Team Penske has clearly cracked the code in making the most of the current playoff format and the Next Gen race car. It doesn’t matter if they sluggishly start the season, but as the playoffs come around, they find an extra gear or two that separates them from the competition. Even the mighty Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing stars are no match for the Ford Mustangs in the final 10-race sprint.

The controversy surrounding the playoff format reached new heights last year as Joey Logano was able to clinch his third Cup Series championship. A driver who was out of sync for the entirety of the regular season suddenly burst into life and was bestowed with NASCAR’s highest honor [yes, we are talking about Logano]. At the same time, you had Kyle Larson, who, despite missing a regular-season race, had six wins but couldn’t reach the championship race, leading to debates that are still raging on, with Kyle Larson now sharing his take. And, now, surprisingly, he is open to giving up on championship glory in return for multiple race wins.

No doubt, Team Penske has dominated the NASCAR playoffs. In 2022, Joey Logano had two wins in the regular season, and he was able to reach the Round of 8 based on points. A win at Las Vegas ensured his qualification for Phoenix, and the rest you know is history. One can argue Ryan Blaney is a more consistent driver in the Penske stable, but he also pulls out the big guns in the postseason. He had two runner-up finishes and a win in the last three races for both the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

The only reason he didn’t win the championship this time around was because he was up against his fellow teammate. So the question now begs, will NASCAR reward the overall consistent drivers? Or will Team Penske continue to play to the tunes of the format and take the cake in the coming years? Well, for Larson, he would rather go for personal glory than exploit the current system, which many fans believe is broken. Bob Pockrass asked him if he would take six wins without another championship, to which he replied, “If I didn’t have a championship already, I would say no, I wouldn’t be good with that. But having a championship already allowed me to get over it more so this past season.”

Although a lot of fans or experts might not like the current format, everybody has signed up for the same deal. But Team Penske is in a league of its own when it comes to optimizing it. This is one thing that Kyle Larson respects about his rivals and knows that he would be against the odds to win the title with the current format. He went as far as to say that even 20 Cup Series wins might not convert into a championship-winning season.

“When it comes down to just one race at the end, like there’s an opportunity that can happen. I mean we could win 20 races in a year and still not win a championship. I wouldn’t be surprised because the Penske cars are just so dominant at Phoenix. So yeah, nothing changes, I think anytime a Penske car makes the final 4 at Phoenix, they’re gonna have the best opportunity to win currently.” Larson added.

Well, no one at Team Penske is losing sleep over allegations and critiques of not being a championship-worthy team. Roger Penske certainly wasn’t bothered by the backlash his drivers received from the fans and had an interesting take on the current playoff format.

Roger Penske doesn’t find anything wrong with the current playoff format

Say what you will, Team Penske has found the recipe to the secret sauce for success with the Next Gen car and the playoff format. The veteran team owner has witnessed multiple changes made to the format right from the birth of the chase to the elimination-style playoff rounds. While a case can be made that Joey Logano wasn’t the most consistent driver throughout the 2024 season, he delivered the goods when it mattered the most.

While the likes of Denny Hamlin and Steve Letarte have already explained in detail what the revised version of the format should look like, Penske has no issues with the current structure. “We’ve been around when there have been changes many different times, and I think we’ll let NASCAR take that one on if they think they need changing, fine… People can say what they want about the system; we have a winner in the Shell Pennzoil car, our driver Logano, and the second-place finisher was Blaney. So, I guess we figured it out.”

And going by the latest updates, NASCAR seems invested in continuing with the current format. So, we just might see Team Penske cars make it to the championship race in 2025.