NASCAR legend Richard Petty recently sat down with The Athletic's reporter Jeff Gluck for a 12-question interview. Gluck asked Petty whether he agreed with Mark Martin's idea of bringing back the old-school playoff format. Martin has spent over 30 years in the Cup Series and has witnessed the sport's evolution up close.However, the former NASCAR driver still thinks the modern playoff format lacks in some aspect compared to the past. Following that, Gluck questioned if Petty would be open to bringing back the full-season points instead of using the current elimination-style format.Richard Petty agreed with NASCAR veteran Mark Martin's thoughts and claimed the driver with the best performance throughout the year should be the champion. Petty added (via TheAthletic):"When they give points for leading different (stages) in the race and they give points for all this other stuff, that’s a bunch of crap, OK? If you’re sitting there and watching a football game and the team has been behind the whole game and they kick a field goal and they win the game, the guys who lost got a zero. That should be the same way in NASCAR racing. I don’t care if you lead 499 laps of a 500-lap race — if you get beat, then you’re not the winner, and you shouldn’t have any (extra) points." 'The King' concluded and pointed out that NASCAR is trying to keep up with other sports. The governing body is modernizing the sport, but according to Petty, none of the ideas have worked yet.Reflecting on Richard Petty's take on the current playoff format, Mark Martin dropped a three-word reaction to the same:"The King knows."The current playoff format features four elimination rounds. Each round eliminates four drivers, starting from the Round of 16 and ending with the Championship Four race. The top four drivers compete for the Cup Series season title at Phoenix Raceway, and Joey Logano won the 2024 title.Former NASCAR driver Mark Martin opened up about the flaws in the current NASCAR playoff formatAlways being upfront, NASCAR veteran Mark Martin shared his take on the issues with current stock car racing in an interview with Shannon Spake on her podcast Spake Up on YouTube.During the podcast, Martin touched upon the issues with the current playoff qualification system. After an unexpected championship winner, Joey Logano, in the 2024 season, fans raised their voices about the current system failing to hand the deserving drivers the title. Also, Martin was with the fans on this one and told Spake [02:55]:"Somehow, making winning more important than ever has taken away from the importance of winning. But it’s just, ‘He won, he’s in.’ That’s all you talk about… Winning a race is huge. It’s the biggest deal. And you lose that. That’s not what you talk about all week. You talk about now he’s in the playoffs." Mark Martin has gathered 40 wins, 271 top-five finishes, 453 top-10 finishes, and 56 pole positions in 882 starts in the Cup Series. He also secured 49 wins, 132 top-10 finishes, and 30 pole positions in 236 starts in his 23-year stint.