Is the current NASCAR playoff format broken? The elimination style format has continued ever since its inception in 2014. But, after Joey Logano won his third Cup Series championship with an average finish of 17.1, it has led to outrage and discussion about potential changes to the playoffs. Experts, pundits, and even fans on social media have laid out what their idea of the playoffs should be, which also included Kevin Harvick.

So what is the easy fix—one that can be implemented without having to go back to the drawing board? Well, going by Kevin Harvick, his idea is to reward the regular-season consistent drivers with an easy path in the playoffs. Denny Hamlin wasn’t too bothered to see NASCAR implement such a change. But now that NASCAR is considering Harvick’s proposal, he is backtracking on his initial take.

Denny Hamlin isn’t sold on NASCAR’s new plan to tweak the playoffs

Although NASCAR is adamant that they will continue with the playoffs, they did address the outrage by the fans. And they were even open to making tweaks within the current structure. “So we read fans and everything. We will, as we always do, we’ll absolutely look at what form playoffs take in the offseason,” NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell said ahead of the championship race in Phoenix.

The veteran JGR driver has been one of the loudest when it comes to sharing his views on the playoff format. He even went on to predict this exact situation before the championship race: “If Joey Logano wins this title, there is going to be a wrath on social media about this format.” He said this on the Actions Detrimental podcast.

Seeing the hardcore fans demand a change to the format, Harvick shared his opinion on how he would want to see the playoffs. The idea here was to reward the regular season champion with a direct spot in the championship race. Second place driver in the Round of 8, third place driver in the Round of 12, and the same to be applied to the fourth place driver.

This model not only rewards consistency but puts the onus on the teams to give it their all in the regular season. “Not terrible” was the response by Denny Hamlin to Harvick’s plan to tweak the playoffs. And if we are to go by Sports Business Journal’s report, it looks like NASCAR is open to the idea of rewarding the regular season champion with an automatic final 4 ticket.

“One of the people said that topics that should be examined include whether a win should automatically qualify a driver for the playoffs, as is the case now, and possible changes like whether the regular-season champion should get locked into one of the latter rounds of the playoffs,” the report stated. But, it looks like Denny Hamlin has had a change of heart and reacted to this development on X. “Not sure that fixes anything.”

Speaking of changes to the playoff format, Steve Letarte, who has the birds-eye view of the sport from the NBC booth, also chimed in with his suggestion to revamp the playoffs.

Steve Letarte wants NASCAR to continue with the win and you’re in practice in the regular season

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This year has been full of big surprises and upsets, all because of the win, and you are in the policy of the current NASCAR format. The likes of Chase Briscoe and Harrison Burton advanced to the playoffs thanks to their singular wins. Whereas big hitters like Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, and Chris Buescher were unable to make the cut.

Despite the criticism of this format, Letarte wants NASCAR to continue rewarding the winning drivers. But he also shared an interesting take on how the playoffs itself could revitalize. “You win a race, you’re in the playoffs. I don’t care about points. You win and you’re in; we may have six; we may have 16. Winning is what matters; that’s what people cheer on; victory lane should be the best.” Letarte said this while speaking to Denny Hamlin on the Actions Detrimental podcast.

“I could argue the format, either all of those guys for 10 weeks or all of those guys in some sort of elimination with the last round being three races. There’s still seeding based on the stage wins and race wins.” This is a mix between the old Chase format and the new elimination-style playoffs, and this is something NASCAR could look into.

The playoffs were never perfect, which is why they have changed from time to time. The current model was adopted in 2017, and perhaps it’s time for NASCAR to have a second look and make the necessary changes.