Good, hard racing—that is what quintessential NASCAR is about. However, Sunday’s Martinsville race contradicted the basic objective of the racing series. In a ferocious points battle among car manufacturers, drivers sacrificed their paces to benefit their OEM teammates. In the Toyota team, Christopher Bell appeared to receive help from Bubba Wallace. Then on the Chevy bandwagon, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain did not accelerate just to let William Byron prevail.

This blatant show of manipulation riled up Brad Keselowski. The 36-time Cup Series winner blamed it all on the cutthroat playoff format. No matter how well drivers perform throughout the season, they are on the edge during the final playoff rounds. After the Martinsville fiasco, it may be time to change this system, as Keselowski demands.

Brad Keselowski marks Martinsville as ‘last straw’

Before 2004, NASCAR held races on a full-season points format. In that era, champions were often decided way before the final Cup Series race. So after Matt Kenseth won the 2003 championship, officials flipped the script. A 10-race playoff format debuted in 2014; those final 10 races were grouped into four rounds. And in 2017, stage points were introduced. As a consequence, drivers were at each other’s throats during the final rounds, trying to attain points by hook or by crook. For instance, in 2022, Cole Custer slowed to let teammate Chase Briscoe pass in an elimination race. Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, and Ross Chastain continued that trend in Martinsville, which infuriated Brad Keselowski.

The RFK Racing owner was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. Yet Brad Keselowski made it clear that his passion for good racing trumps the questionable playoff format. He tweeted shortly after the Xfinity 500 wrapped up: “This should be the last straw on the camel’s back for the playoffs.” 

Diehard racing fans would remember in 2013 when Clint Bowyer spun out on purpose in Richmond. The objective was to help his Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. get into the playoffs. Not only did NASCAR strip MTJ of his playoff entry, but it also imposed a $300,000 fine on the team for the ‘Spingate’ incident. In response to the 2024 Martinsville fiasco, Waltrip’s official Twitter page posted a meaningful one-word comment. “Interesting.”

Brad Keselowski has previously betrayed his true feelings about the playoff format. Two races into the playoffs last year, he confessed that the objective is to reach the Championship 4 race, no matter what. “Sometimes surviving is thriving in the playoffs with the way these things are set up. I guess I have a different perspective on it. I want to get through each round the best we can and then move on. Ultimately, if you get to the Championship 4, nobody else cares about the nine races before that. Conversely, you can win two or three races and not make the final four and it still not be considered a good year.”

Already, both Toyota and Chevy parties are defending their actions in Martinsville.

In denial about intentional maneuvers

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Both William Byron and Christopher Bell were running spectacularly in the past few races. Bell did not finish outside the top ten since the playoffs began except for Watkins Glen. After a chaotic Round of 16, Byron maintained a fiery 4-race streak of top-fives. Both drivers also held three wins each, and despite their amazing runs, they needed to resort to blatant manipulation in Martinville.

Bubba Wallace appeared to slow down his No. 23 Toyota to let Bell pass. However, the 23XI Racing driver denied any action favoring Bell. “I went loose or something broke. I was nursing it. Then, (Bell) tried to slide me and I’m like, ‘Brother, I’m trying to bide our time and not crash and bring out a caution, jumble up the whole field.’ That was it.”

In William Byron‘s case, his Chevy teammates Dillon and Chastain did not accelerate to pass the HMS driver despite the latter’s slow pace. Although Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon called it a “controversial move”, overall he did not deem it to be wrong. “You work with your teammates and partners to try and give yourself the best chance to get in. It’s no different than when we go to Talladega and Daytona and how we work together to try to ensure success, but I couldn’t really tell you what was going on there.”

Evidently, teams are working hard to prove themselves innocent. Yet Brad Keselowski questions why they would be driven to this desperate situation in the first place. For this season at least, NASCAR’s playoff format will hold true.