Lately, I have been somewhat absent from the world of auto racing. The regular season finale at Darlington and the playoff opener at Atlanta occurred on days in which situations that required my focus arose from my day job. Yesterday’s race at Watkins Glen was the first race I was able to watch with any sort of focus in quite some time. I have to say, “Man, what a race!” After watching it, I believe that Watkins Glen belongs in the playoffs.
Given the 2025 schedule, this is somewhat of a tragic realization. Watkins Glen will not host a playoff race next year. I guess it’s not just in my day job where questionable decisions are made regarding scheduling. NASCAR is subject to the same type of questionable decisions regarding which races get cut from the playoffs.
In fact, many fans may have found this first round of the playoffs to be a questionable schedule. I would have included myself amongst them prior to watching this race at Watkins Glen. The opener at Atlanta is a bit of a wild card since the reconfiguration of the track into a drafting track. The closer at Bristol is always a bit of a wild card. Throwing in a road course in the middle seemed to be asking for a lot of chaos.
The First Round of the Playoffs Should Be Difficult
There is a debate going on in NASCAR regarding whether or not the focus should be on entertainment value or a fair way to crown the champion. I have always been a fan of the 2003 points system. Furthermore, I never really liked the “chase” format. Yet, I thought the playoff format that went into effect for the 2014 season was an improvement over the “chase.”
After yesterday’s race at Watkins Glen, I believe I am comfortable with NASCAR moving more towards entertainment. This doesn’t mean I want to see debris cautions intentionally thrown to get late restarts or overtimes. Furthermore, it doesn’t mean that I like this next gen car and its lack of horsepower either. What it does mean is that I love this first round of the playoffs and its three wild card races.
The first round of the 2024 playoffs has a drafting track, a road course, and Bristol Motor Speedway. If a playoff driver survives those three races, they definitely deserve to be in the next round of the playoffs. That is probably the toughest round in the playoffs this year. The only thing that could make it better would be if it was the schedule for the round of 8. Championships should be difficult to put together. If you’re going to use a playoff format, there should be no easy rounds.
Watkins Glen: A Wild Card Race with Great Racing
The best thing about yesterday’s playoff race at Watkins Glen is that it proved that you can have a playoff race in which none of the top 5 finishers are playoff drivers and it can still be a great race. NASCAR’s playoff system has always been a bit odd, given that drivers not in the playoffs are also competing. All too often during the playoffs the focus is entirely on the playoff drivers. Yesterday at Watkins Glen, we were treated to so much drama for the playoff drivers that the booth was forced to focus on the actual race.
The last lap of the race was absolutely amazing. Shane van Gisbergen actually made a mistake while leading, and Chris Buescher was able to get to him and make an exciting pass for the win. While I am sure that Buescher probably wishes that Watkins Glen had been a regular season race this year, as that would have gotten him into the playoffs, I think many fans will agree that they were happy Watkins Glen was included in the 2024 playoffs.
It is truly a tragedy that Watkins Glen will not be a playoff race in 2025. Maybe people don’t like road courses in the playoffs, but Watkins Glen put on a great playoff race this year. To be fair, it was cut from the 2025 playoff schedule prior to this race being held. Still, I have to conclude, that cutting Watkins Glen from the playoffs now makes as much sense as an employer cutting one of their hardest working employee’s hours, when there were plenty of lazier employees whose hours could be cut. It just doesn’t make good sense.
