NASCAR insider makes case for playoffs with chaotic Charlotte ending after 'dull, forgettable' race

Had it not been for the presence of the NASCAR playoff format, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic would have found Sunday’s Round of 12 finale at the Charlotte ROVAL to be just a “dull, forgettable” race. However, the drama on the playoff cutline “elevated” the race, he said, more evidence as to why the playoff format is needed in the sport.

“This race was very dull until the last 15 laps or so. Very dull,” Bianchi said on The Teardown podcast. “One of the more dull playoff races in recent memory, and then Logano pits, and from there, it’s tense. Everything is on the line and the last 10-15 laps whatever that was, that is about as good as it gets for the playoffs in terms of this situation. This is why if you don’t like the playoffs, you don’t have a great day today. This is a dull, forgettable race but the playoff drama and everything on the line heightened that, and it elevated it to a higher level than it would have been on its own.

“I am glad that we had the playoff format today because otherwise this would have been a very forgettable race where the winner and everything else that transpired would have been an afterthought. Instead, we’ve got playoff drama.”

NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 finale ends with fireworks

Those last 10 laps were tense after Joey Logano made his final pit stop while Ross Chastain stayed out. By the time the white flag came out, Chastain had a one-point advantage over Logano for the final transfer spot. But after Denny Hamlin passed Chastain, the two were now level on points. Chastain made one final attempt to get by Hamlin on the last corner but ended up taking both of them out. Logano owned the tiebreaker on Chastain and advanced through to the Round of 8.

While that was happening, Shane van Gisbergen was cruising to his fifth road course win of the season. Van Gisbergen won by a margin of 15.160 seconds. Logano wonders what there would have been to talk about coming out of the ROVAL if not for the playoff drama.

“The playoffs create drama,” Logano said after the race. “It creates storylines. It creates awesome moments like that. I don’t understand what people don’t like about it. I really don’t get it. And if you’re one of those people who say the regular season doesn’t matter, playoff points don’t matter — one point would have been the difference there. I preach that all the time. I’m not just saying that because it works for us. I’m saying it because it’s true. Everyone likes to look at it in other ways, but like I said, one point was the different there.

“If you don’t have cutoff races and things like that, what are you even talking about today? How Shane waxed everyone’s butt? That’s what you want? I’m just saying, this playoff format is wicked.”