2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski has claimed that a 36-race championship format is what is best for the sport.
Since 2001, NASCAR has used an alternative way of crowning its champion, with a playoff system currently in place that has come in for a lot of scrutiny and criticism.
One of the biggest of those is that it doesn't necessarily crown the best driver across the whole season. In part, this is down to the championship being decided by a single race, which has taken place at Phoenix in recent seasons.
Brad Keselowski weighs in on playoff debate
Changes are coming to the current format, with NASCAR having spent the season consulting with a playoff committee of relevant parties to come up with a plan for next season onwards.
Whether or not that plan is for a three or four-race championship round, a 10-race chase playoff system, or a full 36-race points format, only time will tell, but Keselowski knows which he would prefer.
As a champion and team co-owner, the RFK star has the best interests of the sport at heart, telling Jeff Gluck of The Athletic: "The sport is really interesting with how it perceives itself. It's one of the sports that has the most noticeable negative feedback loop. That said, it's also a squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease sport where if somebody's not squeaking, things don't ever change.
"The 36 format has had such a loud drum beat as of late because I think most of the industry is realizing it's probably the best for the sport.
"There's a number of reasons for that, but (it's) also because the sport has kind of revealed itself to be heavily influenced by its own spin, so to speak. So I suspect that drum beat will get just louder from more and more voices.
"Ultimately, I do think that the 36-race season format is what's best for the sport. It's not my decision. It'll come down to the France family making that decision, and I respect that. They own the sport, and they have every right to make that decision."
Keselowski: 'Big event feel' has been removed from NASCAR
The 2012 champion continued: "But if you look at this sport holistically, NASCAR was built on the concept of races connected with a championship -- and it has shifted to a sport that is now a championship connected by races.
"Inherently, that removes some of the big-event feel that I think made NASCAR so special in decades past.
"We need 38 big events. That's what this sport needs to endure for generations to come, and the best opportunity for that is in a season-long format that is a series of races connected by a championship, rather than a championship connected by a series of races."
