Kenny Wallace gets real on why NASCAR champions can’t be advertised as superstars

In the ongoing debate over NASCAR’s playoff system, Kenny Wallace has added his voice to the growing list of insiders calling for change. The former driver and longtime analyst spoke candidly this week about the sport’s struggle to crown its true season-long stars under the current “winner-take-all” championship format.

Wallace's comments came on the heels of the governing body acknowledging that a potential shift to a multi-race finale round could be on the way. The lack of long-term superstars has become one of NASCAR’s central challenges, alongside concerns about the racing product, the Next Gen car.

On Tuesday, November 4, on Coffee with Kenny, Wallace said that he was encouraged by what he heard from NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell during the State of the Sport address at Phoenix Raceway.

“They’re changing the points system. Even Steve O’Donnell said a lot of things that really made me happy,” Wallace said. (6:32 onwards) “He says, ‘We want our superstars to be the superstars.’ So, example, Connor Zilisch in the Xfinity Series. He’s our superstar, but we can’t celebrate him the way we want to. “We can’t say our superstar Connor Zilisch is the champion because it came down to a one-race playoff and Connor and Justin Allgaier just didn’t run real good at the end of the year. So… we can advertise our superstar but not as a champion,” he continued.

Connor Zilisch had a record-setting year for JR Motorsports. At just 19, the rookie stunned the Xfinity Series with 10 wins in 28 races, leading the series in most stats, including poles (8) and top-10s (23). Despite dominating most of the year, he lost the title to Jesse Love, who had only one victory before the finale.

That underscored the disconnect between performance and reward in NASCAR’s one-race championship model. The same story unfolded in the top division. Denny Hamlin, who led 208 of 312 laps in the Cup Series finale, lost the title on a final pit stop, while Kyle Larson - with just two wins all year - emerged as champion.

In the Truck Series, Corey Heim capped off a career-best season by winning his 12th race and the championship in a comeback from 10th to first at Phoenix - a redemption arc that Zilisch and Hamlin could not replicate.

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Steve O’Donnell addresses concerns about NASCAR’s one-race playoff model

Steve O'Donnell (R) and NASCAR commissioner Steve Phelps during the state of the sport address. Source: Imagn

All season long, NASCAR fans have been vocal about their frustration with the 3-3-3-1 playoff format. Multiple polls showed a clear preference for the traditional full-season championship or an older Chase-style format. Meanwhile, television ratings reflected the same fatigue, as seven of ten playoff races got under two million viewers, continuing a downward trend that has plagued the Cup Series since the late 2000s.

When asked on Friday why the one-race championship format has failed to resonate, Steve O’Donnell acknowledged that it remained a divisive issue and said, via NASCAR:

“One of the concerns is future drivers coming up through the system having multiple wins and not necessarily winning a championship. I think that’s a challenge for our sport and where I think the light really goes on is having that driver be deemed a potential superstar. “And that maybe takes away from the one driver story. It’s probably harder to write just the one driver story over and over again, but it does create a real star... as you look at the future of the sport, making 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.” (37:01 onwards)

O'Donnell later added that NASCAR’s focus remained on “rewarding winning” while recognizing the limitations of a one-race decider. The Playoff Committee, which includes representatives from teams, manufacturers, racetracks, drivers, and media partners, has been studying alternatives throughout the season.

The decision will ultimately rest with NASCAR executives and the France family, but insiders expect a revised format to debut in 2026, with the championship round moving to Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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Edited by Hitesh Nigam