Denny Hamlin calls out his 'biggest problem' with NASCAR playoff format
Denny Hamlin didn't shy away from speaking on the controversies that befuddled during this past weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway.
On the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin called out the sport's playoff format as the culprit for the unnecessary drama that took away from the action on the track this past Sunday. It's evident Hamlin believes something needs to change, and this season's Championship 4 participants are driving that point home for him.
"That is the biggest problem, is that you're watering down your superstars," Hamlin said , regarding his issue with the current format. "... Parity, while y'all may deem it as great, isn't that a negative? Because you're not letting your stars shine. ... It is watering down the superstars of our sport. No question about it. Absolutely. That is the gist of — I guarantee you, if NASCAR could put a playbook together and say, 'Who do we want? Who are the best four, ratings and all that?' Is this the four? No. It's the problem with parity. It's the problem with creating a format that allows win and you're in. It just ignores all the poor performance that you had before that.
"We can talk about the Patriots team that went undefeated until the Super Bowl. Well, you have to — there's a minimum standard, in which you had to have, to get into the playoffs to begin with. Our standards have, again, they have lowered the standards over the years. It used to be 10. Then, they moved to 12. Then, they moved to 16. They just keep moving the bar lower and lower to be part of it. And now it's just win, win and you're in the playoffs. Harrison Burton got in. Daytona on a superspeedway race. Went from 30-something in points to 16th that quick. There's something wrong with it."
While Hamlin believes he got the raw end of the deal as it pertains to the format this season, he's more annoyed at a driver with seven wins like Kyle Larson missing the title-deciding race than anything.
"I hope they look into fixing it, because as a sport, and this — I'm not talking about me. I don't think that we performed our best this playoff. Should we be part of the final four? By the statistics, probably. But I would argue we just — we didn't have it this year," Hamlin added. "It's more the Kyle Larsons of the world that, you win the most races, you lead in every category, you're the most dominant car most weeks, and yet you're out because of the system. That just — that bugs me, because it does not reward greatness."
Everyone won't agree with Denny Hamlin, but he's making some valid points. Still, the current NASCAR playoff format looks to be here to stay, meaning controversial moments like this past weekend's drama at Martinsville will be prevalent, as well.
