ESCANABA — Before what could be described as opening a can of worms, I feel I must preface this column with the following statement: Chase Elliott is the rightful 2020 NASCAR Champion as dictated by the current NASCAR championship format.

I have been a Chase Elliott fan since he first began climbing the stock car ladder toward the upper echelons of NASCAR. So, believe me, I am happy that Elliott and his team won the title.

That being said, the NASCAR Playoffs have got to go.

Since the inception of the original “The Chase for the Championship” format in the 2004 season, NASCAR has begun to tread a finer and finer line between sport and entertainment. This is something drivers from around the motorsport’s world have noted — like 2011 Indianapolis 500 runner-up and MIT graduate, J.R. Hildebrand.

In a Sept. 9 tweet, Hildebrand said, “NASCAR is where you go to see motorsport presented as entertainment,” when comparing his opinions on differences between Formula One, NASCAR and INDYCAR.

One of the more glaring examples of this emphasis toward entertainment has been the change from the original “The Chase” format to elimination based playoffs.

With “The Chase”, the top 10 drivers in points would be reset prior to the final 10 races. There were no eliminations, no stage points. Just 10 drivers trying to string together the best results in 10 consecutive races.

“The Chase” underwent several format changes until it was eventually renamed the NASCAR Playoffs in 2017, which brings us to where we are today.

All of this has been an effort — originally spearheaded by former CEO and chairman of NASCAR, Brian France — to produce what has been referred to as “Game 7 moments”. A nod to memorable moments coming for the World Series’ final winner-take-all game.

Here we reach a dilemma.

Game seven of the World Series is never a guarantee. Some years, a team wins in four games (2004 Boston Red Sox) to take the title of champion with no major challenge from their adversary (St. Louis Cardinals).

Others, it’s a nailbiting, down-to-the-wire, shootout (2016 Chicago Cubs against the Cleveland Indians) between the best teams the MLB has to offer. The seventh game is a necessity to declare a champion.

Above all, however, game seven is reached organically.

Pre-playoffs, NASCAR had several legendary championship battles that came to a head in the final race of the year; like the 1992 season, which was arguably the best example of an organic “game seven moment.”

When the green flag fell on the race in Atlanta that day, six drivers had a shot at leaving with the championship. The favorites: Bill Elliott, Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki and the outside challengers: Kyle Petty, Harry Gant and Mark Martin.

The possibilities of who would leave the track were near infinite. Ultimately, Alan Kulwicki led one more lap than Bill Elliott, who won the race, to claim the lap leader points bonus and win the championship while finishing the race in second.

Elliott had more wins during the season, but Kulwicki was more consistent, by one-third of a position. Kulwicki’s late-season charge, along with his consistency, was what won him the championship.

Other years were more reminiscent of the four-and-out of the World Series.

Matt Kenseth, in the final non-Chase format year, won the 2003 NASCAR championship with the best average finish and only one win. He clinched the championship one week early, too, failing to finish the last race of the year at Homestead with engine woes.

In 2020, no driver was more consistent, had more wins, top fives or top 10s than Kevin Harvick, who was eliminated from championship contention in the final cutoff race at Martinsville.

Week-to-week, Harvick finished a whole two positions better on average than the next closest driver in that category, Denny Hamlin.

In 36 races, Harvick had nine wins, 20 top fives and 27 top 10s. Despite performing better than every other driver over the entirety of the season, Harvick finished fifth in the final points standings.

Why? Manufactured drama to create more “Game 7 moments.”

In my mind, if NASCAR has to curate these dramatic moments via the playoff format, they ultimately mean next to nothing.

My biggest gripe with the playoff format, though, is how unnecessary it truly is, at least to me.

Unlike baseball, football, hockey and other team sports where teams play in pairs each week, NASCAR — and motorsports in general — has every driver competing against each other every single week.

To me, if a driver and team performs better than their competition every week of the year, they should be the rightful champion.

Instead, the NASCAR championship comes down to the outcome of one race. The points of the final four championship-eligible drivers are equalized, erasing any advantages a driver may have. This negates the work the drivers and teams have put into the previous playoff races and season as a whole.

A driver could literally win every single race in the season then finish second in the finale and not be the champion.

Is this really the best way to crown a champion?