The 2025 NASCAR Championship exposed a faulty system. What comes next?
- Ashland Connelly
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
The nightmare scenario for NASCAR fans seemingly occurred last year, when a driver who was 20th in points qualified for the playoffs, and then proceeded to advance by several lucky breaks, including a competitor's disqualification en route to win the championship. It didn't help that the driver who did so was Joey Logano, one of the most widely hated drivers in the series. However, one saving grace with Logano's championship was that, at the very least, it didn't come at the expense of a historic season. Sure, performances from Christopher Bell, William Byron, and Tyler Reddick were all eons more deserving than Logano's third, but they weren't historically notable charges. All of this allowed NASCAR Executives to continue singing the playoffs' praises and chalk up Logano's championship to the old "2007 Giants" excuse. However, this year has seen the final straw on the camel's back for the playoffs. Before you think I'm referring to Denny Hamlin losing out to Kyle Larson in an overtime restart, while Larson was easily the weakest of the Championship 4, he still had a great season that only looks lacking by his standards. I am hurt that Denny lost our, but he continues to show that he still has that competitive gene in him to compete next year. No, what I'm referring to, much to the delight of the executives, occurred in the junior series.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is a lot like NASCAR's minor leagues, with a wild mix of young guns, old veterans, and some guys in the middle who could never cut it and are content to continue their career at this level. Among these competitors, one began the season shining above the rest. One of the greatest prospects racing has ever seen, Connor Zilisch, has won in everything that he's touched. The Trans-Am and Mazda MX-5 Series competitor would've had a fruitful career in GT or open-wheelers, especially given his IMSA success, as he won the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring as a 19-year-old. Instead, Zilisch pivoted towards stock car racing. After finishing runner-up in the ARCA East Series Championship and winning his debut Xfinity Series race at the 2024 Mission 200 at The Glen, Connor would be signed to JR Motorsports and their #88 car for the 2025 season. After crashing out of his first two starts, he would win his first race of the year at Circuit of the Americas. He would be floundering in the mid-pack for much of the year, but that would change at Talladega, as Zilisch would lead at the white flag before being turned by Jesse Love on the backstretch and impacting the inside wall hard.
He would sit out the next week with a back injury, and, in his stead, Kyle Larson would drive the #88 car to victory at Texas. Upon his return, Zilisch emerged revitalized as he rattled off back-to-back 2nd-place finishes at Charlotte and Nashville. The Nashville race was especially notable as a pit-crew mishap would see his crew chief, Mardy Lindley, receive a one-race suspension. Team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. would step in, and miraculously, Zilisch would come away with his first-ever win. After a late-race duel with Shane Van Gisbergen in Chicago, Zilisch would rattle off three straight with a rematch against Van Gisbergen at Sonoma, a rain-shortened Dover, and JR Motorsports' 100th win at Indianapolis. After a fourth-place run at Iowa, he would win a chaotic Watkins Glen race. After taking the checkered flag, however, he would have an incident in victory lane. While climbing out of his car, Zilisch would slip on the window net and fall hard onto the concrete. The incident would give him a broken collarbone, but he would still try to start the next race at Daytona. While he would be forced to get out of the car only a few laps in, his releif driver, comentator Parker Kligerman, would miraculously win the race, giving Zilisch credit for the win. He would then win Portland and Gateway back-to-back. While he would record his 10th and final race win of the year at the Charlotte Roval, it wouldn't be until, ironically, the fall Talladega race where his record setting 18 straight Top 5 finishes would come to an end with a 23rd place finish after a trouble filled day. Zilisch would accumulate one last Top 5 at the season finale in Phoenix, narrowly leading the series over teammate Justin Allgaier in full-season points. Yet, the championship would not be his.
Because of NASCAR's contrived "Win and You're In" playoff format, Jesse Love, the initial instigator of ZIlisch's improbable rise, barely scraped into the Championship 4 after pointing into the final round at Martinsville. Then, in the Championship finale at Phoenix, a late-race restart would give Jesse Love the victory and the championship. A driver who was already relatively unpopular (by no metrics to Joey Logano or even his teammate Austin Hill's levels, but still drawing ire for moments during his career in ARCA as well as driving for RCR), now stealing a championship from a season that will live on in the history books while ZIlisch comes home with a pitty Rookie-of-the-Year trophy. So, where do we go from here?
The playoffs need to go, or at least need a complete overhaul. I, for one, don't quite want them gone. I understand their purpose in the sport as a marketing ploy to try and keep the TV numbers up while the series goes toe-to-toe with the NFL and College Football. However, when it has come to the point it has where they have completely ruined the validity of the NASCAR Championship, they need changes. Racing isn't like stick and ball sports. There aren't just two teams playing the game, there's 20+ at all times and so many factors play into longterm success. With some of the longest schedules in sports, it makes perfect sense why every single racing series employs a "full-season points" championship. While some are left disapointed when a champion is crowned with races left to run, it still ensures that there is a fair crown that honors the success of a team throughout the year. So where does NASCAR go wrong? Well, it quite simply comes down to "Win and You're In". The playoffs, as they are set up to function, can work without ruining the championship if you simply remove the from wins to points. By making a points focused elimination system (ignoring any points resetting I may add), NASCAR can still have its 16-12-8-4-1 championship while keeping fans intrigued and ensuring that there is a champion who truly did dominate the year. Yet, NASCAR has seemingly been refusing to make this easy fix. While officials have stated that they intend to look into changing the format in the off season, there have been no signs from top executives that anything will change. Every year it gets harder and harder to make the "2007 Giants" argument when they happen so often at the expense of other teams because, simply put, there are too many teams that the 1 in a 1,000,000,000 of the "2007 Giants" becomes the 1 in a 100 "2024 Joey Logano", while great seasons are thrown to shame. Imagine if "2025 Alex Palou", with podium place finishes in 13/17 races in the Indycar season, lost the championship to 12th place Josef Newgarden because Newgarden won at the season finale in Nashville, or if "2023 Max Verstappen", a driver 290 points ahead of 2nd place, lost the Formula 1 Championship to fourth place Fernando Alonso had he won in Abu Dhabi. The system is completely alien to motorsports, and while it is implemented in NASCAR still has fans scratching their heads. As the years go on and we get more "Joey Logano"s, "Jesse Love"s, "Grant Enfinger"s, and "Kyle Busch"s at the expense of "Denny Hamlin"s, "Corey Heim"s, "Kevin Harvick"s, and "Connor Zilisch"s, and fans and drivers continue to decry the system while executives continue to keep their heads in the sand, we are left with the ever pure quotation from Kevin Harvick after the 10-win driver wasn't allowed to compete for a championship in 2020:
"You know, these championships aren't like winning like Petty and Earnhardt used to win"
