Richard Petty has urged NASCAR to do away with the playoff system and return to a season-long race for the Cup Series title, dubbing the current format a “bunch of crap.”

The second race of the Cup Series playoffs will be held at World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois on Sunday, with drivers hoping to secure their place in the Round of 16. 

NASCAR has ended its season with playoffs since 2004, and although it has produced plenty of drama, it has been a huge source of debate among fans in recent years. Many feel that the playoff system means consistent success is not rewarded fairly, with Joey Logano getting plenty of heat for the manner of his three championships.

Former NASCAR star Mark Martin has been among the most outspoken critics of the playoffs, calling for them to be scrapped. 

Seven-time Cup Series champion Petty has echoed Martin’s comments. The 88-year-old is of the belief that results over the entirety of the season should decide the championship, rather than just the 10 playoff races.

“OK, I’m still from the old school. I’m with Martin, that they start races in February and you run all year to November and it’s, ‘OK, who was the best that year?’ They should be champion,” Petty told The Athletic. 

“When they give points for leading different [stages] in the race and they give points for all this other stuff, that’s a bunch of crap, OK? 

“If you’re sitting there and watching a football game and the team has been behind the whole game and they kick a field goal and they win the game, the guys who lost got a zero. That should be the same way in NASCAR racing.

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“I don’t care if you lead 499 laps of a 500-lap race — if you get beat, then you’re not the winner, and you shouldn’t have any [extra] points.

“They’re trying to modernize stuff, and they’re trying to keep up with other sports. They’re trying to come up with new ideas. And so far, I haven’t seen any of them really working.”

Martin, 66, believes the playoffs have cheapened the race for the title, bringing “manufactured drama” to the Cup Series.

“I’ll be honest with you, at first, I like those eliminations because I felt like it brought drama, you know, every three races in the last 10 brought some drama,” he told Frontstretch in July.

“After a while, it winds up being manufactured drama, and there’s a total difference, and the race fans can see it as well as I.

“Manufactured drama isn’t the same as the real racing drama, and we get drama all the time now in NASCAR, because we’ve manufactured it, but we don’t appreciate it like we did backward, 1992, for example, or ’97. There were a lot of points races that were very compelling.”