Richard Petty Exposes the Biggest Flaw of NASCAR?s Playoff System at Martin Truex Jr?s Expense

The opinions of a few legends in NASCAR stand beyond everyone’s judgments. One of the influential voices is that of Richard “King” Petty. Winning 7 Cup Series championships in his career, he stands tall as a true veteran of American stock car racing. Though he is nearly not as harsh in delivering his take on things as his son, Kyle Petty. Still, the King recently came down hard against NASCAR on one particular issue: The points system.

Answering fan questions along with his celebrated crew chief, Dale Inman, Petty expressed his displeasure at how championships are being decided now. Falling prey to his disappointment was Joe Gibbs’s No. 19 driver.

The 7-time Cup Series winner criticizes NASCAR for its newfound ways

Stewart-Haas Racing’s retiring driver Kevin Harvick once said, ?There has to be something that rewards durability, not just a guy winning one week and breaking down the next week.? The context of his words was the points system that Bob Latford devised before the 1975 NASCAR season. Still in use with many alterations, the system provides some meaning for every race that a driver participates in regardless of his finishing position. Though Richard Petty himself won a couple of championships under Latford’s system, he doesn’t appear to be a big fan of how it has evolved over the decades.

Answering a fan’s question that went, “Do you guys like the current playoff format? If you could make changes what would they be?”, on his Instagram handle, Petty spoke about what would be the ideal way to run things.

He said, “The thing I don?t like is that they award people for running up front instead of winning races. I still think that when they start with the top 16, they need to put everybody on an even playing field. Then, it?s how you finish in the race. Not how good you run. But how good you finish.”

Over his time behind the wheel, the King won championships in five different ways that points were counted. Deepening their discussion, Inman brought forth the current cases of 3 drivers and one of them faced discouraging words from the legend.

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The King uses the misfortunes of Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr to make his point

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Truex Jr had qualified for the 2023 season’s playoffs from the top of the table. Despite being the favorite for the championship back then, he faced a downwind of luck and has been battered at every track since. His most recent outing at Las Vegas finished in a disappointing P9 finish. For Petty, there wasn’t a better example than the No. 19 driver to prove his point.

Turning the discussion to the current year, Inman said, “But you are talking about years past. The 24 car [William Byron] is still in pretty good shape. The 5 [Kyle Larson] is in the best shape now because he?s won a race and he?s locked in. But he had so many bonus points going in is what kept him and the 19 [Truex] car like you?” Abruptly cutting him off, Petty gave his verdict on the matter.

He retorted, “If they hadn?t had the bonus points, the 19 would have went out the very first 4 cars. So that?s the reason I don?t like that kind of point system.”

Facing a very steep climb in the coming races at Miami and Martinsville, Truex will not be very pumped to hear Petty’s words. But the opinion that the legend was trying to make was square. Settling down on Inman’s words, “It?s what it is and live it till they change it,”?the historic duo moved on to the next question.

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