“Traditionalist” Dale Earnhardt Jr. gives a reality check to NASCAR fans over playoffs format criticism
Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. has given his verdict on the criticism over the current playoff format, with a traditional perspective.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Via IMAGO)
The 2024 NASCAR Cup season saw Team Penske Racing’s Joey Logano peaking at the right time and winning his third championship. The upset title triumph has yet again stirred the debate around the playoff format. A significant portion of the stock car racing fans feels the current format disregards the regular season exploits and gives more priority to one of wins.
Now Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. has discussed the controversy over the playoff format, via his podcast. He pointed out that him being a traditionalist, believes that the best way to determine a championship is a season long-race. Junior sees it as the purest way to find the title winner compared to the chase format.
Everyone has a different feeling about the way things should go, I’m a traditionalist. I think that the best way to determine your champion is the season-long race of running all of the races, the way we used to do it years ago. I feel like that’s the purest way to know that this person did it all right.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. said via Dale Jr. Download.
He also defended the current format, highlighting how the format gives more drama and better moments. Dale Jr. believes the format offers more viewership and storylines for TV. He admitted that the chase format was chosen for a reason.
But this current format gives us better moments, gives us more drama. People can argue, and oh yeah you’re going to tell me look at the attendance, look viewership, all those things. I don’t give a s***. This stuff right now, the way they have the elimination and all that, I can’t look away. It is here for a reason.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t like one race to crown the champion
The Hall of Famer while further discussing on the point, asserted that NASCAR will be further tweaking the play-off format to find perfection. He believes there is a better way to fix the issue and pointed out that the final sample size should be bigger.
It will continue to change because they’re in search of that perfection, they’re in search of the perfect format. I don’t know if that exists. I won’t be mad if they change it, I won’t be mad if they leave it alone. Do I think this is great? No. Is there a better way? Probably. But I don’t pretend to know what that is. I think that to crown the champion, we need a little bit more of a sample size than one event.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.
Junior has some strong points about how to fix the playoff format and him admitting the fact that there is no going back to the season long championship format is something the fans should understand. It will be interesting to see how NASCAR is going to change the sport.
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Justin P Joy
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