"Go back to the original system": Dale Earnhardt Jr. pitches the old-school way in ongoing NASCAR format discourse
Recently on his podcast show, Dale Jr. Download, Dale Earnhardt Jr. addressed the criticism against NASCAR's playoff system. Following Joey Logano's win at Phoenix, which earned him his third Cup championship, many fans and insiders scrutinized the current playoff system.
Junior's co-host mentioned the comments from Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi on the Teardown where they expressed their surprise with a 15th-place driver in the regular season winning the championship. Reacting to this, Earnhardt Jr. said:
"That's the problem I think, if there is a problem or if there is a gripe it's, are we supposed to be all right with that type of performance throughout the regular season?"
Earnhardt Jr. took up the example of a wildcard team in the NFL with a nine and six record, having the pathway to the Super Bowl and potentially winning it. He said that it is unlikely but if that happens, no one demands the system to be changed. He added:
"Nobody's complaining about the Wild Card teams being in there and he was literally kind of a wild card team in this format. Do I love the format? No. I think there should be more than one race run to the title. We can all talk in circles about that. I want them to go back to the original system of no playoffs."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes NASCAR is simply managing expectations with recent comments on playoff system
With the conversation continuing on this subject, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s co-host mentioned that Steve O'Donnell claimed they'd consider opening up the playoff conversation. He wondered if it would mean that finally, they could get a three-race final round as opposed to the current one-race winner taking it all.
Earnhardt Jr. didn't think NASCAR would take any radical or significant steps in that direction as he described:
"I think what they're doing there is just leaving themselves the opportunity to open that door if they feel like that if this were to continue or if there is a ton of criticism, a ton of push back from the fans because let's face it man, whether they will admit it or not NASCAR absolutely ebs and flows due to whatever might be the loudest conversation on social media."
Earnhardt Jr. mentioned how everyone has a different feeling and opinions on how things should go. Speaking about himself, he said he's a traditionalist, so for him, the best way to determine a champion is to have a season of running all the races, how it used to be back in the day.
"I feel like that's the purest way to know that this person did it all right. But this current format gives us better moments gives us more drama, way more. People can argue and you're going to tell me, 'Look at the attendance, look at viewership,' all those things. I don't give a s**t. This stuff, right now, the way they have the elimination and all that it is I can't look away. I can't look away, and it is here for a reason. There's a reason why they changed it," he added.
With that said, Dale Earnhardt Jr. remarked that the current format is neither perfect nor right, which is why it has always changed and has had so many iterations. He predicted that it would continue to change because NASCAR is looking for that 'perfect format', which in his opinion, may not even exist.
But if NASCAR does end up changing the current format or if they won't, Dale Jr. said he wouldn't be mad. He added that he doesn't pretend to know what the right format is.
However, to crown a champion, Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed that they need 'a little bit more of a sample size' than just one race.