NASCAR’s playoff system has always had drivers grumbling, and it’s not hard to see why. The format, with its win-and-you’re-in vibe and one-race finale, often feels like a high-stakes gamble rather than a true test of a season’s worth of grit. Denny Hamlin had once put it bluntly, “One race shouldn’t be bigger than the other 35 races.” He’s got a point. When Joey Logano won the 2024 championship with an average finish of 17.1, the worst ever for a Cup champ, it raised eyebrows. The system seems to reward a hot streak or a lucky break over consistent dominance, and that’s got drivers like Hamlin questioning its fairness.

Chris Buescher had a reflective take, “If you’re going to take three races… I’d say just go back and add up points from the (season-opening) Daytona 500… Now you come down to one race, and you say this is the one that matters. It’s tough for me to say that’s the best way to do it.” He’s hinting that a multi-race championship or even the old season-long points system might better reflect a driver’s full body of work.

Then there’s Mark Martin, a NASCAR legend who doesn’t hold back, “The word playoff is very catchy. It’s wonderful, except, we ain’t playing. Nobody plays… If it was really a playoff, there’d be four cars on the track, not 36.” Martin’s calling out the playoff label as a flashy gimmick that doesn’t match the sport’s reality, a full field racing when only four are truly in the hunt.

The frustration’s real, and it’s not just the current crop of drivers feeling it. Kevin Harvick, a former champion with a knack for speaking his mind, is diving headfirst into the debate, using two of NASCAR’s biggest names, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, to expose what he sees as a fatal flaw in the system. It’s a spicy take, and it’s got the garage buzzing.

Best Car Nor Best Driver Wins, Says Harvick

On the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, Harvick didn’t pull punches when dissecting NASCAR’s playoff system. “I don’t think the best car has won. You know since we don’t think the best car has won the championship. I’m just calling it a car okay because in order to have a car you got to have the best driver to win the championship. You got to have the best driver and the best team put together right to win a championship and but I don’t. I don’t know that the best car for a full year has won the championship in this format all the time.”

Harvick’s throwing shade at the playoff format introduced in 2014, with its elimination rounds and winner-take-all finale. He’s arguing that the team dominating the season often gets robbed by a single bad race. Take 2020, when Harvick himself was the poster child for this. He racked up 9 wins, 20 top-5s, and led 1,531 laps. Nobody came close. But a late-race crash at Martinsville knocked him out in the Round of 8, and Chase Elliott, with 5 wins and 11 top-5s, took the title at Phoenix. It’s a sore spot for Harvick, proof that one off-day can trump a year of brilliance.

He digs deeper, pointing to Kyle Busch’s 2015 championship as a prime example of the system’s flaws. “But I think that like when you go back to 2020 we won nine race. You have the best car. We just didn’t. Didn’t have the best car at the last race. Yeah, you look at Kyle Busch winning the championship. I’m still not sold that. You should be able to miss four, five, six races or whatever it was and be eligible to win a championship. I think you’re hurt and you shouldn’t win the championship. I think if you can’t make all the races you know there’s something to be said about maybe one week but that’s where that owner.”

Busch’s title came after a brutal crash at Daytona left him with a broken leg and foot, forcing him to miss 11 races. NASCAR’s medical waiver let him stay playoff-eligible, and Busch delivered, winning 4 races and squeaking into the top 30 to clinch the championship at Homestead. Harvick’s not buying it, arguing that missing a third of the season should disqualify anyone, no matter how strong their comeback. It’s a bold stance, questioning the legitimacy of a two-time champ’s crown.

Harvick’s co-host Mamba sharpens the point, “That’s where the owner driver thing comes into it because your car made it through the driver didn’t.” Busch’s No. 18 Toyota kept racking up owner points with substitute drivers like David Ragan and Erik Jones, keeping the car competitive while Busch was sidelined. Harvick’s beef is that championships should reward the driver’s grind, not the team’s ability to patchwork results. It’s a quirky rule that muddies what it means to be a champion, and Harvick’s calling it out as a loophole that cheapens the title.

Then he turns to Jimmie Johnson’s 2016 championship, “The car still wasn’t going to win the championship. Even going back to Jimmie Johnson’s Championship. All the other three guys wrecked he brought this up the other day. The other three guys wrecked in the championship race and he won by default. So it’s a really tough competition.”

Johnson’s seventh title at Homestead saw him capitalize on chaos. Carl Edwards, the strongest car, got wrecked blocking Joey Logano, who also faded after the crash. Kyle Busch struggled with handling, leaving Johnson to pounce on the final restart despite leading just 3 laps. Harvick’s framing it as a “default” win, where Johnson’s clutch move outshone a season of less dominant stats. It’s another case where the playoff system crowned a champ based on one race, not 36, and Harvick’s not here for it.

Busch’s championship hunger

One year ago, Harrison Burton pulled off a stunner, coming from outside the top 30 in points to win at Daytona and snag a playoff spot. It was a massive moment for Burton, his first Cup win, but he fizzled out in the first round, finishing 16th out of 16 playoff drivers. For a young driver, it was a career-defining spark. But for a two-time champ like Kyle Busch, who finished second to Burton that day, the “win and you’re in” system doesn’t mean much without deeper playoff success.

Busch laid it out in a Daytona media scrum, “If you’re Harrison Burton your way into the playoffs and then you’re out the first round, that doesn’t mean shit. For me, a successful season is making the playoffs, and making it into the Round of 8. Making it from the Round of 8 to the Round of 4 theres a lot of situations that can come into play that can get you in there, or out there. A successful season is being in the playoffs, winning races, and being in the final eight.”

Busch’s perspective is telling. He’s in the midst of his longest winless streak, and 2024 was a rough one, no wins, no Round of 8, and a playoff miss, mirroring his 2023 season where he exited in the Round of 12. His teammate Austin Dillon, meanwhile, vaulted from 28th to a playoff spot with a Richmond win, the 14th different winner in 2025. Busch isn’t sweating a playoff berth unless it comes with a deep run. Anything less doesn’t measure up to his championship pedigree.

Contrast that with Brad Keselowski, another two-time champ, who sees any playoff spot as a big deal, a chance to stay relevant. Busch’s higher bar shows why Harvick’s critique stings, champions like Busch and Johnson set a standard where only deep runs or season-long dominance should define a title. Harvick’s calling out a system that sometimes hands the crown to the driver who gets hot at the right time, not the one who carried the season. It’s a debate that lights up the NASCAR world, where legacy, luck, and legitimacy collide, leaving fans and drivers alike wondering what a championship really means.