CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The 2011 and 2021 Cup Series seasons featured one driver winning half of the playoff races and ending the season as the champion. This was an impressive showing of dominance, but is it still possible in 2024?
"It's possible. Hard to do, but possible," Chase Elliott said in response to a question from AltDriver during Playoff Media Day.
Two drivers have achieved this feat since the playoff format began in 2004. Tony Stewart was the first. He entered the 2011 playoffs without a win to his name. He won five of the final 10 races to claim his third title.
Kyle Larson joined Stewart in 2021. He won five races during the regular season and then won five of the 10 playoff races to claim his first title.
Multiple others have actually come close to accomplishing this feat. Jimmie Johnson won four of the playoff races in both 2007 and 2009 before winning the championship. He also won four of the playoff races in 2004, but Kurt Busch won the title.
Martin Truex Jr. won four of the playoff races during his championship campaign in 2017.
"It's been done before twice, so yeah, it could totally be done again," Larson said. "But yeah, it's really tough.
"You've seen guys win back-to-back races, three out of five or something like that. So yeah, it could for sure be done, it's just tougher it seems like these days."
The key words in Larson's answer are "these days." The two instances of drivers winning in half of the playoff races were in different car eras. Larson achieved this feat in the Gen 6 era. Stewart did so in the Gen 5, the Car of Tomorrow.
Since the move to the Gen 7 car, playoff dominance has been rare. In fact, non-playoff drivers won the first four playoff races in 2022. Joey Logano and Christopher Bell then tied with two playoff wins each.
Last season, Larson and Blaney tied for the lead with two playoff wins each.
"I think it's definitely harder to do than it was," Truex said about winning half of the 10 races. "It's all because of the car. Definitely. You used to be able to find advantages easier with cars and builds than you can now."
NASCAR teams don't have as much freedom with cars in the Next Gen era as they did before. They use parts from a select list of approved vendors, and they face severe penalties for making unapproved adjustments to these parts.
At-track changes are also smaller in scope, for better or worse. As Harrison Burton explained, making minor air pressure adjustments can take a car from one of the worst in the field to one of the best. However, teams are unable to make wholesale changes when their setup is just incorrect.
The car is not the only factor making it harder for drivers to win several playoff races. The constantly evolving schedule adds another layer of difficulty. After all, this season's playoffs feature two superspeedways and two road courses, an increase from years past.
"The field is closer than ever," Logano said. "The track layout, or the track schedule, is one piece of it, but the field being so tight now, with this Next Gen car, like it's gonna be really hard to do.
"I mean, think about those days where every year there was usually two cars that won seven races, give or take. Now there's not really that anymore."
The car and schedule changes have certainly impacted the playoffs, as has increased parity throughout the field.
Drivers have stunned their competitors by winning their way into the next round. Bell did so in 2022 with wins at both the Roval and Martinsville. He kept his season alive while eliminating drivers with far more playoff points.
Champions have been eliminated much earlier than expected, something that happened to Logano last season as he failed to advance beyond the Round of 16. He became the first defending champion to have such an early exit from the playoffs.
This elimination surprised many considering that Logano had just won his second championship, but it was just an example of how NASCAR has changed.
"The era of dominance is really over, at least with the current rule settings, which is intentional," Brad Keselowski told AltDriver. "There's parts that are to be lauded about it and parts to be celebrated and so forth and parts to be hated.
"But the reality is, in this era, you're not winning five NASCAR playoff races."