NASCAR legend Mark Martin has explained why he pushed so hard for the sport to change its championship format for this year.
The five-time championship runner-up was one of the most passionate voices in advocating for the abolition of a playoff system, winning out when NASCAR announced in January that the Chase would be returning for the foreseeable future.
The ten-race postseason will be decided by points rather than individual (or sets of three) race results, with the regular season standings also having a say in which driver starts the Chase with an advantage.
The clamor for the change has been building for a little while, but came to a head at last year's Championship weekend at Phoenix, which nearly saw two of the most dominant seasons in NASCAR history go unrewarded in the Truck Series and Xfinity Series.
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Martin: 2026 champ will have to be lightning fast
Corey Heim saved the sport's blushes on the Friday night with an incredible last restart, but ten-win Connor Zilisch was denied the Xfinity Series title by Jesse Love, who went 31 winless races between winning the season-opener at Daytona and the championship race.
Martin has hailed the change as the best possible outcome for drivers and fans, and explained his passion for the format alteration on FOX's pre-race show at Darlington on Sunday.
Asked directly why he had been so vocal in the media and online about the change, Martin said: "Because I know the fans wanted it. They wanted it, they wanted a points system. Actually, really wanted a full-season points system, but that wasn't really realistic.
"NASCAR came up with the best compromise between it all. I think that the champion is going to have to be lightning fast and extremely consistent to win this championship this year. That's all everybody wants."
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