Kevin Harvick Suggests Nearly Two-Month Break as NASCAR Playoffs Create Unwanted Parity

When you work hard and put up your best throughout the offseason as well, someone needs to notice your hard work and put in the right effort. This is exactly what should be done for those drivers as well who manage to show their very best and emerge as position holders during the regular season. Kevin Harvick brings forth a new idea that would ensure that the ones at the top quartet each get two months off.

This might not sound like a bad deal, as Kevin Harvick includes the season’s top 4 drivers a chance in the championship 4. However, the current system does ensure that each of the drivers, irrespective of their prior standings, has the opportunity to make it to the top.

Speaking of the current Top 4, we have Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney. Among these names, Reddick is the one who managed to clinch the Regular Season Cup Series. However, the scene would have looked different if Kyle Larson had managed to show up at Charlotte Speedway during his double attempt.

This happened after Larson tried to pull off both the Coca-Cola 600 and the Indianapolis 500. As storms swept through the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, there were major delays that even delayed Larson as he was on his back to Charlotte. Although Larson did manage to reach via the HMS helicopter and was about to embark on his car, releasing his proxy Justin Allgaier, the weather seemed to change. Larson did not manage to collect a single point and was taken over by Reddick.

Now, recalling the top drivers of the regular season including Larson, Busch, and even Hamlin, they are nowhere near the Top 4. Given that Kyle Larson had one of the best seasons this year with the most number of wins, not making it to the Top 4 might seem unfair. While the new format might seem to be exciting, providing everyone with equal opportunities, it could be an unfair bid for those who did manage to put up a good show throughout the regular season.

And, to make sure that this does not happen and everyone who puts in effort gets recognized, Kevin Harvick suggests a highly effective method. He suggests that the regular champion should directly get a position in the Top 4. As Harvick and Mamba Smith discussed the final 4 of the season on the Happy Hour podcast, the former said, “It does not; we do not have the best four cars in the Championship 4. Now we do have a regular season champ with Tyler Reddick, but he’s not the regular season champ. If Kyle Larson shows up in Charlotte, I got an idea. What if we took the regular season champ and he got an automatic bid into the Final Four? We reward the regular season points champion with a spot because of those body of work, he’s in the Championships 4. Well, guess what? Second place, you’re going to championship 4 round of eight and your third place is gonna go to championship 12 and fourth, you’re gonna be in the 16”. 

Ideally, it is a great way to positively reinforce the one who has put up an impressive feat during the regular season. However, this is not only applicable to the one who has come first. Kevin Harvick suggests that the one who has made it to the second position should directly get a spot in the Top 8, and consequently, the one in the third and fourth positions should be placed in the Top 12 and Top 16 accordingly.

Following a format like this would boost drivers to achieve their best and get rewarded not only for being in the first position but also in the second, third, and fourth positions. Following such a bid would also ensure that each of the drivers in the Top 4 during the regular season gets a two-month breakthrough. This is primarily because the ones who are in their respective 4 positions during the regular season get an automatic breakthrough.

Denny Hamlin’s reaction to Kevin Harvick’s suggestion 

The 2014 Cup Series Champion suggested a playoff format that seems to be quite fair and at the same time achievable as well. Reacting to the same, Denny Hamlin took to social media and shared, “Not terrible.”

Given that Hamlin would have been able to certainly benefit from this format, it gives it added leverage. Hamlin was recently eliminated from the Top 4 after he was unable to make it to the Martinsville Speedway. He had the fastest car until bad luck hit him during the practice, as he crashed in Turn 3, backing into the wall. Noting hope, Hamlin even said, “got infinitely harder but it’s not impossible.”

Although Hamlin did manage to put on a good drive during the regular season, it just wasn’t enough as a driver to make it to the Top 8. And, did manage to make it to the Top 4 as a team owner, with Tyler Reddick making it to the finals at Phoenix.

With the Phoenix finals inching a step forward with every passing day, who do you think would be making it to the top?