"I wish it meant a little bit more" - Kevin Harvick makes feelings known about NASCAR's playoff format, citing regular season championship

Kevin Harvick recently touched upon the NASCAR Playoffs format. In one of his recent interviews, the former NASCAR driver mentioned how the playoff format should have a "little bit" more meaning, and the regular season championship should carry more weight.

The current NASCAR playoff format received enormous criticism for its functionality. There were arguments that drivers with average performances throughout the season directly qualify for the championship on the virtue of a single victory in the first 26 races.

The controversy gained pace, especially after Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano won the championships in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The two Team Penske drivers were in low positions, but one victory took them to the playoffs, and from there on, they went on to win the championship.

Harvick sat with Ricky Carmichael on the NBC Title 24 Podcast by Motorsport to discuss everything about NASCAR and SuperMotorcross. The 2014 Cup Series champion focused on how the current playoff format only focuses on winning and how the winner takes it all.

"You know I think when I look at our playoff system and the way that it functions currently it's really focused on winning. I wish we had a little bit more balance with the regular season and those 26 seasons of what that regular season championship means."

"I wish it meant a little bit more, and we have a 16, 12, 8, and 4 bracket (the elimination stages). So the winner takes it all at the end," he added. (49:00-49:30)

Taking Logano's 2024 run, for instance, the Penske driver had the worst average finish position statistics in NASCAR's history. With a 17.111 average finish position, the #22 driver surpassed the unwanted record set by his teammate, Blaney, in 2023.

On the other hand, Tyler Reddick (regular-season champion), Christopher Bell (had the most top-five and top-10 finishes), and Kyle Larson (had six wins), the three most consistent performers throughout the season, finished the year in fourth, fifth, and sixth positions.

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Kevin Harvick suggested improvement in NASCAR regular season reward

During his interview on NBC with Ricky Carmichael in the Title 24 Podcast, Kevin Harvick also focused on how the regular season champion should get a better reward in the championship. Here's what he said about it,

"I wish the champ of the regular season. He automatically had a buy until the final eight, but he could still collect points and do that. Originally I thought maybe he should be put into the championship four, but I don't think that's right. I think he needs to be able to race his way in and still have to gain points and things." (50:40-50:57)

According to NASCAR, a driver who claims the highest points in the first 26 regular season races becomes the NASCAR regular season champion.