Talladega too dicey to be in playoffs

Here’s what went right at Talladega Superspeedway:

• It was a beautiful day with packed grandstands.

• Fans were treated to a sincere send-off to Dale Earnhardt Jr.

• NBC’s overnight television rating was the highest for this race since 2012, when it was aired on ESPN.

• Brad Keselowski used a last-lap pass to win Sunday and advance into the next round of the playoffs. So, what’s the problem? There were a lot of accidents in the race, contributing to almost 35 minutes of stoppage over three different red-flag periods. There were only 14 cars on the track at the checkered flag, and only four were playoff drivers. Two of them finished a lap down.

Sorry, that is not a playoff-quality event.

NASCAR did the right thing this season in moving Talladega into the middle of the second round of the playoffs so it would no longer be an elimination race. The event is too much of a crapshoot, and too many drivers have had their championship chances destroyed by some misfortune — often out of their hands — for the race to play such a pivotal role.

After Sunday, it could be argued that Talladega shouldn’t be in the playoffs at all.

No one is suggesting taking it off the schedule. Fans love restrictor-plate racing at Daytona and Talladega, and many thought Sunday was a great race. Maybe it was. But it wasn’t the kind of product that should be deciding a championship.

Chase Elliott could have won that race, same for Ryan Blaney, and each ended the day as spectators alongside their junked race cars. So, yeah, both sounded a little bitter about their results.

Blaney had won the second stage of the race to pick up valuable playoff points, and was for sure a contender.

“It’s all ruined now,” said Blaney. “We had a really good day, and now it’s down the drain.”