Shortly after Joey Logano won the 2024 Cup Series championship, changes were afoot. A swathe of fans lashed out at Logano’s low stats, as he had the worst average finish of 17.1 as a title winner. The outrage prompted NASCAR to form a committee to determine the most ‘deserving’ champion. People were not happy with Logano’s single win in the regular season as opposed to Kyle Larson’s four wins. The sport is on the cusp of yielding to the overarching demand, but Jeff Burton goes against the majority.

Joey Logano has won three championships under the current format. The No. 22 Team Penske fold has mastered the elimination format introduced in 2014, evident in Logano’s clutch rebound last year. This ability to rise to the occasion and win when it matters the most has its own skill – and that is what Jeff Burton vehemently defended recently.

Jeff Burton stands by the champions

Debuting in NASCAR as an Xfinity Series driver back in 1988, Jeff Burton has seen a lot in the sport. Before he worked as a TV analyst for NBC Sports, Burton made nearly 700 starts at the Cup level, winning 21 races. The veteran retired in 2014, the very year NASCAR introduced the elimination playoff format. Despite his lack of experience under it, Burton batted for it, and especially for the people who have won under it. He declared that the true winners are those who play by the rules the best. “The competitors have to play by the rules that the sanctioning body creates, and the ones that do it best are the champions – period, end of story,” Burton said.

Considering Jeff Burton’s proclamation, Joey Logano is the most successful in the present format. Besides his three championships, he leads all drivers with the most appearances in the Championship 4 (six). Logano also leads all active drivers with the most wins in the playoffs at 15. Burton defended this sustained success, going against the ‘illegitimate’ narrative of Logano’s one-win championship. He said that he does not “buy into this thing where some people want to say that the way this works, we don’t have a legitimate champion. I call complete horse crap on that.”

At the same time, the veteran driver was open to a playoff tweak. The NASCAR playoff committee is close to reaching an agreement, with Jordan Bianchi releasing a rumored format recently. According to the rumor, a three-race championship round may be in place. Burton said, “I will also say that if we had more races to determine a champion, I’m good with that. I think that does do some things that some critics of the current playoffs where one race shouldn’t mean this much – I can get around that. That is a realistic argument.”

Yet Jeff Burton lashed out at the critics of Team Penske, a team that has dominated the championship conversation since 2022. He said their work is no less than that of other teams with a higher number of wins. “I also can’t sit here and tell you that Joey Logano, or Ryan Blaney isn’t a deserving champion. They did it. No one else did. That’s where I get a little bit flustered in this conversation. People can disagree whether one race is right or not. I understand and hear both sides of it. But don’t diminish the accomplishments in a super high-stress, high-pressure environment who delivered. Teams, pit crews, drivers – don’t diminish their effort. That’s not fair to them.”

Evidently, Joey Logano’s 2024 championship has a strong voice of support. While the rift deepens in the NASCAR playoff debate, one driver believes things would not change much.

Clinging to the past in vain

Alex Bowman is currently 35 points below the elimination cutline. The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports driver went through a winless regular season and finished in 26th place at last Sunday’s race in Gateway. He called it “a sh—-, unacceptable day on all fronts.” Going into Bristol, Bowman is in a high-pressure, must-win situation, having switched his 48 crew with Carson Hocevar’s. Amidst this spiraling situation, the HMS driver dreams of a return to the old, full-season points format. Bowman confessed his opinion in the playoff debate recently, taking the side of Mark Martin and Co. “I would just like 36 races and call it good,” he said.

However, Bowman is also aware of the unmatched thrill that the current format offers. Fans are left clueless about the champion until the very final race, and that is why Bowman believes the current format is here to stay. “I think we all want to sit here and think we’re race car drivers and that this is some extremely serious job that we do and that the little details of being a race car driver are this super important thing, and to us and to people ingrained in the sport, they are. But at the end of the day, we’re entertainers. We’re creating entertainment, and our job is to entertain the fans. I think the playoffs create a lot of excitement, drama, animosity, and moments.”

With NASCAR getting closer to a decision about the playoffs, the anticipation is only growing. Let’s wait and see which side of the rift gains more traction.