Shane van Gisbergen Confesses He “Hates” the NASCAR Playoffs

Trackhouse Racing’s star driver Shane van Gisbergen has shared his thoughts on the issues with the current NASCAR playoffs format.

Shane van Gisbergen Confesses He “Hates” the NASCAR Playoffs

Shane van Gisbergen (Via @shanevg97/X)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

The NASCAR Cup garage is at Darlington Raceway this weekend for the first playoff race of the 2025 season and the one of the drivers in the spot light is Shane van Gisbergen. He made it into the last-16 on the back of the dominant road course race win he secured, earning him 22 bonus points. But his entry isn’t received positively by everyone in the community as despite the wins, he didn’t make into top-25 on pints.

Shane van Gisbergen is still learning his trade in the ovals and needs more time to be a solid driver in these events. That why he failed to secure solid finishes and score points outside road courses. Some use his championship table position in arguments against the win and in format of the playoffs. Now the Kiwi has shared his thoughts on it.

The three times Supercars champion admitted that as a fan, he loves the playoffs and believes for a casual fan or observed the format offers more engagement that the original format does. Drivers often has to be on top of their form, be clutch when in needs to be and produce under immense pressure in the playoffs, making it more entertaining.  

I’ve seen both sides of it. Obviously, watched NASCAR as a fan and as a pretty casual fan. I loved the playoffs because it’s so engaging, and you just want to know who wins and who makes the next round. I really enjoyed it from a casual observer.

Shane van Gisbergen told The Athletic‘s Jeff Gluck (Via On3.com).

But when he approaches the ten-race championship chase as a driver, he unfortunate hates it. This has to do with the fact that the dominance one driver shows through the season goes un noticed if he fails to win the season finale at Phoenix. But he admitted that racing championships’ at the end of the day is about what the fans want, not the drivers.

And then one race was awesome as well. I’d always tune in to Phoenix, but as a driver, I hate it. You would hate it if you dominated all year and you get to that point, but the fans are probably the most important thing.

Shane van Gisbergen added.

Shane van Gisbergen explained how to fix the playoffs

The motorsports veteran does have a way to fix the issue, by tweaking the format, without going back to the original point championship. He wants to increase the sample size of the finale, as though one race finale is pretty entertaining, it’s not enough.

Shane van Gisbergen
Shane van Gisbergen (Via IMAGO)

For me, you’d want three races and a couple more drivers to be involved or something like that. One race is a pretty small sample size to choose a champion, but it’s very entertaining to watch. There’s a lot of arguments about it, but I’m here because of the win and you’re in the playoffs.

Shane van Gisbergen said.

He proposed something that Denny Hamlin has been calling for many years. SVG pointed out that the final should be a bit broader with three races and six drivers fighting for the victory. This opens the door for attracting more fans by hosting three finales and potentially giving ore credibility for the title.

So, I don’t want it to go away too much. … Maybe the three races with six drivers or whatever to make it a bit broader. Some years, the best guy doesn’t win and it’s pretty hard.

Shane van Gisbergen added.

The suggestion from the three times Supercars champion might be something many drivers from the NASCAR community as well as a significant set of fans would support. It would be interesting to see if the sanctioning body would ever consider adding more races to the finale.

Also Read: Kevin Harvick Blames 23XI Racing’s Expansion for Tyler Reddick’s Underwhelming Form