Kevin Harvick reacts to Joey Logano's comments about NASCAR playoff system after Phoenix championship

Kevin Harvick has no qualms with the way Joey Logano won his third NASCAR Cup Series title at Phoenix Raceway this past weekend, but he recognizes the sport’s playoff format could use an adjustment.

Following the drama that took place in Arizona following Logano’s controversial win, Harvick reacted to Logano’s defense of his title, and how NASCAR can improve their playoff system. While Harvick and Logano aren’t wishing to go back to the old ways, the former believes a heightened focus on the regular season could go a long way toward appeasing the masses.

“I agree with Joey on not going back to Winston Cup point standings. Those days are gone. There’s an entertainment value that has to come with the last ten weeks and the things that we do,” Harvick stated, via the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. “I think the big question is, what is the weight of the regular season, and where does that regular season champion fall? We talked about putting them in the Championship 4. We started a conversation last week that was fun and intriguing to me, and I think that, when you come back and look at those things, maybe that champion goes into the final eight, maybe not the final four, and having to earn your way to the end. I think it’s definitely not — if we could make the regular season more meaningful, that’s really the accomplishment that I’d like to see made over the first 26 weeks, to have that weighted to what it is, because it’s not like other sports.

“You can’t compare this to football and baseball and basketball, and this team got eliminated and that team got eliminated. Well, let’s also remember those teams are getting three out of five, or four out of seven chances to get eliminated. It’s not a single race. It’s not a single game, outside of football. I mean, football is more along the lines of what we do, but basketball and baseball, hockey — all those sports are settled differently.

“So, I agree with Joey on the regular season, not having the whole season be weighted like it was, with the old school point-standing. You have to have some sort of playoff format. But I think the biggest thing is figuring out how to weight that regular season to make it matter as much as possible.”

Alas, Kevin Harvick makes some salient points in trying to figure out a solution to NASCAR’s current playoff format problem. Regardless, he respects what Joey Logano has accomplished, and he doesn’t believe anyone can take away the immense success the No. 22 Ford wheelman has enjoyed.