NASCAR Credits “Loud” Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin for the New Historic Playoffs Format

The 2026 NASCAR season will mark start of a new era, with the sport going back to the original Chase format, the perfect compromise for the fans demanding full-season format. Win and in era is over, as the new format is set to reward consistency over clutch runs, to crown the legitimate champion. Two racers played a much significant role in making it possible, compared to the rest.

According to NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell the two are Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin and Hall of Famer Mark Martin. The duo has been the loudest voices for the change, speaking about the topic in every public platform they got. It showed how much the dup cares about the future of the sport.

The two loudest voices I have heard in my career on formats are Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin. What I give those guys an extreme amount of credit for is that their job was to go out and win races, right? At the end of the day, they could say, ‘You guys figure it out.’ But they care. They care about the future of the sport. Seeing their passion and seeing their inputs have been hugely important.

Steve O’Donnell told Peter Stratta of TSJ.

VP Ben Kennedy also shared his thoughts on the topic and highlighted the contributions from Mark Martin. He admitted the loudest and most passionate voice during the playoff committee meeting was that of Martin’s. If not for the legendary racer, the sport would’ve gone for a watered-down version of the chase system.

He had a very particular viewpoint, and he was one of the loudest voices in the room. He was a large contributor to the format we came up with today. If Martin hadn’t been in that room that day, we would be announcing something different today, where consistency may not be this important.

Ben Kennedy asserted.

Mark Martin shares his perspective on the playoffs format change

The Hall of Famer Mark Martin was among the ones with the biggest smile during the playoff announcement. During his conversation with the media, he asserted that the old format failed and caused the exit of the legacy fans. Now with the return of the Chase, they might finally able to get them back.

The whole idea of the playoffs was to bring more of those fans and it has failed. It did not bring in enough of those fans in to offset what we lost. The classic race fans, many quit watching, and Jeff Burton says we can’t get them back…He may be right but maybe we can get some of them back.

Mark Martin said.

Furthermore, he pointed out that the sport will earn and loss some fans because of the format change. But in the long-term the new system will help to cultivate generations of race fans. The advantage NASCAR now have is that this can be done without making much changes to how they race in the Next-Gen era.  

I hope we can get enough of them back to at least offset the ones that were watching just for the sparks and the flames because it’s racing…If we can get fathers watching races with their kids, or grandfathers and their grandkids, that’s how we cultivate new fans. We don’t have to necessarily go out and change our on-track product as they call it. Let’s be who we are.

Mark Martin added.

The comments from the legendary racer seems rational and on point. It’s a change the whole fan community wanted to see and it would be interesting to see how the fans going to respond the championship battles under the new system.

Also Read: Kyle Larson Declares the Next-Gen Era Deserved a Playoffs Format Change 

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