NASCAR is set to hold the banquet that determines the Most Valuable Driver award winners in Charlotte on Friday, November 22. The sport’s fans can vote for the award until Thursday, November 21 at 11:59 p.m. ET., as time is running out to cast a nomination. In fact, NASCAR recently released the top-5 drivers in voting for all three series, which gives people an idea of where it stands.

With the voting period closing soon, NASCAR gave a list of the top 5 vote-getters in alphabetical order.

• Cup: Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr.
• Xfinity: Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Shane van Gisbergen, Parker Kligerman, Jesse Love
• Truck: Rajah Caruth, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger, Corey Heim, Ty Majeski

In 2023, Chase Elliott won the award in the Cup Series, while Justin Allgaier (Xfinity) and Hailie Deegan (Truck) earned the honor in the other two series. Elliott has won the honor six straight times after Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s retirement at the conclusion of the 2017 NASCAR season. Next Friday night, we will find out if Elliott’s reign continues.

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NASCAR may not have the same playoff format for the 2025 season and beyond. According to Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern, NASCAR will review its playoff format with changes possible as soon as 2025. Due to the short turnaround to the season, a more extensive overhaul may need to wait until 2026 if deemed necessary.

This means NASCAR could make slight tweaks and fixes to the playoff format starting in 2025. The playoff format has become more controversial after Joey Logano won the NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway last weekend. Logano had the fewest top-5 finishes, top-10 finishes, and lowest average finishing position of a Cup Series champion in the Modern Era.

According to Stern, one senior team executive said the “topics that should be examined include whether a win should automatically qualify a driver for the playoffs, as is the case now, and possible changes like whether the regular-season champion should get locked into one of the latter rounds of the playoffs, whether the final round should have more than four drivers, and whether the final round should be contested over multiple races instead of just one.”

This is a massive step in the right direction for NASCAR, which needs to adjust its playoff format moving forward. The playoffs deserve to be in NASCAR; however, it needs adjustments to determine the best way of crowning a Cup Series champion. As of now, nothing is guaranteed, but the hope is that NASCAR makes the necessary changes moving forward.

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NASCAR has officially crowned the three champions for the 2024 season. Joey Logano (Cup), Justin Allgaier (Xfinity), and Ty Majeski (Truck) earned a NASCAR title at Phoenix Raceway after beating the rest of the Championship 4 competitors. All three drivers deserved to win the championship at Phoenix; however, should there be changes coming for NASCAR?

The answer should be an easy “yes.” The time has come for NASCAR to fix/tweak the current playoff format. This isn’t a call to “trash” the playoff format, as an elimination-style system is good for NASCAR. But, there needs to be changes that address the best way of winning a championship in the Modern Era of NASCAR.

For example, Logano has the fewest top-5 finishes, fewest top-10 finishes, and lowest average finishing position of any Cup Series champion in the Modern Era. The Team Penske driver deserved to win the championship at Phoenix under this current format, but the standards and expectations for winning a title are starting to diminish.

Meanwhile, Christian Eckes became the first NASCAR driver in the 21st century to have only one finish outside of the top 10 spots but finished third in the point standings. Eckes was 101 points and 200 points ahead of Corey Heim and Ty Majeski heading into the 2024 Truck Series season finale, respectively.

JOEY LOGANO DOES IT! ❤️‍🔥 pic.twitter.com/k06vXoW8DZ

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 10, 2024

The idea of a playoff is great for NASCAR, but the current system is simply not sustainable. Logano has proven the model of becoming a NASCAR champion. A driver truly only needs to do the following: Make the playoffs, win in the Round of 8, and win the Championship 4 event. Essentially, the rest of the regular season doesn’t matter as long as you show up for three of the 36 races.

Even RFK Racing driver Brad Keselowski believes the current playoff format isn’t the best way to determine a Cup Series champion. So, what should be done? Does a greater emphasis on points (increasing points and playoff points for winning, increasing regular season payout, eliminating win-and-in rule) or a three-race Championship 4 round fix the issues?

Both ideas keep the elimination-style playoff format while making it a legitimate way of determining a champion. Not all of the “Big 4” sports (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL) have a Game 7 moment at the end of every season, and NASCAR doesn’t need one every year. Those Game 7 moments become less special when it’s a normal occurrence at the end of a sports season. The NFL is different since each round is one game.

This isn’t a call for NASCAR to remove the playoffs because it has a place in this sport. It’s a call to fix the playoff format and allow a more natural way of determining a champion to come into the picture. Logano, Allgaier, and Majeski are all deserving champions under this current format, but there should be an effort into finding the best way of deciding these winners in 2025 and beyond.

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NASCAR is leaving Virginia after a dramatic weekend of racing at Martinsville Speedway. Ryan Blaney beat Chase Elliott for a spot in the Championship 4. Now, NASCAR will head to Phoenix Raceway, the place of the sport’s final race of the 2024 Cup Series season. All three NASCAR levels will be racing, so you don’t want to miss the action!

Below, you can find more details about the on-track action in Phoenix this weekend!

NASCAR live today: Phoenix Raceway

Here are the upcoming practice, qualifying, and race times for the current race weekend on the NASCAR schedule (all ET).

Saturday, November 9

• 4:00 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying (USA Network) – Watch FREE on Fubo
• 5:05 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying (USA Network) – Watch FREE on Fubo
• 7:00 p.m.: NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race (USA Network) – Watch FREE on Fubo

Sunday, November 10

• 3:00 p.m.: NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race (NBC) – Watch FREE on Fubo

[afflinkbutton text=”Watch NASCAR at Phoenix FREE on Fubo” link=”https://www.fubo.tv/welcome?irad=343747&irmp=1205322&subId1=Motorsports%20Wire&subId2=2024&subId3=Austin”]

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