Brad Keselowski blasts NASCAR's playoff media for ignoring winners and star power in pursuit of drama

The 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski didn’t hold back his frustrations after Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 elimination race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, taking aim at what he sees as a major flaw in how NASCAR’s playoff coverage is handled.

Keselowski, who drives the #6 Ford for RFK Racing, a team he also co-owns, voiced his concern on X, criticizing the media for focusing more on mid-pack elimination battles than on celebrating race winners and also calling out the current playoff format.

Keselowski was a non-playoff driver, as he and his three-car team failed to qualify for this year’s playoffs. He has always voiced his concern about the playoff format and once again reiterated it after the chaotic Charlotte Roval race.

Responding to a user on X, the former Cup champion said:

“Clear as day, Not enough talk about winning and winners (star power), but covering 15th for known elimination is easier for media storylines. Fans are voting with their eyeballs and it’s definitively a Net loss for the sport vs full season format. Now is the time to fix this.”

Brad Keselowski

@keselowski

Clear as day, Not enough talk about winning and winners (star power) but covering 15th for known elimination is easier for media storylines. Fans are voting with their eyeballs and it’s definitively a Net loss for the sport vs full season format. Now is the time to fix this.

The Charlotte Roval playoff race was filled with chaos and drama as it saw the defending series champion Joey Logano and Ross Chastain battling for the final playoff spot for the Round of 8. However, Logano managed to secure the spot by four points over Chastain.

Road course ringer Shane van Gisbergen earned the convincing victory at ROVAL by a margin of 15.1 over former Cup champion Kyle Larson. It was his fifth road course win of his rookie season.

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“The entire playoff system needs to go”: Brad Keselowski believes the current championship format creates an imbalance

Recently, in an interview with Jeff Gluck, Brad Keselowski criticized NASCAR’s current championship format, arguing that it places too much importance on the final 10 races of the season while diminishing the significance of the rest.

However, there has been discussion going on about the 2026 championship format change with the proposal to make changes in the final round to make it a four-race with six contenders.

“The entire playoff system needs to go. Making 10 races carry more weight than the other 20-plus is very unhealthy for the sport. It undermines the value of the other tracks and events.” Brad Keselowski spoke on the format imbalance.

NASCAR moved away from its championship being determined by a season-long points race to the modern 10-race elimination format. The current format has been in rule since 2017.