Debate: Who benefits most from new playoff races, Phoenix finale?

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will see a variety of changes that are sure to shake things up.

Darlington Raceway will kick off the playoff party with the Southern 500 throwback weekend on Sept. 6, while Bristol Motor Speedway’s night race slips into the Round of 16 elimination race slot on Sept. 19. The changes are capped off with the Round of 8 elimination race set for Martinsville Speedway on Nov. 1 leading up to the new championship finale venue at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 8.

So, which drivers could benefit the most with the new playoffs schedule? NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola and Chase Wilhelm tighten their seat belts and make their cases.

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DECOLA: Considering Kevin Harvick has been a part of every single Championship 4 but one in its six years of existence, I’d say the chances of him making it all the way through to the finale again are pretty strong. Anything could happen in a Round of 12 that includes Talladega Superspeedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval, of course, but it’s hard to see any potential pitfalls along the way otherwise. Even the two tracks added to the playoffs this year (Darlington, Bristol) have netted three wins for him.

So, under the assumption he’s much more likely to make the championship than not, let’s just take a quick look at how the … Cactus King — clearly an irrelevant nickname — has performed historically out west in 34 races in the Phoenix desert.

Easily his best track from a wins perspective, Harvick’s 9.2 average finish is only second on his career list (at playoff tracks with more than two starts) to a 6.4 average at Homestead-Miami Speedway, home of the finale for the bulk of his career. What that tells me is while Phoenix is probably the track he has the most mastery of, the 44-year-old has also found a way to elevate his performance when the title is on the line. Combine the two conditions and we might as well pencil Harvick in now for 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

WILHELM: It’s hard to think the playoff schedule shuffle won’t work out in Kyle Busch’s favor in one way or another — with a particular focus on Bristol’s night event and the Championship 4 finale at Phoenix.

Recently, Busch has been dominant on Bristol’s concrete high banks. Busch has earned victory in three of the past five events at the Tennessee short track, with the last coming in the spring of 2019. Three of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s eight wins there have come in the Bristol Night Race.

As far as the postseason finale is concerned, if Busch is able to make his way into the Championship 4 once again to defend his title, he’ll be dangerous in the desert. Of Busch’s three victories at the 1-mile Arizona track, two of them have been earned in the past three Phoenix events. In the past nine starts, Busch has only recorded one finish outside the top four — a seventh-place result in the fall of 2017.

All those numbers are hard to bet against, which is why I’m on Busch’s side to take full advantage of all the playoff changes.