Kevin Harvick isn’t one to tiptoe around controversy, especially when it comes to NASCAR’s playoff format. Recently, the former Cup Series champ took aim at two of the sport’s biggest names, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, questioning whether their championship wins truly reflected season-long dominance. It’s a spicy take, and it’s got the garage buzzing.

NASCAR’s playoff system has always had drivers grumbling, and it’s not hard to see why. The format, with its win-and-you’re-in vibe and one-race finale, often feels like a high-stakes gamble rather than a true test of a season’s worth of grit. Denny Hamlin had once put it bluntly, “One race shouldn’t be bigger than the other 35 races.”

He’s got a point. When Joey Logano won the 2024 championship with an average finish of 17.1, the worst ever for a Cup champ, it raised eyebrows. Chris Buescher suggested a multi-race finale or a return to the old points system might better reward consistency. Similarly, Mark Martin echoed the sentiment, calling the “playoff” label more marketing than merit when only four drivers are truly in contention.

The frustration’s real, and it’s not just the current crop of drivers feeling it. Harvick is diving headfirst into the debate to expose what he sees as a fatal flaw in the system.

Harvick says playoff system fails the best car and drive

On the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, Harvick didn’t pull punches when dissecting NASCAR’s playoff system. “I don’t think the best car has won. You know since we don’t think the best car has won the championship. I’m just calling it a car okay because in order to have a car you got to have the best driver to win the championship. You got to have the best driver and the best team put together right to win a championship and but I don’t. I don’t know that the best car for a full year has won the championship in this format all the time.”

Harvick’s throwing shade at the playoff format introduced in 2014, with its elimination rounds and winner-take-all finale. He’s arguing that the team dominating the season often gets robbed by a single bad race. Take 2020, when Harvick himself was the poster child for this. He racked up 9 wins, 20 top-5s, and led 1,531 laps. Nobody came close. But a late-race crash at Martinsville knocked him out in the Round of 8, and Chase Elliott, with 5 wins and 11 top-5s, took the title at Phoenix. It’s a sore spot for Harvick, proof that one off-day can trump a year of brilliance.

He digs deeper, pointing to Kyle Busch’s 2015 championship as a prime example of the system’s flaws. “But I think that like when you go back to 2020 we won nine race. You have the best car. We just didn’t. Didn’t have the best car at the last race. Yeah, you look at Kyle Busch winning the championship. I’m still not sold that. You should be able to miss four, five, six races or whatever it was and be eligible to win a championship. I think you’re hurt and you shouldn’t win the championship. I think if you can’t make all the races you know there’s something to be said about maybe one week but that’s where that owner.”

Kyle Busch’s 2015 championship came after missing 11 races due to injury, made possible by a NASCAR medical waiver. He returned strong, won 4 races, and reached the top 30 to clinch the title at Homestead. But Kevin Harvick isn’t convinced, he argues that missing a third of the season undermines the legitimacy of the crown, no matter the comeback.

Harvick’s co-host Mamba sharpens the point, “That’s where the owner driver thing comes into it because your car made it through the driver didn’t.” Busch’s No. 18 Toyota kept racking up owner points with substitute drivers like David Ragan and Erik Jones, keeping the car competitive while Busch was sidelined. Harvick’s beef is that championships should reward the driver’s grind, not the team’s ability to patchwork results. It’s a quirky rule that muddies what it means to be a champion, and Harvick’s calling it out as a loophole that cheapens the title.

Then he turns to Jimmie Johnson’s 2016 championship, “The car still wasn’t going to win the championship. Even going back to Jimmie Johnson’s Championship. All the other three guys wrecked he brought this up the other day. The other three guys wrecked in the championship race and he won by default. So it’s a really tough competition.”

Johnson’s seventh title at Homestead saw him capitalize on chaos. Carl Edwards, the strongest car, got wrecked blocking Joey Logano, who also faded after the crash. Kyle Busch struggled with handling, leaving Johnson to pounce on the final restart despite leading just 3 laps. Harvick’s framing it as a “default” win, where Johnson’s clutch move outshone a season of less dominant stats. It’s another case where the playoff system crowned a champ based on one race, not 36, and Harvick’s not here for it.

Busch’s championship hunger

One year ago, Harrison Burton pulled off a stunner, coming from outside the top 30 in points to win at Daytona and snag a playoff spot. It was a massive moment for Burton, his first Cup win, but he fizzled out in the first round, finishing 16th out of 16 playoff drivers. For a young driver, it was a career-defining spark. But for a two-time champ like Kyle Busch, who finished second to Burton that day, the “win and you’re in” system doesn’t mean much without deeper playoff success.

Busch laid it out in a Daytona media scrum, “If you’re Harrison Burton your way into the playoffs and then you’re out the first round, that doesn’t mean shit. For me, a successful season is making the playoffs, and making it into the Round of 8. Making it from the Round of 8 to the Round of 4 theres a lot of situations that can come into play that can get you in there, or out there. A successful season is being in the playoffs, winning races, and being in the final eight.”

Busch’s perspective is telling. He’s in the midst of his longest winless streak, and 2024 was a rough one, no wins, no Round of 8, and a playoff miss, mirroring his 2023 season where he exited in the Round of 12. His teammate Austin Dillon, meanwhile, vaulted from 28th to a playoff spot with a Richmond win, the 14th different winner in 2025. Busch isn’t sweating a playoff berth unless it comes with a deep run. Anything less doesn’t measure up to his championship pedigree.

Contrast that with Brad Keselowski, another two-time champ, who sees any playoff spot as a big deal, a chance to stay relevant. Busch’s higher bar shows why Harvick’s critique stings, champions like Busch and Johnson set a standard where only deep runs or season-long dominance should define a title. Harvick’s calling out a system that sometimes hands the crown to the driver who gets hot at the right time, not the one who carried the season. It’s a debate that lights up the NASCAR world, where legacy, luck, and legitimacy collide, leaving fans and drivers alike wondering what a championship really means.