Not all trades are fair. For example, Australian racing series Supercars gave NASCAR Shane van Gisbergen, while NASCAR sent back the playoff system, which Supercars implemented for the first time this year.
Fans of the series, who also got to see Cup Series star Austin Cindric guesting at their Adelaide Grand Final this week, have now had their first taste of the kind of ridiculous championship scenarios the playoffs can throw up.
As NASCAR considers how best to extricate itself from the hugely unpopular single race finale over the coming weeks, they'd do well to take a look Down Under and remember just how poorly things can go even with a three-race championship round.
Young star Broc Feeney collected 14 wins over the 33 races the series ran this year to add to a series-record 19 pole positions, but was edged out by veteran Chaz Mostert.
NASCAR system not fit for purpose – again
Mostert had won just four times all year – three of those coming in the early rounds of the playoffs, before going winless through the championship round with three second-place finishes.
Feeney, meanwhile, won the second race of the championship round, but a wreck on the first lap of the last race dropped him to last place, before a slow pitstop and engine issues meant that he couldn't fight all the way back through the field to claim the fourth position which would've given him the title.
Just to add to the controversy of the moment, the car who dove down Feeney's inside to spin him was Mostert's team-mate Ryan Wood – who picked up a 15-second penalty for his trouble.
While NASCAR is unlikely to use this further example of the issues surrounding a playoff system as a key part of their decision-making process, it serves as yet another reminder that the current way of doing things isn't fit for crowning the best driver of the year as champion.
