it happens in NASCAR, folks lose their minds. 

Sure, there are things I’d change. For instance, I’d make the final round three races instead of one. I do think having one single race decide a champion is silly. That’s an easy fix. 

Dillon would prefer the non-playoff cars get the hell out of the way during the playoffs … metaphorically, of course. 

“Your top 16 (playoff) guys, when they’re competing against each other, they’re competing head-to-head for points,” he added. “For those 16 points. “There’s only 16 points to get, pretty much. I would eliminate all the cars that are out there (for points), so if you have a bad night, your whole season hasn’t been washed down the drain from a blown tire. 

“Say if you finished last, you lost 15 points to the best guy on that night in the playoffs. That’s it.”

Another easy fix, too. And one I assume NASCAR will look at this offseason. 

For now, though, it’s off to Daytona. Dillon won’t have to worry about much this weekend. He’s already locked into the postseason. 

Everyone else, though? Buckle up. This place gets crazy. Haven’t you heard?!

The green flag for Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar (Firecracker) 400 drops at 7:30 on NBC.