Ryan Blaney took victory in the penultimate race of the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday, securing his spot in the Championship Four ahead of next weekend’s finale – but if you look at social media, you won’t. you may not have noticed.

Instead, fans were captivated by discussions about manipulation of the race – and therefore the championship – and grounds for disqualification. Should a last-ditch effort by a driver be penalized if seemingly blatant manufacturer interference is allowed? The discussion rages, but one thing is certain: the format of the NASCAR Playoffs does indeed guarantee bad behavior.

The NASCAR Playoffs guarantee bad behavior

While many sports – and even some forms of motorsports – benefit from a playoff-style playoff format, NASCAR has been trying to make this system work for years despite much resistance.

An elimination-style championship system was first implemented by NASCAR in 2014. This is because a NASCAR Cup Series racing season is divided into two parts: the regular season and the playoffs. In the regular season, drivers fight for victory and hope to accumulate enough points to qualify for the playoffs, where they can challenge for a championship.

The playoffs – now known as the Playoffs – begin with 16 championship-eligible drivers all working to stay in championship contention until the final race. Every three weeks, four drivers are excluded from the overall pool of eligible championship contenders, until we reach the season finale. In this final race, the last four drivers remaining in the playoffs all fight to finish highest on the track; the highest placed driver is the NASCAR champion.

NASCAR introduced this format in order to generate more interest in its races and add some unpredictability to the title fight. However, many critics don’t like the fact that the most consistent driver in a season won’t necessarily win the title fight. If that driver suffers illness and/or bad luck for three weeks in the playoffs, their title fight is over.

But last weekend in Martinsville, the final fatal flaw in the Playoff system was exposed: It incentivizes and rewards manipulation and bad behavior in the name of championship winning.

Read more about the NASCAR playoffs:

NASCAR Playoffs Explained: Format, Rules, Tracks and Schedule

2024 NASCAR Playoffs: Who made the Cup Series and what to expect from the playoffs

Now, we’ve seen bad behavior in the name of the playoffs in NASCAR before, so this isn’t new. In 2022, for example, driver Ross Chastain hit the wall and accelerated, using the wall as leverage to help him finish higher in the standings and secure a spot in the next round of the Playoffs. And earlier this year, driver Austin Dillon attempted to make the playoffs by destroying the competition for the win.

Chastain’s move – nicknamed the Hail Melon – was deemed legal at the time but was later banned. Additionally, NASCAR allowed Dillon to keep his victory, but he ultimately decided that such a victory should not earn him playoff eligibility.

None of these high-risk measures would have even been necessary if the playoffs hadn’t encouraged this behavior.

This weekend in Martinsville, however, witnessed several separate instances of risky moves and bad behavior, all in the name of championship.

We’ll start with Christopher Bell. The playoff-eligible driver knew his chances of making the final were fading before his eyes in the final moments of the race, prompting him to attempt a Hail Melon-like wall-ride to try to take out William Byron from the Final Four. The move earned him track position, sure, but NASCAR felt it didn’t qualify Byron for the playoffs.

But there was another, even bigger, example of alleged race manipulation that should serve as the final nail in the Playoff coffin.

In NASCAR, three different manufacturers campaign cars: Ford, Toyota and Chevrolet. Even though a manufacturer may supply components to different teams, and even though those teams technically compete against each other for the overall title, that manufacturer may also expect the teams to work together for the greater good. of the manufacturer.

But how does “working together” become pure racial manipulation?

That’s the question after Martinsville.

You see, Bell was disqualified from the season finale for his wall ride move, meaning William Byron instead got that fourth place finish to compete for a championship next weekend in Phoenix. But allegations surfaced that Byron’s Chevrolet teammates intentionally tried to block other competitors in order to help Byron’s progress.

Other allegations were made about Bubba Wallace, a Toyota driver who attempted to block other drivers in favor of his teammate Christopher Bell.

Radio communications between Austin Dillon and his spotter emerged discussing the “plan”, while Bubba Wallace claimed a tire was losing air and causing him to drive slowly. A group of Chevrolet drivers piled up behind Byron and Bell bounced off the wall to pass the suddenly slowing Wallace.

NASCAR vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said the series will look deeper into allegations of race manipulation.

While it is not illegal for cars from the same manufacturer to work together – which can often be observed when, for example, a group of Chevrolets assemble at superspeedway events – intentionally driving slowly in order to Preventing a competitor from gaining ground, or having a “plan” in place to help a teammate get into Championship Four, would constitute racing manipulation.

Additionally, NASCAR rules state that drivers and teams must try to achieve the best possible result in all cases. If you have a faster car than your manufacturer partner fighting for the final four, then this rule means you will have to overtake them.

On Sunday, many people felt that some drivers and teams did not follow this rule.

None of these behaviors would have been present without the Playoffs format.

In motorsport disciplines where the championship is decided based on a driver’s cumulative performance throughout an entire season, it would be extremely rare to go into the penultimate race of the season and see eight drivers fight for an equal chance at the championship. One driver would have taken the title lead, and while others could challenge him for that title, his consistency would pay off as the season draws to a close.

In NASCAR, however, the fate of the championship is upended every weekend. Coming into Martinsville, eight drivers were fighting for four opportunities to compete for the championship – and those dramatic odds can easily drive a person (or a team, or a manufacturer) to despair.

NASCAR introduced the Playoffs to produce drama. This drama is now getting out of control. If the series wants to control it, then it’s past time to consider doing away with the playoff format altogether.

Read next: NASCAR Spygate: Series Rocked by Allegations of Intellectual Property Theft