Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Kyle Kirkwood won a frenetic IndyCar race, and they beat the rain as well. Team Penske had a rough weekend. I had a bit of an existential crisis over endurance racing, but we will save that for a later day. IndyCar announced it will delay its new chassis and engine regulations until 2028, but we will save that for a later day. It was a testy weekend in Montreal, but the race results stood after hour of deliberations. NASCAR's trip to Mexico went well, a few were under the weather, but it is what comes next that is on my mind.
Tourney Time!
It isn't quite tourney time for NASCAR. It's five-week, 32-driver single-elimination tournament begins in just under two weeks at Atlnata Motor Speedway. In college basketball terms, we are in the middle of the conference tournaments and after the upcoming race from Pocono, we will know the seeds and how the bracket has shaped up.
But considering this space has been a proponent for racing series adopting a head-to-head component to its competition for years, it is only right that we give NASCAR's first tournament proper attention.
As we stand here, we have a rough idea of how the bracket will look.
NASCAR determined that the three races prior to the first round would decide seeding, and seeds would be based on best finishing positions over this three-week period. Winning a race essentially guaranteed a driver a top three seed. If two drivers had the same best finish then second-best finish would break the tie. If the drivers are still tied, then third-best finish would determine who got the better seed. If the drivers remained tied, then overall points would break the tie.
Through two races we know Denny Hamlin will at least be one of the top two seeds. Hamlin won at Michigan and missed Mexico City after the birth of his third child. Combined with the results at Mexico City, there can only be one other possible winner. Chris Buescher and Christopher Bell have finished second with Buescher holding the tiebreaker with a tenth to Bell's next result of 16th. Then you have Ty Gibbs (3-11) and Chase Elliott (3-15), Bubba Wallace (4-12) and Alex Bowman (4-36), and rounding out the top nine seeds are Michael McDowell (5-30) and Kyle Larson (5-36).
Finishing position is a different way for NASCAR to determine seeding, and one that is beneficial to the three races leading into the tournament, but it is a little confusing as to why that is what determines the seeding and not championship points, which have been accumulated over 17 races prior to the first round.
Points did determine something as the 32-driver qualified drivers were determined by points after the Nashville round. Unfortunately, this meant Shane van Gisbergen, Cole Custer, Riley Herbst and Cody Ware were the full-time drivers left on the outside.
I don't know if that was necessary, partially because it seemed like no one knew Nashville would be a cutoff race for making the tournament. I think we were all under the impression that those three races prior to the first round would set the entire field of 32. I think NASCAR set an unnecessary barrier for this tournament. For starters, it knocked out Shane van Gisbergen, the prototypical driver who could play spoiler in the tournament with the races that will be taking place.
You have Mexico City as one of the seeding races. Van Gisbergen would have been one of the top three seeds if he was eligible thanks to his victory in Mexico City. That might have set him higher than he should have been based on how he has normally been running, but it could have given him a favorable draw for the first round. With Atlanta being the opening round and Atlanta now being a pack race, there is a good chance multiple drivers will finish outside the top twenty and not advance. Atlanta basically makes the seeding meaningless in the first round.
Then you have the Chicago street course follows hosting the round of 16, and the quarterfinals will be at Sonoma. That sets up nicely for van Gisbergen. There is a good chance van Gisbergen could have been a semifinalist as long as he survived the first round at Atlanta. Eliminating drivers before we even get to the seeding round only hurts the tournament concept.
With 36 full-time drivers, there are going to be four drivers on the outside, but if NASCAR isn't going to use points to set the bracket and will instead using the best finishing position over a three-race period, all drivers should have been eligible for the tournament entering this three-race period.
Is there a flaw to that concept as a top driver could get caught in his worst three-race slump of the season and fail to make it? Yeah, a little bit. But either make it so the 32 drivers are just the top 32 in points after 17 races or fully embrace the open nature and that anyone can make it and anyone can miss it.
The biggest critique from this first attempt is NASCAR's lack of attention to its own tournament format.
Entering Nashville, most were clueless to the top-32 cutoff. Many drivers were unaware of the basics of the tournament when asked about it. To be fair to them, NASCAR had done nothing to make anyone aware in the build up to the tournament. It could have been made clear in February that the top 32 in points after Nashville would make the tournament and then over the first 14 races we would be watching to see who was in the trouble or who was cutting it close. It could have also done a better job of explaining how the seeding would work and that winning one of these three races is going to lock you into one of the top three seeds. Those were little hurdles we could have cleared months ago.
Success is determined on how loud you bang the drum in certain cases. If NASCAR isn't going to stress the importance of making the tournament or the value of these race results then no one is going to get excited for the tournament itself.
There also comes the issue that the juice isn't really worth the squeeze to the drivers.
It is a $1 million prize to the tournament champion.
Great. The drivers get a $1 million all the time. They are all millionaires or close to it. The All-Star Race has had a $1 million prize for over 20 years. It isn't as impressive as it was in 2003. If you are paying the same prize for essentially five races worth of results as you do for one exhibition race, I don't blame the drivers for not feeling jazzed up for it.
Money is tight though. NASCAR may have just signed a $7.7 billion deal with its broadcast partners, but there isn't enough money for increased prizes. Have you noticed how the Cup champion in recent seasons hasn't been presented with a big check like he once was? There is a reason for that. NASCAR isn't going to make the All-Star Race worth $3 million to win nor pay the tournament champion $5 million when the series championship awards around $3 million.
If the drivers aren't going to get the money they ned to really entice them to win this thing, there is one other thing that will catch their attention.
Playoff points.
The only points that carry weight over the entire season, drivers care about playoff points. After all, it is the one thing NASCAR will strip from a driver and not allow them to earn any more during the regular season if a driver misses a race and needs a waiver for something other than a medical reason. If they are that valuable, then pay playoff points to the drivers based on how they do in the tournament.
That might seem excessive, but how do you make this tournament something the drivers care about? Give them a prize that has some value.
My proposal is you pay playoff points based on how far a driver advances. If you win a first round matchup, that is one playoff point, so 16 drivers would earn one playoff point after round one. Win a second round matchup? Let's give them a few more points. Two playoff points. That leaves eight drivers with at least three additional playoff points. Win a quarterfinal matchup? Five points. Four drivers have earned at least eight playoff points with two races remaining.
What happens if you win the semifinals and make the final? Those two drivers compete for the big prize. The tournament champion gets 25 more playoff points. The runner-up gets ten playoff points.
To break it down, the tournament would pay the following playoff points to each driver...
Champion - 33 playoff points (1+2+5+25)
Runner-Up - 18 playoff points (1+2+5+10)
Semifinalists - Eight playoff points (Two Drivers)
Quarterfinalists - Three playoffs points (Four Drivers)
First Round winners - One playoff point (Eight Drivers)
Talk about an incentive! You are guaranteed to more than double you playoff points earned from the tournament making the finals versus being eliminated in the semifinals. You don't think that is going to make Dover an interesting race? The champion gets nearly double of the runner-up. You don't think that would matter and lead a team to strategize winning the tournament?
At the end of last regular season, the driver with the most playoff points was Kyle Larson with 30. The only other driver with at least 19 playoff points was Christopher Bell with 25. Only six drivers had at least ten playoff points. Even after the playoff points were added for the top ten in the regular season points standings, Larson was on top with 40, only Bell (32), Tyler Reddick (28) and William Byron (22) had more than 20, and only seven total drivers had more than ten playoff points.
Just making the semifinals could boost a driver like you would not believe. If one of the top drivers were to win the tournament or at least make a run, he would be sitting pretty in every round of the playoffs.
Now, if we are pay this many points for the tournament, surely we must increase the playoff points awarded to the top ten drivers at the end of the regular season. At this moment, the regular season champion only gets 15 playoff points, and the regular season champion should have always received more than that a long time ago.
Let's change it so the regular season champion gets 50 playoff points and second gets 25 with 15 for third, 12 for fourth, ten for fifth and then sixth through tenth can remain the same going 5-4-3-2-1.
NASCAR shouldn't be afraid to have its best driver who wins everything to be head, neck and shoulders clear of the competition entering the playoffs. If a driver does something special and wins a half-dozen races, the in-season tournament and the regular season championship, he should be lightyears away from the competition and be the clear man to beat. If it essentially locks him into the championship race, so be it. What better incentive could there be to take these things seriously? A driver could earn over 100 playoff points for regular season results. It would be near impossible for a driver to not make the championship four with that total.
If the financial carrot is not going to be great enough to make the drivers care, then make it worth something towards the championship. Playoff points are more valuable at this moment than nearly any financial bonus NASCAR can afford to put out there.
Playoff points are already an arbitrary metric. Leading lap 20 at Austin carries more weight toward deciding the champion than leading the first 124 laps at Bristol. You could lead 197 laps of the Daytona 500 and get no playoff points for it, but if you lead two specific laps, those earn you each a point that carries for the entire season. If a driver staying out instead of pitting before the pre-determined caution at a road course or any race for that matter is going to be worth a point that could be the difference between having a shot at the championship in the final race or not then NASCAR should go all-in and give its in-season tournament real stakes.
The drivers will care and it will save NASCAR $1 million in the process. Talk about a win-win!
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Kyle Kirkwood and Shane van Gisbergen, but did you know...
The #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson won the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ferrari's third consecutive Le Mans victory and 11th overall. The #43 InterEuropol Competition Oreca-Gibson of Nick Yelloly, Jakub Śmiechowski and Tom Dillmann won in LMP2. The #92 Manthey Porsche of Richard Lietz, Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera won in LMGT3.
George Russell won the Canadian Grand Prix.
Daniel Suárez won the NASCAR Grand National Series race from Mexico City, his first victory in the series since he won the 2016 season finale at Homestead to clinch his series championship.
Lochie Hughes won the Indy Lights race from Gateway, his second victory of the season.
Toprak Razgatlioglu swept the World Superbike races from Misano. Stefano Manzi and Can Öncü split the World Supersport races.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar begins summer at Road America.
MotoGP is at Mugello.
NASCAR has a long drive to Pocono.
Formula E is back at Jakarta.
Supercars will be in Darwin.
Our second consecutive week with a 24-hour race sees the Nürburgring 24 Hour take place.
