Should NASCAR reward non-playoff qualifiers who beat its 'best of the best'?

With non-playoff qualifiers now having won each of NASCAR's first three playoff races, perhaps a new system -- or added incentive -- should be considered

Ever since NASCAR began the playoff format in 2004, its famous tagline was “Win and You’re In.” In other words, any driver who won any of the first 26 regular season races is guaranteed a spot in the 10-race post-season – a.k.a. the playoffs.

But after what we’ve seen in the first three races of this year’s playoffs, I think a significant adjustment needs to be made.

For the first time since the playoffs began nearly 20 years ago, none of the winners in all three races of the first round were playoff qualifiers. In other words, none of the 16 drivers that qualified for the playoffs reached victory lane at Darlington, Kansas or Saturday night’s Round of 16 conclusion at Bristol Motor Speedway.

A major part of that reason is the Next Generation car, which promised – and has most definitely delivered – incredible parity that has given us what NASCAR promised: any driver and any team, on any given day, has a chance to win a given race.

So, as we watched Saturday night’s race at Bristol wind down, and as we saw past champions Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick be eliminated from advancing to the Round of 12 – a.k.a. the three-race second round – as well as both Richard Childress Racing drivers, Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon also be cut from continuing on, a thought occurred to me.

Granted, this year’s playoffs and how they’ve evolved thus far may simply be an aberration, but what if they’re not? What if the playoffs go forward with the winners in the Round of 12 continuing to be non-playoff qualifiers in one, two or all three races again?

What if, when NASCAR leaves the sixth race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and not one single playoff qualifier STILL has not won a race?

Then an idea hit me – a pretty phenomenal idea, if I say so myself.

Now, this may get complicated, so please bear with me.

Let’s say we have the same kind of evolution in next year’s playoffs? What if the best of NASCAR’s best still continue to be bested at the checkered flag by drivers who failed to finish among the top 16 drivers after the first 26 regular season races?

And going a step further, what if the non-playoff qualifiers continue to win a lot of races in the playoffs?

Shouldn’t those drivers – even if they didn’t earn one of the 16 coveted playoff spots – get some kind of reward or notoriety for their achievement in the playoffs, as well?

I mean, what if Erik Jones (Darlington), Bubba Wallace (Kansas) or Chris Buescher (Bristol) all earn additional wins in the remaining seven races? Shouldn’t they get some kind of recognition for what they’ve done in the playoffs?

Even worse for NASCAR, what if EACH of the remaining upcoming seven races are also won by a non-playoff qualifier? What if the championship is ultimately decided by the qualifier who had the best overall consistency in the playoffs – but never got to victory lane once because the non-qualifiers were better when it came to taking the checkered flag?

Which brings me back to my point: drivers who failed to qualify for the playoffs but wound up earning wins in the playoffs should receive some type of notoriety, even though it would go completely against NASCAR’s system of Round of 16, 12, 8 and Championship 4.

That’s when it hit me.

It would not be all that hard – nor would it be a statistical nightmare – for NASCAR to tabulate how all non-playoff qualifiers do in the 10 playoff races, provided they win at least one race.

Then, take the total average of how they did in those 10 races and whoever finishes with the highest average automatically earns, say, a guaranteed 17th-place finish as the highest-finishing non-playoff qualifier in the playoffs (no matter how high they actually finish mathematically).

But also sweeten it with, say, a $250,000 bonus to the winning driver and team as incentive for their hard work and effort (and maybe also for showing up the so-called best of the best).

And, if the top finishing non-playoff qualifier wins more than once in the playoffs, maybe boost their winning bonus to $500,000, maybe as high as $1 million if they win as many as four or more races in the playoffs.

For too many years, teams that failed to make the playoffs for one reason or another had little – if anything – when it came to incentive during the playoffs. For far too often, many of those non-playoff teams ended up going through the motions in those final 10 races, demoralized.

I mean, who really wants to brag that they finished, say, 17th or 18th or 19th or worse in the playoffs, since they never qualified to begin with?

But even if you fail to qualify for the playoffs but win maybe two or more races once you’re in the playoffs and really kicked the ass of guys who DID make the playoffs, that would go a long way in getting a lot of media attention that would impress your fans, sponsors and team owners.

Heck, maybe NASCAR might go so far as to eventually develop a system where it would boot guys who did make the playoffs if they performed so terribly once they were in the elimination races, and instead give the non-qualifiers somewhat of a “second chance” to reclaim some dignity and honor and finish a season in a right way.

I mean, seriously, who would disagree with that?

Follow Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski