Whew, what a weekend. What a season. I have a lot to say about different aspects of this year, but one thing was apparent after yesterday’s Cup Series Championship: nothing felt right… at all. Sure, Kyle Larson is a worthy champion, but we’re supposed to be in a system where wins matter more than ever. Larson hasn’t won since May and didn’t even lead a lap in the championship race. So, where do we go from here?

We can start with the Craftsman Truck Series, and thankfully, Corey Heim won at Phoenix thanks to some late-race heroics — or we would’ve had a nightmare scenario. Heim finished with 12 wins on the year and captured the title. All is well there.

Moving on to the Xfinity Series, Connor Zilisch entered Phoenix with 10 wins on the season and looked poised to claim the championship, but a late-race pass from Jesse Love changed everything. Love ran a consistently solid season, but nowhere near as dominant as Zilisch. He hadn’t won since Daytona in February. Under the old format, Zilisch likely would have locked up the championship by mid-October. That didn’t happen, and we’ll touch more on the points system shortly.

The Cup Series was another story. Denny Hamlin, the sentimental favorite, led over 200 laps. In the end, though, a four-tire call from Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gayle, gave Kyle Larson an advantage after his crew chief, Cliff Daniels, opted for a quicker two-tire stop. Larson won the championship, while Ryan Blaney took the race victory. Larson even said, “We didn’t lead a lap all day,” yet there he is — the champion. Now, let’s dive into the points fiasco.

I have a few major complaints about the points system. First, the comparisons to sports like MLB, NBA, or NHL fall short. Those leagues can build a “Game 7” scenario over a series. In NASCAR, we try to create that drama in one race, and it just doesn’t work. Why not lengthen the championship round if we want those comparisons to hold? Take Shane Van Gisbergen, for example. He had five road-course wins this year but wasn’t in contention for the championship all season. Rewarding dominance at one track while ignoring performance across multiple track types and styles isn’t fair. A one-race championship can’t keep happening.

My second issue is with the reasoning behind the current system. It was designed to value wins above all else, but in three of our main series, we crowned champions who hadn’t won since before summer. How does that make sense? Jesse Love hadn’t won since February, and Larson hadn’t won since early May. If the goal is to reward consistency over a full season, that’s fine — but the system is supposed to reward winning. At the sport’s highest level, the champion going six months without a win just doesn’t sit right.

I’m sure this system will be overhauled in the coming months. Will we see a longer championship round? Could playoff points carry over if the round is extended? There are several options — maybe even a return to crowning a full-season points champion. That may seem unlikely, but we’ll see.

A huge congratulations to Corey Heim, Jesse Love, and Kyle Larson on their championships. I look forward to seeing what the offseason has in store. Until next time!