It’s safe to conclude that NASCAR has done itself more harm than good this year. While the lawsuit drama and texting conundrum have already hampered the sports’ image, playoff format controversies have not been far behind. But all hope is not lost as Dale Earnhardt Jr is here with a probable solution as executives continue to work on next season’s format.

“NASCAR is going to have a new playoff point system next year,” Jr said on the Dale Jr. Download podcast. “They’re probably going to make what would amount to a significant shift. I don’t actually know exactly what it’s gonna be, but I was in all the meetings and all the conversations over the last year. I feel like we’re gonna land in a good spot.

“NASCAR is also taking a beating publicly in terms of perspective. So, it would be a good opportunity for them to bring back the full-season 36-race schedule as an olive branch to the race fans that they pi—ed off.

While this does sound like a positive change, the fact that the system will still not include a 36-race system is not a deal breaker. This would simply mean that the playoff system will still exist. Though there might be welcome changes that reward deserving drivers, something that even NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell also alluded to.

“We want to make sure that a driver who has delivered all season long has the ability to be named a champion and not have something maybe come down to one race,” O’Donnell said during the NASCAR state of the sport news conference in October. “That’s really been the focal point. “We want to reward winning. We’re going to continue to do that. Whatever model we come up with, winning is very important. The one-race thing has been a factor … there’s a lot of circumstances that can happen.”

NASCAR managing director of racing communications Mike Forde also mentioned this month how O’Donnell thinks that the current postseason format might stunt growth in young drivers and discourage them. With the sanctioning body still finalizing its decision, Forde further informed that an announcement can be expected from anywhere between two weeks to two months.

“They’re going to take all the feedback they got from every walk of life and every thought on the spectrum — to no playoffs whatsoever to keeping it how it is — and really beating that all up, and an announcement to come,” he said on NASCAR’s in-house podcast Hauler Talk, before informing that the playoff committee will not meet again, with the decision now resting on senior NASCAR leadership.

But till that happens, fans still have a lot to complain about. And Junior’s message, though about improving the system, once again reminded them of the present problems.

Fans lash out at NASCAR

There have been many moments through the years when fans felt that the most deserving driver did not win the Championship. As recently as 2020, Kevin Harvick managed to win nine races throughout the season, but he couldn’t make it into the playoffs. This led some fans to compare NASCAR’s France Family to former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone. “The France family has turned into Nascar’s version of Bernie Ecclestone.”

The sheer power the France family holds in NASCAR’s decision-making has seemingly created a very negative perspective for fans, as someone wrote: “What this trial has shown is there’s no “NASCAR” there is only Jim France. It’s whatever Jim wants.”

However, there seems to be changes happening, and the change being introduced to the playoff system is proof of the same. Yet, it fails to make a large part of the fanbase happy. “NASCAR doesn’t give two f**ks about it’s fanbase – they only care about TV contracts and $$$,” one social media user commented.

“It was never about the fans, Dale,” wrote another fan.

In fact, many fans believe this is the reason they will continue with the system: “Narcissists never cave. They will have playoffs and tell us to like it.”

Well, looks like NASCAR will really have to pull the plugs to appease its fans.