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BRISTOL, TENNESSEE – APRIL 08: Trackhouse Racing team co-owner Justin Marks looks on during qualifying for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 08, 2023 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Justin Marks is questioning NASCAR\u2019s playoff system and pushing for a format that rewards season-long performance instead of a single race. In a recent interview, he spoke openly about his concerns with the playoff format<\/a>.<\/p>\n The finale took a wild turn when William Byron\u2019s<\/a> right-rear tire suddenly blew out. That sends the race into overtime. That opened the door for Kyle Larson<\/a>. Kyle grabbed the lead on the restart and won the title. Denny Hamlin<\/a>, who had been in a position to fight for the championship<\/a> earlier, lost his shot.<\/p>\n After the race, the main conversation shifted from the finish to a deeper question: should the championship really be decided by one race instead of the entire season?<\/p>\n Justin Marks Says NASCAR Should Reward the Full Season<\/p>\n Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/a>, Justin Marks explained why he believes NASCAR Playoff format doesn\u2019t always crown the driver who earned it over the full year.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to balance what\u2019s required in the world today to be an entertainment property that gets people excited with the fact that you are running a sport. And when you run a sport, you just aren\u2019t, you\u2019re not going to have those game five buzzer beater moments, those bottom of ninth home run World Series moments every single time you go.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Marks believes that excitement should not replace fairness. He compared racing to other sports, explaining that not every championship moment is going to be dramatic.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, we talk about this a lot, like some years the Super Bowl is a one possession game with two minutes left and some years it\u2019s a blowout. Right?\u201d To him, racing should always remain a sport first.<\/p>\n Playoff Format Was an Experiment, Not a Permanent Solution<\/p>\n Marks didn\u2019t ignore the success of the NASCAR Playoff format. In fact, he said the idea was worth trying.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that the one race final championship was worth trying. I really do. It was a very transitional time in the history of NASCAR. I think it was a good experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n The one-race championship did what NASCAR wanted. It created must-watch finales filled with tension and unpredictability. Phoenix has produced several dramatic endings, and the 2025 finish with Byron\u2019s blown tire was another example.<\/p>\n But the same system can also erase consistent performance. A flat tire, a pit road mistake, or a mechanical failure can undo months of strong results.<\/p>\n Season Performance Should Decide the Champion<\/p>\n Marks believes the title should reflect the work done over all 36 races.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s the right thing for the future. There is a balance between the final and 36 full races. But I think that the last race, the champion needs to be crowned by the person that performs the best, um, sort of over the course of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n He followed that up by clarifying that he does support the idea of playoffs.<\/p>\n \u201cNow I know that sounds like me saying 36 races. I think a playoff thing is important, and it\u2019s important to sort of build excitement towards the end. But I don\u2019t think it is good for the sport not to take anything about five, eleven, whatever. I really just don\u2019t. So I think there\u2019s a balance there.\u201d<\/p>\n NASCAR\u2019s Steve O\u2019Donnell<\/a> has already mentioned that possible changes are being reviewed for the 2026 season. For Marks, the goal is clear: the champion should be the best driver of the season, not just the last race.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDogli Wilberforce<\/a> is a sports writer who covers NASCAR, Formula 1 and IndyCar Series for Heavy Sports. With bylines at Total Apex Sports and Last Word on Sports, Wilberforce has built a reputation for delivering timely, engaging coverage that blends sharp analysis with accessible storytelling. Wilberforce has covered everything from major football transfers to fight-night drama, bringing readers the insight and context behind the headlines. More about Dogli Wilberforce<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on NASCAR\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Image BRISTOL, TENNESSEE – APRIL 08: Trackhouse Racing team co-owner Justin Marks looks on during qualifying for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-277342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}