Championship weekends are supposed to be celebratory. Fun. Thrilling.

While the losing team’s fans may be upset, they can still appreciate a game well-played between competitors.

2025 Championship Weekend was a whole different vibe for NASCAR, and not in a good way.

With nonstop talk going into the weekend about the legitimacy of the one-race battle for the title, we knew the results were going to be looked at under a microscope.

To be frank, this weekend at Phoenix had a funereal feel to many fans, who saw this as the end of an era where changes that have been implemented have had unintended consequences that have hurt the sport’s integrity — and as the weekend played out, we saw two more heartbreaking examples of why this playoff format needs to end and a major reset is needed for the sport in 2026.

Friday Miracle from Heim, but disappointment for Zilisch on Saturday

To start the weekend, disaster was averted on Friday courtesy of a late 7-wide banzai move by Corey Heim that allowed him to claim a title that rightfully should have already been his. If he hadn’t won the championship due to late cautions, it would’ve been a travesty, as Heim had perhaps the most dominant season ever in the series’ history. So, we got through one day without a calamity.

But then our luck ran out.

Thoughts as NASCAR leaves Phoenix and heads to Homestead for the 2019 season finale:

— It’s imperative that NASCAR does something with the Cup aero package for shorter tracks before the 2020 season, at least in regard to shorter tracks. They simply can’t have the title race decided by 10 seconds. This was one of the worst races of the season, and we can’t have a repeat of that in 2020 when a championship is being decided at Phoenix. 

— There’s a lot of talk about young guns in NASCAR, and there is definitely lots of young talent in the ranks in all three major series. But look at the top ranks in Cup, and what do we see?: An average age of 38.5 among the final four at Homestead. The lesson: For now, experience rules. Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, William Byron and others will get their shot at the title soon enough. But they’re going to have to get past the veterans to do so, as long as they’re around.