Should NASCAR have a wild card race for its playoffs?

Because if you’re embracing the playoff format in a sport like stock car racing, you might as well go all out.

This is the first season for the playoffs in the top three series of NASCAR, so maybe it’s a little too early to start thinking about ways to change things up. Then again, that’s never really stopped this sport or its sanctioning body before.

So let’s discuss something the NASCAR playoffs don’t have as currently structured that they do in nearly every other major North American sport: a wild card system. The NFL and MLB make use of them in very direct ways, while the NHL embraces them in kind of a half-measure to ensure teams with good seasons don’t miss the playoffs by virtue of being in a particularly tough division.

Even individual sports like tennis use them, albeit in much different, single-tournament ways. And of course, NASCAR did have wild cards incorporated into some versions of the Chase.

That’s not exactly what we’re talking about here. Recently, Kevin Harvick advanced the idea of having a true wild card race while appearing on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, and the concept sounded like a ton of fun. Essentially, drivers who did not qualify for the playoffs by winning a race or by being one of the remaining top 16 in points would have one last chance to get in.

The wild card race could be held mid-week, or it could be the week after the regular season finale with the playoffs then starting the following week. Under the latter scenario, the already qualified drivers would get a welcome week off, similar to the top seeds in the NFL or division champions in MLB.

Next: See the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series playoff field

Yes, this is another change that would be thrown at a fanbase that already is largely averse to them, but who wouldn’t want to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. battle it out with Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer and the 2017 rookies for one last spot in the playoffs. It might reward someone who didn’t have that great an overall season, but wild cards in other sports already do that, and their fans are fine with the idea that, say, an 8-8 NFL team can get hot at the right time and make a run at the Super Bowl.

Athlon Sports even brings up the notion that the wild card race could be held at a track that is currently without a Cup Series race. That would be attractive for a number of facilities, even without some of the biggest stars involved.

The NASCAR All-Star Race already utilizes a smaller version of the wild card concept with its Open race that allows stage winners and the race winner to get into the main event. A wild card race for the NASCAR playoffs would provide one last jolt of excitement and give one extra team a reason to do truly meaningful racing for at least a few more weeks. It’s a radical idea for racing but not at all for sports in general, and in a sport that could stand to try more things to see what sticks, Harvick just might be onto something good.