On the final lap of Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400, the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs delivered yet another chaotic highlight, and it was another embarrassing reminder of what the sport of NASCAR has become thanks to the elimination-style Playoff format.
Ross Chastain, fighting for his postseason life, was a single point behind Joey Logano in the closing moments of the race. With time running out and his advancement in the Playoffs very much in doubt, Chastain, in a last-ditch effort to keep his championship hopes alive, drove into Denny Hamlin’s car in the final corner, crashed both of them, threw his car in reverse, and crossed the finish line backwards. It was the kind of moment that, had it worked, would’ve gone viral throughout the sport’s world.
The final lap at the ROVAL ??
?: @USANetwork | #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/pGl7UgQyNF
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 5, 2025
But it didn’t work, wasn’t Kosher, but nobody seems to care because, as a sport, NASCAR has traded legitimacy for viral “Game 7 moments”.
Logano would pass Chastain mid-crash, beat him on points, and the defending series champion advanced to the Round of 8 of the Playoffs. Chastain’s desperation move ended in failure, and Hamlin, rather than fuming about being taken out in the last corner, admitted he was more upset at his team for not warning him about Chastain’s situation than at Chastain for the move itself.
“No, I don’t fault Ross at all. I just wish I knew so I could have been either prepared or made a different decision,” Hamlin explained after the race.
That’s the problem. Not the crash, not Chastain, not even Hamlin’s reaction to it. The problem is that the NASCAR Playoff format enables and encourages this kind of racing in the first place.
In NASCAR’s current elimination system, points don’t matter for the majority of the year, until they suddenly matter more than driving like a professional race car driver in a Playoff elimination event. The result? You get NASCAR Cup Series drivers, the best stock car racers in the world, resorting to Hail Marys, divembombs, and bumper cars on the final lap of elimination races. What would normally be seen as an amateur, wreck-or-wreck-yourself move is suddenly not just justified, but celebrated, if there’s a Playoff spot on the line.
For those who grew up in NASCAR’s golden era, that’s not racing. And it’s this style of racing that is turning NASCAR’s most meaningful moments into spectacles that more resemble what online lobbies for the NASCAR 25 Game will look like when the game is released this month than a professional competition.
The Playoff format, especially the elimination-style rounds, has twisted racecraft into a secondary concern. It’s no longer about managing a race, preserving equipment, and racing others with respect. Now, it’s about surviving a ticking time bomb. And when the last lap of a Playoff cutoff race arrives, everyone’s expected to throw out common sense and treat each other like disposable obstacles on the track.
It’s telling that Hamlin wasn’t angry with Chastain. He understood the move. That’s how normalized this kind of thing has become. We’ve all accepted that the final lap of a cutoff race is no longer about racing; it’s about chaos and who’s willing to push harder, hit dirtier, or ignore consequences longer.
Again, this isn’t just a Chastain issue. It’s an overall NASCAR Playoffs issue. And if we continue to reward and encourage moments like this, whether they work or not, we’ll keep seeing them.
Until NASCAR fixes the system, which rumors suggest is in the works in some form or fashion for the 2026 season, racing clean won’t be the goal. Surviving the gimmick will.
