There’s a time for everything, including NASCAR finally making a change to a championship format that has only drawn more disdain with every passing year. NASCAR’s current elimination-style playoff format is meant to reward winning. It’s meant to reward the best drivers shining when the lights are brightest. But motorsports are inherently different than stick and ball sports, and a NASCAR season plays out over nine months of grueling competition. In the current playoff format, the drivers and teams who have been the best over the entire season are seldom rewarded. That’s what happened to NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Connor Zilisch in Saturday’s Xfinity Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway. Zilisch, a 19-year-old phenom, will be full-time in the Cup Series in 2026, won 10 races, scored 20 top-five finishes and led 1,013 laps despite missing a race. Over the final 21 races of the season, Zilisch finished top 10 20 times, including a stretch of 18 consecutive top-five finishes. But in a format where
