It is no secret that the Super Bowl has gripped not only the football community but also the NASCAR community. At the peak of Sunday’s showdown, before the main Super Bowl event, the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos were battling for a spot in the finale. But what followed the game is what stole the headlines. NASCAR legend Jeff Burton didn’t hold back, absolutely roasting his son’s comment about the losing team. And now there’s no turning back from this.

Harrison Burton started strong, writing, “Am I the only one who thinks 3 points still matter in an NFL game lol.” What followed is when things got interesting. His father, NASCAR legend Jeff Burton, didn’t hold back in his reply.

“You and many Denver fans,” the 58-year-old driver said. That lighthearted jab was enough to send his son, who seems to be a Denver Broncos fan, into a spiral.

The Broncos’ season ended in a painful 10-7 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

In a matchup defined by snow, wind, and brutal cold, offenses struggled all day, turning the game into a defensive slog where every scoring play carried heavy weight.

With the Broncos failing to convert key opportunities, a single field goal, worth three points, became the difference between reaching Super Bowl LX and watching from home.

However, the younger Burton wasn’t the only one supporting the Broncos. NASCAR on FOX pit road analyst Regan Smith joined the party.

“This game is great! @Broncos got ’em right where they want ’em. Shouldn’t be this close this far into it! Sean Payton is about to work magic!” he wrote as the game was underway. Unfortunately, the night didn’t end well for him or other Denver fans.

Meanwhile, the Patriots advanced to the Super Bowl for the 12th time after a gritty defensive performance. Quarterback Drake Maye was instrumental, contributing both on the ground and through the air, including the team’s only touchdown on a six-yard run. New England’s defense also made key plays down the stretch, including a late interception that helped seal the win.

Now, they are set to play the Kansas City Chiefs on February 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, while the Broncos have to kiss their Super Bowl dreams goodbye.

In a game where the Broncos managed only one touchdown and couldn’t capitalize on crucial drives, the idea that three points still matter wasn’t just a theory, it was the entire story of the night.

The weather made the game even tougher. Heavy snow and freezing temperatures at Empower Field at Mile High turned the field into a challenge and forced both teams to rely on conservative play-calling.

Jeff’s reply wasn’t a harsh critique of his son; it was the kind of sports humor that comes when a fan base is crushed by a near-miss, something NASCAR is well-versed in. Just look at Denny Hamlin’s near-miss Cup championship after chasing it for almost two decades, or Connor Zilisch, the 2025 Xfinity title favorite, missing out on glory.

And that is exactly why changes were made to the NASCAR playoff systems. And now, reflecting on the new Chase format, Jeff Burton couldn’t help but comment on NASCAR’s new direction.

Jeff Burton calls on NASCAR’s new era

After 12 seasons of the elimination-style playoff format, which left many drivers and fans frustrated and disappointed, NASCAR shifted gears towards a new approach. However, as Jeff Burton recently noted, the effects of this change won’t be immediate.

“Do I think starting at Daytona, we’re now all of a sudden going to have the largest viewership ever in the history of the Daytona 500 because this change was made? I don’t think that. No. I think we’re going to have to build our sport a day at a time, an hour at a time, a race at a time. There is no magic pill we’re going to take to get us back to the max popularity we had. This is a step toward what we all hope is the right thing,” Burton said to Kenny Wallace in an interview.

Beginning in 2026, NASCAR will implement a Chase-style championship system. Mark Martin described it as a compromise between the previous playoff structure and a full-season points format.

Even with the top 16 cutoff and a 10-race postseason, drivers and fans are unlikely to forget the previous playoff format, and the sport shouldn’t expect overnight gains in enthusiasm or popularity.

The 2025 season highlighted flaws in the old system. Denny Hamlin came agonizingly close to a Cup championship after 19 years in the sport, while Connor Zilisch nearly captured the Xfinity title following a 10-win season, yet neither succeeded because of the playoff format.

Add to that the string of dramatic on-track incidents, from Austin Dillon’s aggressive bump-and-run at Richmond in 2024 to Carson Hocevar’s confrontational driving in 2025, and it became clear how the playoff system can place drivers under extreme pressure.

Burton acknowledges that breaking old habits won’t be easy, but he sees promise in the new direction.

“I think this is the latest move to try to drive the sport where it needs to be. And in this case, it’s by looking backwards. It’s by saying, ‘Hey, we tried to look forward in these ways, and it didn’t work. So, let’s look backwards. Let’s look at what our fans truly expect us to be, make an adjustment.’ NASCAR had the courage to make changes they believed would ultimately be good long-term decisions. They now have the courage to say, ‘We were wrong. Let’s go back,” he said.

Now, as NASCAR fans await the season opener at the Daytona 500, only time will tell if the new format fulfills its purpose.