{"id":220528,"date":"2025-09-12T09:36:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T09:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/220528\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T09:36:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T09:36:24","slug":"would-a-4-race-final-round-improve-the-nascar-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/220528\/","title":{"rendered":"Would a 4-Race Final Round Improve the NASCAR Playoffs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Was World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway a good addition to the NASCAR Cup Series playoff schedule, or should there be another racetrack in its place?<\/p>\n

Christopher Hansen:<\/strong> While past races at Gateway have shown that track position is more important, that wasn\u2019t entirely true last weekend. After an early caution, Kyle Larson<\/a> gave up the lead and restarted outside the top 10 before making his way to the top five on fresh tires when another caution slowed the field. That showed tires did play somewhat\u00a0of a factor at times. However, once Denny Hamlin<\/a> took over the race lead in the late stages, there was no catching\u00a0him as he cruised\u00a0to the win over Chase Briscoe<\/a>. Perhaps it was a combination of the cooler weather this time around and the tire compound Goodyear brought to the track that produced the kind of racing we saw, but after last weekend, Gateway should always hold a race during the fall instead of its previous summer date.<\/p>\n

Phil Allaway:<\/strong> Gateway is a good complement for Phoenix Raceway, and it is likely beneficial for the playoffs if Phoenix were to stay as the finale. Since that\u2019s not happening, I\u2019m split on it. Having the race in September is probably better for fans since it can be quite hot in early June. But I\u2019m not sure what I would put in there to replace it.<\/p>\n

Amy Henderson:<\/strong> While Sunday\u2019s race was pretty uncompelling, the track itself wasn\u2019t really to blame. I\u2019d love to be able to say that swapping\u00a0it with another track would be more exciting, but the Next Gen car is the real problem with the racing on flat tracks, and until that\u2019s addressed, there really isn\u2019t a track that\u2019s not in the playoffs that would make the racing suddenly great. Charlotte Motor Speedway would be a good option if the track didn\u2019t already host a playoff race on its ROVAL. EchoPark Speedway is too much of a crapshoot, and we\u2019ve already got Talladega Superspeedway for that. There really isn\u2019t a better option.<\/p>\n

Mike Neff:<\/strong> We beat this dead horse constantly, but it is still true. The track puts on great races; it simply can\u2019t overcome the limitations of this car. Thankfully, we had tire falloff this weekend, so there was some strategy and some comes and goers during the race. Unfortunately, most of the time, as the cars got to the front, they were all relatively equal. With this car, unless you have a rather significant tire advantage, you simply cannot pass. The track has the potential to put on great races, and the support from the community is excellent. We simply need a car that is not so aero dependent.<\/p>\n

\"2024<\/p>\n

No, Seriously, the NASCAR Playoffs May Actually Change for 2026<\/p>\n

2. On this week\u2019s episode of Door Bumper Clear<\/a>, Jordan Bianchi mentioned the possibility of the Cup playoffs switching to a four-race final round. Would this be an improvement over the current format?<\/p>\n

Henderson:<\/strong> I mean, you can take a cheeseburger off the dollar menu and charge $4 for it, but it\u2019s still cheap and unsatisfying.<\/p>\n

Allaway:<\/strong> I guess it would be better than what we currently have, but\u00a0I still want the whole thing killed off. Making this change wouldn\u2019t fix the fundamental issues with the playoffs existing at all, especially knowing that the original reason for having it doesn\u2019t hold water anymore.\u00a0It would also beg the question of what it would mean for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series, which already have three rounds in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Hansen:<\/strong> Having a four-race round to decide the champion is a good step in the right direction. Instead of having the championship decided in one race like the NFL does with the Super Bowl, this proposed change would be a welcome sight for fans not wanting to have the champion crowned in only one race. Consistency should still hold some amount of weight in determining the champion, and having four races instead of one is the right ways to go.<\/p>\n

Neff:<\/strong> Well, it isn\u2019t a 36-round final, which is what many would like to see who are not network executives. It certainly would be an improvement over the winner-take-all-in-one-race format. It is simply unacceptable for the possibility to exist where a dominant driver can have their entire season derailed by one issue in the final race. A four-race run would afford the best teams to do their best and recover from a hiccup. There has been some discussion about giving the playoff drivers their own points in the final 16 races, and that isn\u2019t a terrible idea. If Josh Berry<\/a> had finished dead last among 16 drivers instead of 36, he would not be at such a huge disadvantage going into the final race of the round. A combination of both of those ideas might actually be a good idea.<\/p>\n

3. Which non-playoff driver is most likely to play the role of spoiler in the Bristol Motor Speedway night race?<\/p>\n

Allaway:<\/strong> Chris Buescher<\/a>. He won this race in 2022 and has run very well at Bristol in the past. I wouldn\u2019t be shocked if he puts himself up in contention to win this thing, and I want that because I want non-playoff drivers to throw a wrench into this thing as much as possible.<\/p>\n

Neff: <\/strong>There are a couple of possibilities at Bristol for a non-playoff driver to snag a victory. RFK Racing has some decent speed in its cars lately, and two of its drivers have scored victories at the Last Great Colosseum in the last five years. Putting money on Buescher to grab the trophy Saturday night would not be a bad gamble. The other potential surprise winner is Kyle Busch<\/a>. A driver with eight wins on the concrete surface and one on dirt in the Cup series, nine wins in Xfinity and five in Trucks should not really be a surprise, but the way the No. 8 team has performed, it certainly would be one.<\/p>\n

Hansen:<\/strong> You can\u2019t rule out Busch when it comes to Bristol. Busch is an eight-time race winner at the Last Great Colosseum over the course of his Cup career; however, only one of his eight wins at Bristol came in the Next Gen car, when he won the 2022 spring race on the Bristol dirt track. Recent history suggests Busch\u2019s best days at Bristol might be behind him, as his best finish in the previous five races held on the concrete surface is 14th, which Busch accomplished this spring. Ty Gibbs<\/a> is another dark horse for this weekend, as he has come close to winning at Bristol before. In spring 2024, Gibbs led 137 laps on a day when teammate Hamlin held on for the win while managing his tires better than the rest of the field. Earlier this season, Gibbs had one of his best runs of the season, finishing third. With 114 Cup starts under his belt and still looking for his first career win, be on the watch for Gibbs to make some noise as NASCAR rolls into Thunder Valley.<\/p>\n

Henderson: <\/strong>This is cheating a little, but I like any of the RFK drivers. Brad Keselowski<\/a> has three Bristol wins, and Buescher has a sword as well. Meanwhile, Ryan Preece<\/a>\u2018s 14.9 average finish is eighth best among all Cup drivers with five or more starts, and he\u2019s getting closer every week to his first win. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see any of them take the checkers. And as much as he\u2019s struggled and as much bad luck as he\u2019s had, I won\u2019t count out Busch at Bristol until he\u2019s not on the entry list.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Can Connor Zilisch Earn 5th Straight Xfinity Win At Bristol?<\/p>\n

4. Who\u2019s the one Xfinity driver who missed the playoffs you would have liked to have seen make a run at the title?<\/p>\n

Neff: <\/strong>It is a bit of a tossup between a couple drivers, but Jeb Burton<\/a> would have been fun to see make the playoffs. The little team that could came very close, and it would be enjoyable to see it have at least a remote shot at the championship. Burton has always been able to get the most out of his cars, and he very well might have shocked some people if he could have made it to Talladega with a chance. He\u2019d have to have made it past the first round, but if you\u2019re in it, you have a shot.<\/p>\n

Henderson: <\/strong>None of them. There are some talented teams and drivers who missed the cut, but they missed the cut because they aren\u2019t championship-caliber this year. You can\u2019t honestly look at one of them and think he should win the title over drivers like Connor Zilisch<\/a> or Justin Allgaier<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Allaway:<\/strong> William Sawalich<\/a>.\u00a0These days, I\u2019m looking at Sawalich similarly to how I looked at Ricky Stenhouse Jr.<\/a> in 2010. A lot of fans these days don\u2019t realize how close Stenhouse was to getting dumped in 2010 from RFK. He actually got parked for a couple of races that year in favor of Brian Ickler<\/a>, who\u00a0hasn\u2019t been seen in Xfinity since the Style Network\u2019s\u00a0Fast and Fabulous: A NASCAR Wedding\u00a0aired. The only difference is that Sawalich brings more funding than Stenhouse did. In recent weeks, Sawalich has shown a substantial amount of improvement, and I would have liked to have seen what he could have done.<\/p>\n

Hansen:<\/strong> After having the best season stat-wise of his NASCAR career last year in the Truck Series, I would\u2019ve liked to have seen Christian Eckes<\/a> qualify for the Xfinity playoffs in his rookie season. While his 2025 season has had a lot of ups and downs, Eckes has had several strong performances as of late, including a third-place finish at Gateway. Eckes has scored 12 top-10 finishes this season, and if he continues to put together some strong runs down the stretch, he\u2019ll have an opportunity to bring the Kaulig Racing No. 16 back to victory lane before season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

\"Donate<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He’s the manager of the site’s FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday<\/a> and serves as the site’s Sports Car racing<\/a> editor.<\/p>\n

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy\u2019s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace\u2019s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com’s Around the Track page.<\/p>\n

\"Frontstretch.com\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What is it that Mike Neff doesn\u2019t do? Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He’s also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1. Was World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway a good addition to the NASCAR Cup Series playoff schedule,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":220529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1406,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-220528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-nascar","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115190653706718583","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}