It can be said with much confidence that Joe Gibbs’ clan is team ‘Old Playoff Format’. And why wouldn’t they be?  It’s no secret that the current elimination style and winner-take-all system really did Denny Hamlin dirty, who had a significant lead in the championship finale at Phoenix. NASCAR’s top brass have been doing their best to deliver a new and refined playoff system, but there’s still much to work on.

Hamlin had been dominant throughout the race, but a late caution and tire gamble ruined it for him, and under the current playoff system, Kyle Larson, one of the 4 championship drivers who finished the highest amongst the title contenders, took the championship. This brought in a flurry of hate for the playoff system, and all Denny Hamlin supporters slammed NASCAR. With Mike Forde explaining the delay in forming the new playoff format, JGR’s top brass has already laid down its verdict.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Dave Alpern drops his idle playoff format

Speaking on the official Joe Gibbs Racing account, team president Dave Alpern didn’t hold back from laying out his plan. He said, “I don’t like it. You’ve heard the analogy now said many times. We’re the only sport right now where you can have a 30-to-nothing lead and lose on a fluke play. We have to eliminate that. So again, if it were up to me, there would be playoffs. It would be cumulative of a number of races. I would definitely eliminate one race.”

And it’s true, the NASCAR playoff system is under heavy criticism, because many believe it’s not leaving enough room for consistency and season-long excellence. Long before Kyle Larson clinched his second title, he argued that “if anything, I just think the format, in a way, devalues a championship,” pointing out that it’s possible to dominate all year and still lose it all in the final race.

These further highlight that a single race cannot determine the finale. That concern isn’t just coming from current drivers, but legends too. Richard Petty has been vocal about how the modern format undermines the value of performing well across the entire season. He argues that a true NASCAR champion should be the one who proves themselves over all 36 races and not just a handful at the end. He said, ” So again, to me, that kind of shows that the championship should be a year-long thing, not just one or two race deal.” But it’s Denny Hamlin who came in with the bold claim.

More recently, Denny Hamlin slammed NASCAR for its need and greed for entertainment. He also believes that the NASCAR playoff system penalizes drivers the most out of any sport. He said, “You know, it kind of in the bigger picture, maybe there’s another sport, I can’t think of another, maybe I can’t think of another that penalizes the leader or the winning team more than what probably NASCAR does. And a lot of it is just for the sake of entertainment. They’ve again, we went down this road of, you know, we’re just going to go chase more entertainment, more entertainment, and less on the sports side.” 

NASCAR’s Managing Director of Communications, Mike Ford, has said the league is narrowing its options with a 36-race championship likely, but the playoff format is still under heavy debate. While some track presidents and team owners argue that playoffs help sell tickets and attract sponsors, others believe the system needs major changes or removal altogether.

Moreover, elimination playoff points confuse casual viewers, while a one-race championship doesn’t provide a large enough sample size to crown a season-long champion. If the playoffs do remain, NASCAR is considered shifting into a multi-race title fight, with a four-race championship round emerging as the most likely scenario. But amid all this, Denny Hamlin believes that the playoff system is here to stay.

Denny Hamlin delivers the harsh truth about the playoffs

The JGR driver has once again doubled down on his firm views regarding NASCAR’s modern playoff structure. He emphasizes that it isn’t going anywhere and that both the industry and its fan base need to embrace it. Denny Hamlin long advocated for a model that places greater value on full-season excellence, a philosophy shared by several of his NASCAR peers.

Hamlin said, “For people like myself, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, I think we’re all for a bigger sample size. So you don’t know what that feels like, you don’t know what it feels like to dominate a season and then all of a sudden a format or whatever keeps resetting the score on you and then finally you end up losing in overtime.”

The format debuted in 2004, and through every adjustment made in the years since, the championship is ultimately funneled toward a dramatic one-race, four-driver finale. This can wipe out the meaning of long-term consistency, while supporters maintain that it injects high-stakes drama, unpredictability, and spectacle into the final round.

This results in a deeply divided landscape. One side pushes for a broader season-spanning sample size, and the other embraces a system built for intensity and entertainment. With the NASCAR playoff system still underway, it can be said with much certainty that the NASCAR community, especially JGR, will be looking out for the changes.