There may be a lot speak about Playoffs or Finals codecs in motor racing at current because the NASCAR and Supercars seasons transfer in direction of their climax.
For the primary time, the 24 common Supercars drivers will likely be whittled all the way down to 10 on the conclusion of the weekend’s Bathurst 1000, to be in title rivalry over the ultimate three rounds of the championship.
Within the USA, NASCAR’s Playoffs are properly underneath manner amid reviews that the format, which has been in place since 2004 (when it was the ‘Chase for the Championship’) won’t be ultimate for the followers. Joey Logano acquired some criticism for his 2024 title, when he was ninth within the factors within the qualifying a part of the season (with simply 4 high 5 finishes in 26 races) earlier than a late surge carried him to the title for the third time.
This season, the inclusion of Shane van Gisbergen as a Playoffs driver has additionally drawn remark. The rookie has dominated on the highway and avenue programs, and his 4 wins assured him a spot within the Playoffs because the sixth seed, a full 18 locations above his factors place coming into the final of the ‘common season’ races. However the rookie of the 12 months continues to be studying his craft on the ovals and, as such, some followers have expressed the opinion that he didn’t need to be in Playoffs rivalry, even when he was eradicated from that comparatively early.
Supercars has prevented that controversy by making an vital change to the NASCAR system; by not seeding race winners straight within the Finals. That seemed like sound considering following the primary 9 races of the season, after six totally different drivers greeted the chequered flag first. However within the 17 races since then solely two different full-time drivers have gained a race, so not adopting the NASCAR win-and-you’re-in mannequin appears to be like like an excellent name.
Begin motion
Picture by: Edge Photographics
The opposite facet of that coin in that aside from Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney, who obtained a ticket to the Finals by successful the Dash Cup (based mostly on the primary eight rounds of the 13-round championship), 5 different drivers go to Bathurst assured of creating the highest 10 no matter what occurs within the race; Matt Payne (Grove Racing), Will Brown (T8), Cam Waters (Tickford Racing), Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United) and Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing). Such has been the unfold in outcomes this season that even with 300 factors on the desk for a Bathurst win, these high six are in an impregnable place.
Not so from there down. The primary driver to be out of Finals rivalry is the 18th-placed David Reynolds. Mockingly, the Workforce 18 Chevrolet driver is a former Bathurst winner from 2017 and, however for dehydration-induced cramps, he would have gained once more in 2018. His co-driver is Lee Holdsworth, who gained in 2021. Even taking into consideration Reynolds’s inconsistent kind, it could not be an enormous shock to see that pair safe a front-row begin and a race win. However the present system wouldn’t seed Reynolds into the Finals.
So the remaining berths will likely be stuffed by 4 of 11 drivers; Anton De Pasquale (Workforce 18), Ryan Wooden (Walkinshaw Andretti United), Thomas Randle (Tickford), Kai Allen (Dick Johnson Racing), Andre Heimgartner and Bryce Fullwood (Brad Jones Racing), Nick Percat and Cam Hill (Matt Stone Racing), James Golding (PremiAir Racing), and Jack Le Brocq and Cooper Murray (Erebus Motorsport).
Learn Additionally:
There may be all the time a lot to look at on the Bathurst 1000, and maintaining a tally of who makes the lower will make the ultimate 50 laps of the 161-lap race notably fascinating. However had Supercars adopted NASCAR’s win-and-you’re-in mannequin, these drivers would have been combating for simply two locations – and a kind of could have been taken by an in any other case non-qualifying driver taking his first win of 2025 at Bathurst.
As a lot dialogue as Supercars’ Finals format has attracted, even when some followers assume it isn’t a profit, it might have been a lot worse.
We wish your opinion!
What would you prefer to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Workforce
