When a driver won a NASCAR Cup Series regular season race in the "win and in" era, it didn't necessarily lock them into the playoffs, since there could technically be more than 16 different winners over the course of the 26-race regular season.
But entering Sunday's Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, the first points race at the four-turn, 0.625-mile (1.006-kilometer) North Wilkesboro, North Carolina oval since 1996, there were six races remaining on the regular season schedule, and there had been just nine different race winners this season.
So under the old format, Joey Logano's dominant victory on Sunday night would have locked him into the postseason for the ninth consecutive season. However, that is not the case under the new format.
Joey Logano not locked into NASCAR playoffs
The new playoff format is simple: the top 16 drivers in the point standings after August's regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, qualify for the 10-race playoffs, regardless of which drivers have won races and which haven't.
Logano entered Sunday's 450-lap race, of which he led a career-high 323 laps, sitting 17th in the point standings, placing him eight points below the cut line. He collected 73 of a possible 76 points en route to his first win since May 2025, and in doing so, he vaulted himself up to 15th, placing him 49 points above the cutoff.
Sure, it's a much better position than he had been in for the past several weeks; he nearly fell outside of the top 20 not too long ago. But with five races remaining on the regular season calendar, he is far from comfortable.
Can Joey Logano actually make a Chase run?
That being said, the fans who fully expected the new format to "expose" the No. 22 team shouldn't get their hopes up. And we've been saying that for weeks.
The idea that Logano was merely a "playoff merchant" was one of the sport's biggest misconceptions of the "win and in" era. Sure, he never led the series in season-long points en route to any of his three championships, and in particular, there is zero doubt that there were plenty of drivers who had a better 2024 season than he did.
But under the current points-based format, where there is only set to be a single points reset after the regular season, and all pre-playoff bonus points are based exclusively on the regular season point standings, Logano ironically would have been a four-time champion by now, rather than just a three-time champ, had that format been the one used from 2014 to 2025 instead.
And don't look now, but after Sunday's win, which was his first top five finish since March and only his third of the year, Logano is suddenly closer to 11th in points than he is to the cut line.
In other words, if he does qualify for the playoffs, don't simply assume he'll be one of the lowest seeds with one of the largest points deficits to overcome.
But even if he is, no playoff driver will enter the playoffs with more than a 100-point deficit to the regular season champion. Logano is currently 331 points out of the lead, so by simply qualifying for the postseason, he'd be getting a nice boost.
And 100 points over the course of 10 races really isn't all that much if a driver gets hot (or cold), especially with the 15 bonus points that are now awarded to race winners.
After all, it is an even-numbered year, isn't it?
The Brickyard 400 is the 22nd race on the 26-race 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season schedule, and it is set to be shown live on TNT from Indianapolis Motor Speedway starting at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, July 26. Don't miss the regular season's final crown jewel event!
