Richard Petty Questions NASCAR’s Integrity as SVG’s Playoff Spot Leaves Him Disappointed

Richard Petty has a record of 200 NASCAR wins and 7 championships, yet none of his wins came at a road course. King Petty was accustomed to parking his iconic #43 car in the victory lanes of tracks like Rockingham, North Wilkesboro Speedway, and Martinsville. Short ovals have been the original roots of NASCAR, and the speedways came on later. The only road course race that featured regularly was Riverside, and it was seen as a one-off race. Little did anyone back in that era know that road racing could change the dynamics of modern-day NASCAR.

In 2025, not just one, but there are five road course tracks and a street racing event. And thanks to NASCAR’s win and you’re in feature, a road course ringer needs to turn up on their stomping ground and seal their place in the playoffs. That is essentially a shortcut for those not at par with oval racing, and Shane van Gisbergen’s win in Mexico had that kind of feeling. Although it was huge for an international driver to grab a win in the inaugural international race in the modern era, it opened the floor for debate surrounding the legitimacy of the format, which rewards a wild car winner. Leigh Diffey and Freddie Kraft kick-started the conversation, and now Richard Petty has shared his honest take on the discussion.

Richard Petty feels road racing isn’t NASCAR

Heading into the Mexico race weekend, SVG was 33rd in points, far away from the conversation of being a contender to compete for the top 16 spots. But, after Sunday’s heroics, he is on par with Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Ross Chastain, all of whom have won a race each. But, comparing SVG to these drivers isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, as they are all better than him on Sundays on ovals. With just 10 races left in the regular season, only six spots are now open for the drivers to make it into the playoffs. And, at this rate, the likes of Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick could miss out on the championship race. And this idea hasn’t gone down well with Richard Petty.

Addressing the fan questions via Instagram, Petty didn’t mince words in calling out NASCAR’s broken system that sets up the field for championship contenders. “The way they got this thing fixed, if you win and you’re in, that can’t be right. From a standpoint like you’ve got somebody that’s 3oth in points that’s gonna make the playoffs. Hey man, what happened to the guy that’s 15th or 16th or 18th? You know running good, finishing good.”

This situation isn’t new. We saw that last year. Harrison Burton and Chase Briscoe punched their way into the playoffs with wins at Daytona and Darlington. And like SVG, they didn’t have the best of the runs until that one wildcard race. However, the script has been flipped completely in 2025, as four more road course races are in the schedule that could decide the fate of star drivers like Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace. Petty wasn’t done; he even called out NASCAR for adding so many road course races to the schedule, allowing the wild card winner to run for the championship.

“You’re making a championship situation by winning a road course, which is not really NASCAR to begin with. So from that standpoint, I think they gonna have to jockey around and change some of this kind of stuff, “ Kind Petty concluded. This system has received a backlash from the NASCAR community, and it reached the boiling point last year when Joey Logano won the championship. All he needed was one win at Nashville, and then the lucky break at Charlotte Roval and next thing you know, he was walking away with his third Cup Series title.

In defense of SVG and Logano, both of them were only trying their best to play to the tunes of NASCAR. They haven’t formed the rules, and the rest of the field has the option to use similar tactics or strategies to get the best out of this format. But, how long will the governing body turn a blind eye to an issue that has come under scrutiny time and again? And is there a way to fix this broken system?

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Denny Hamlin’s plan to fix NASCAR’s broken format

The veteran JGR driver doesn’t shy away from speaking his mind on the issues surrounding NASCAR. Be it issues with the Next Gen car or demand for more horsepower in the current package, he has sparked this conversation in the hopes of getting it fixed. Hey, NASCAR is working behind the scenes to increase the engine power, and they also adopted the In-season tournament which was essentially Hamlin’s idea. After last year’s season concluded, he also shared his take on what would be an ideal format that would set the stage for a championship run.

Hamlin proposed doubling the playoff points awarded to the winners and cutting the playoff field down to 12 drivers without a single race finale. “If I had to play it perfectly in my mind, it’d be 12 drivers, three races, three races, three races, three races. You know what I mean? So, I think I would double the playoff points. I think all the playoff points that you acquire during the regular season should be doubled, because it will really reward those that have excellence throughout the entire season. I think if you lowered the playoff field to 12, it would stop the P29 car for making the playoffs because they won a race. … I think that it really forces you to be on your game the entire season.”

Not a bad idea. There were a few who wanted the old Chase format back in the mix, where points would decide the champion based on the overall season. That is how most of the major auto racing series in the world function, but for some reason, NASCAR does things differently.