The Playoffs were a joke.... This sport is suppose to be about consistency and it turned into who can avoid crashing or engine failure for 10 races.. They sold out to sponsors....This race would have been close even if they didn't change the system.
When the champ is decided by August, I didn't watch much NASCAR when it competed with football. Maybe flip to it during commercials, but the attention level really dropped off. The playoff system kept viewers like me tuned in, and that made NASCAR big bucks.
The system will undoubtedly be tweaked, but it's added a new dimension to a season that often seems to get tired before it's over.