It can be difficult for NASCAR to keep everyone happy with its structure, especially the championship format. But when one of the sport’s biggest legends, Richard Petty weighs in, it can become a matter of debate. Understandably, he comes from an era of pure racing and endurance, where finishing first, throughout the season, was everything. And now that the times have changed, Petty seems to be reminiscing about his days of racing.

Richard Petty on the current state of racing

“I always looked at the points then who does the best all year? We’re not football, we’re not baseball, we’re not basketball, where it comes to playoffs.” Understandably, Petty was not a fan of the elimination-style playoffs, which NASCAR followed until last year.

And fair enough. That system rewarded single race wins more than overall consistency, and so NASCAR took a massive step and brought back the old Chase championship format, where consistency is everything. However, even this championship system is still not old enough for Richard Petty.

“I was fortunate to win a championship seven times, but I won in five different ways that counted the points. Okay, so that means we just had the best years,” he added.

At the time when The King was dominating the field, NASCAR had a very standard championship format. The points were counted throughout the system; there was no Chase, no playoff, and the driver with the maximum points at the end of the season would be declared the champion. Consistency, understandably, was most important.

This is a very common championship format compared to what NASCAR has been using in the past years. Most series, including Formula 1, use a similar format. But one of the issues with this is that the drivers could be crowned champions even halfway through the season, and the remaining races would become rather boring for the fans.

Meanwhile, the Chase format still gives some excitement. For example, Tyler Reddick has dominated the field so far this season. Although he seems to be on his way to a proper championship contention when NASCAR moves to the Chase at the end of the regular season, there will still be some uncertainty, and other drivers will also have a possibility to win the title. The Chase format strikes a balance between both the traditional all-season points format and the playoff.

Why is Tyler Reddick still not guaranteed his first title?

Even with a whopping five race wins within the first nine races of the 2026 Cup Series season, 23XI Racing’s

 Tyler Reddick is still not guaranteed a race win, and this is the excitement that the Chase format brings.

Even though he leads the standings right now, this will only allow him to qualify for the Chase with 15 other drivers, and with a points reset (although he will still have a slight advantage), he will have to start over once again.

Although one might argue that his current performance has been far too strong and he could replicate it during the Chase, that is a little difficult to guarantee.

One of the biggest reasons for the #45 team’s domination is the lack of performance that Chevrolet has delivered this season with their new ZL1 body. Even the best teams, including the likes of Hendrick Motorsports, have struggled to win races. The manufacturer has won only one race so far this season, and Toyota has seven wins under its belt.

But it is understood that Chevy will soon be back to their peak performance, or at least till the Chase begins. The likes of Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott have already remained consistent enough to qualify for the Chase, and if they start challenging for race wins soon, Reddick and the rest of the 23XI crew will have to deliver massive challenges with every passing race to guarantee their title. This is one of the things that Richard Petty and others did not have to worry about during their years of racing.

With that being said, Reddick has still delivered a surprisingly dominating performance. He has been consistent and has managed to avoid even the biggest wrecks. So even if he doesn’t end up winning, he will be one of the strongest contenders.