Kyle Larson Leaks NASCAR’s Plan to Shut Down Joey Logano’s Hunting Ground, Fans Go Wild

Call it destiny or luck, Joey Logano is our undisputed 2024 NASCAR Cup Series champion. After all, the ‘how can a champion win the title sitting 17th in points?’ gimmick has aged quite a bit. This is just how the Playoff system is; sometimes, it rewards chance occurrences over consistency. And besides, Joey Logano seems to have a key that no one else does.

But if there’s one person you can’t help but feel for, it’s Kyle Larson. Can you imagine? The winningest driver this season did not even have a direct shot at the championship, with no vacancies in the final 4? His teammate, William Byron, fought for the title instead, but even he fell flat to the #22 team’s ‘even-year’ magic at Phoenix. However, from the sounds of things, Kyle Larson is prepping with a clear vision for the next season. And with him, NASCAR might even implement a few changes to their often-criticized system.

As he explained to Brad Gillie of RACER.com on the ‘Race Industry Week 2024 Livestream Webinar’, “I was super happy with the performance of our race team all year long. We had a ton of speed from race 1 to race 38, really. So, yeah, I was happy. Obviously, you want to make the final 4 and have a shot at the championship. But at the same point like, I also understand the format and know how crazy it can be…” Indeed, the Playoff system has been an adversary for Larson this year.

“So I don’t let finishing sixth in point take anything away from our season,” he asserted. “I know we had one of the best, if not the best season. We led the series in most every category. So, you know, really proud of the team, in their hard work, and yeah, I think we left some out on the table too…” 

To think of it, Larson probably wouldn’t have made a Playoff run in the first place, had NASCAR not granted him a waiver for his no-show at the Coca-Cola 600. But the story unfolded the opposite way, and the guy returned with a different type of vengeance. Two weeks after that controversial/heartbreaking weekend at Charlotte, Larson was victorious at the Sonoma race. It only bolstered his record further since he had already secured his Playoff berth with a dominating display in Vegas three months prior.

But thanks to his advances falling in the Round of 8 with a P3 finish at Martinsville, the #5 driver has an entirely different outlook for next season. His motto is simple: “Hopefully, we can continue to evolve and get stronger as a team, win some more races, lead some more laps, and who knows what the new format will be? So maybe it will benefit us somehow.”

This comes exactly a month after the 32-year-old racer had publicly stated how he has no issue with the current format. After his exit from the playoffs, a reporter had asked him, “You had double the wins than a lot of people this year. Do you think the wins should reward more to get you there [the Championship 4]?” 

“Not necessarily…We just had two unfortunate races. I don’t want to say there’s anything wrong with the format; we just had, you just can’t have, you know, two bad races in the round of eight,” Larson had said back then. But irrespective of what the driver thinks, looks like some changes might be coming….

It’s no secret that NASCAR is looking at potential tweaks to their post-season format for the 2025 season, after all the outcry. Sports Business Journal suggests bigger changes are coming as soon as the year after. On November 11, SBJ’s Adam Stern reported, “NASCAR will review its playoff format this offseason and changes are possible as soon as next year, though a larger overhaul may need to wait until 2026 if it ends up being pursued, sources say.” NASCAR’s COO Steve O’Donnell has reportedly said that the stock car racing organization is open to a change.  

If this happens, a lot of drivers—who are definitely not Joey Logano—will be very happy. Take Denny Hamlin, for instance, who had opined, “I think the message we are trying to send is: Make the regular season matter more.” 

“I love that aspect of it, but maybe adjusting the points systems to make sure we get the right cars into the championship event would be awesome,” Bell had said, talking about the emphasis on the playoff races. This year’s P2 finisher in the championship race, Ryan Blaney, even came with an alternative.

According to him, the 16-car field should be cut to eight after five playoff races, with the remaining eight drivers competing over the final five races for the championship: “I would like to see a group of races to end the year where you are not going to have anyone run away with it and you’re going to have three to five races and you’re still going to have some really good competition going on.” 

Logano just shook his head. And understandably so—isn’t the Penske driver the biggest benefactor of the current system after Alex Bowman’s DQ at Watkins Glen, helped put Joey Logano through the Round of 8 in the Playoffs? With a sarcastic smile, he said, “I think we all need to understand why we changed it in the first place, it’s because the fans said they didn’t like the way it was, so we changed it. And then everybody loved it. And it was great. And now, oh, we’re going to complain about it again? C’mon, guys. Geez.” Well, looks like he’s going to be very happy to hear what we tell you next.

Contrary to what SBJ reported, there are many insiders who don’t see the change happening at all. On The Teardown podcast, The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi said last week, “The Playoff format isn’t going to change. I’ll say, before the last 20 laps of this race, or whatever it was, this was a damn good playoff race. This underlined the fact of why this playoff format is so good, because you had (Ryan) Blaney and (Chase) Elliot and I’ll throw (Kyle) Larson in there, and you had (Denny) Hamlin’s great run from the back, which is going to get overlooked today.

“All these guys are going at it, the gloves are off, they’re racing hard but clean – physical but clean – and they’re going for the win. This is a byproduct of the Playoff system, and it was fantastic to watch unfold. And it’s not going to change, I’m sorry. This playoff format is here to stay.” Even NASCAR president Steve Phelps gave a strong verdict on the same:

“The format is the format. And we are always looking if there are opportunities for us to tweak something, so be it. We are not the only sport where the best statistical team does not get to the Final Four or the Super Bowl or the World Series. The format — there was a huge emphasis put 10 years ago when the format was put into place about winning. Three of the four on Sunday, they won to get through. I go back to the format itself. I think creates incredible racing.”

Adding to that, the sport’s growing popularity despite the criticism, any changes look bleak at best. Case in point: NASCAR finished the 2024 playoffs up 6% in viewership from last year, with 2.33 million people tuning in per event on average. For the finale race at Phoenix Raceway, NBC earned a 1.60 rating and 2.895 million viewers. NASCAR finished the 2024 season averaging 2.892 million viewers on U.S. television over 36 events, up 1% from last year.

So, everything else only serves as headline fodder for now, and nothing is 100% certain. Regardless, Larson’s ambitions of total domination could spur something special next year. The guy’s interview has already started trending on social media for different reasons.

Yung Money’s comments stir up the grandstands

The RACER Channel’s ‘Race Industry Week 2024 Livestream Webinar’ made its way to the NASCAR subreddit, where a user attached the video to their post and titled it: “Larson indicates new championship format coming next year.”

And now, the fans are speculating about all the potential changes that may soon arrive under NASCAR’s experimental control. So, “let’s hear some overreactions as to what it will be.” One fan hilariously wrote, “Wasn’t one of the main rumors that the playoffs guys will get an independent point system? I think that’s even stupider but I see that as something NASCAR would do.” Sure, a dedicated points system for the post-season would make much sense in the grander scheme. However, we already have a points system tailored for the Playoffs, although the effectiveness of that method remains up for debate, especially after Logano’s championship win. 

Another fan had a more logical demand for an overhaul. “In all likelihood, it’s probably just changing how some points are handed out and putting some caps on win and you’re in. Major changes like making the F4 3 races would likely take more than a season to decide on, but I hope that’s what happens.” Essentially, this fan wished for a three-race final 4 round instead of a winner-takes-all finale. That sure is an impressive idea, but there are more questions than answers with that adjustment. For starters, would that mean extending the schedule by three more races?

Other voices from the grandstands sarcastically mused, “It’s really not that hard for NASCAR to significantly change the format, but then again, we have people with IQs of 50 running the sport.” But we assure you, the people making all the decisions at the highest level have plenty of experience and oversight to make the calls they do. It’s just sometimes, even the best minds can get it wrong. In NASCAR’s case, it might happen a bit too often. But hopefully, things will change soon.

Besides, as a certain member of the NASCAR community opined, “If we get a system that rewards the best driver over the course of a season I can see why Larson would be excited.” And it is true. Year-in, and year-out, Kyle Larson is one of the most consistent wheelmen out there, driving his car to the limit in pursuit of glory. Will he redeem himself next year? Now, that is certainly the question he must answer when the season roars around the corner.