A new year, yet old thoughts linger. We know how Joey Logano brewed a massive storm during the 2024 playoffs. The Team Penske driver was an afterthought in the first half of the season until he won a quintuple overtime race at Nashville Superspeedway. Then Logano was officially out of the playoffs for the Round of 8, if not for Alex Bowman’s technical penalty. Logano won four races all season, three in the playoffs, and went on to win the championship. This situation bothered core NASCAR fans immensely as well as Brad Keselowski, who is more old-fashioned.

The RFK Racing owner-driver has been around the sport for two decades. Brad Keselowski witnessed first-hand the radical shift that NASCAR implemented in its playoff format. Although he generally takes a diplomatic stance, like in the NASCAR lawsuit drama, Keselowski made an exception here.

Brad Keselowski misses the old days

The latter quarter of the 20th century and the turn of the 21st are generally regarded as NASCAR’s golden era. Legends like Dale Earnhardt Sr., Cale Yarborough, and Richard Petty put on epic performances, winning upward of 10 races en route to championships. Epic last-race showdowns like Alan Kulwicki’s 10-point margin over Bill Elliott during the 1992 championship were the norm. However, all this changed in 2004 with the ‘Chase’ format, and ground to a halt following the elimination format in 2014. For the last decade, high-performing drivers found themselves fumbling during the championship rounds.

The most recent evidence of that has been Kyle Larson. The Hendrick Motorsports ace clinched 6 wins in 2024, and yet could not crack the championship 4 due to errors in the playoffs. Appearing in a Dale Jr Download, ‘Business of Motorsports’ episode, Brad Keselowski also confessed his experience in 2020. “We won 4 races, I think, finished 2nd at Phoenix, and missed out on the championship. You almost forget about the races you won or all the success you got.” Then the RFK Racing driver flatly laid down his verdict: “It’s not my decision… the current format in my opinion has some flaws.”

Speaking of the flaws of the playoff format, some numbers might paint a better picture of Brad Keselowski’s thoughts. If 2024 were judged based on the total points format, which is how it was before 2004, Logano would be nowhere near the championship. The Penske driver stood 16th in the standings in this format, while Kyle Larson would be taking home the trophy, beating Christopher Bell by just 5 points. To add to that, the ‘win and you’re in’ method had some more major flaws.

Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing made the Championship 4 after a stunning double overtake in the last lap of the Homestead-Miami race. While fans and media alike raved about his breathtaking run, some noticed a major flaw in his consistency. Consistency not being rewarded is the crux of the argument against the playoff format and it was quite evident this time around. Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace had a better average finish in the playoff than Reddick and notched up 4 top-10 finishes to Reddick’s three. That singular win is what made the difference and once again proves that consistency isn’t rewarded. To add to this, Wallace finished just one spot below Reddick during the championship race when the former had nothing on the line, highlighting his proficiency as a driver.

A large group of NASCAR royalty has missed the Championship 4 in the last decade, ranging from 7-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson to 4-time champ Jeff Gordon. If it had been the earlier format, they could have added many more trophies. And Brad Keselowski misses that: “From a NASCAR perspective, the format has taken a radical shift. It went from the original format – all season long, every race mattered. 25th at Pocono in June might decide the championship… I’ve got a little bit of nostalgia to be quite honest with you. I did like that.” However, then he dropped a diplomatic take: “But what I value more than anything else… is something that’s engaging to watch and brings our fans.”

This emphasis on audience perspective ranges beyond NASCAR.

Are playoff changes becoming the norm?

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Former NASCAR CEO Brian France wanted a spicy change. He was bored with Matt Kenseth‘s impressive yet unappealing march to the season-long championship in 2003, clinched in the penultimate race at Rockingham. France’s main objective was to steal the eyeballs that were glued to the NFL and introduce the playoffs. Two decades later, this connection between NASCAR and the NFL still persists. Even our football neighbors are considering changing their playoff format. The 2024 season marked the 5th year of their 14-team format – the league decided to expand from 12 to 14 teams to generate more money. However, questions about diluting the postseason have popped up.

Similarly, even the College Football playoffs received criticism, as two teams among the five highest-rated conference champions received more favorable draws. Now even NASCAR has considered tweaking the playoffs following massive backlash mounting on Joey Logano’s championship. Brad Keselowski pointed to this atmosphere of change: “I watched the NFC playoff games… they made some changes over the last few years, they added more teams to the playoffs… this is kind of transcending sports, where all the sports are looking at their playoff formats and are like, ‘I think we should change it.'” Then he asked the important questions: “But what do you actually value? What are you okay with falling by the wayside?”

The playoff format may receive tweaks ahead of the 2025 season. Let us wait and see how NASCAR acts.