“A lot of work to do”: Kevin Harvick hopeful of NASCAR fixing controversial championship format 

Former Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick felt the current championship format needs work. In a recent Harvick Happy Hour video, the NASCAR veteran explained how tweaking the point system would do the job.

There was a time when the driver with the most points at the end of the season took home the championship title. However, today, one needs to do three things to win the ultimate honor: qualify for the playoffs, win a Round of 8 race, and win the championship event. One’s performance throughout the remainder of the season doesn’t matter as much, and neither does their position on points.

“I still think that we can make the point system a little bit stronger from the regular season standpoint and what that regular season champ and maybe two or three get,” Harvick observed. (0:39)

This year’s Cup champion Joey Logano had the least top-5s, the least top-10s, and per Motorsportswire, “the lowest average finishing position of any Cup Series champion in the modern era.” Nobody in the current format has been as low as 15th on points and made it to the Championship 4. So when Logano won, the fans had a lot to complain about.

However, Harvick thought it normal for a spectator sports league like NASCAR to revisit its championship format during the offseason.

“They got a lot of work to do but I think that's typical for any offseason,” Kevin Harvick further added.

In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NASCAR’s NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition, Elton Sawyer, said that the sport was open to suggestions.

“We’re open,” Sawyer declared. “You know, we’re all ears on it, and we have some ideas, but we want to make sure as an industry, you know, we’re doing the right thing for our sport and the right thing to crown our champions.” (0:52)

Notably, that’s not the only thing that Harvick thought NASCAR could change.

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Kevin Harvick suggests changes to NASCAR’s current short-track package

NASCAR introduced a new set of tires for the Cup Series competitors at Martinsville just over a week ago. They thought introducing these softer left-side tires could improve the racing experience on short tracks like Martinsville.

But that did not work out at Phoenix Raceway last week. In the Happy Hour video mentioned before, Kevin Harvick said,

“Short-track racing package definitely needs to be as high on the priority list as anything. They've spent millions of dollars on aero and all the things that go with it...shifting...not shifting...in the end the car just doesn't race very good on the short tracks.”

“We've had some good short track races but yesterday wasn't off the charts by any means and it was definitely difficult to pass,” he added.

When about 40 cars, almost similar in terms of specs, battle out against each other for that one cherished ride down the victory lane, passing becomes the need of the hour. Therefore, will the short track change and somehow allow more passing for good?

Elton Sawyer did say that the sport was “all-ears”. A new playoff format, a revisited point system, and possibly a new short-track package, there’s indeed a lot to expect from the upcoming season.