NASCAR’s Hall of Fame inductees for the Class of 2027 have been announced. While the names who made it are all deserving recipients of the status, there is a lot of focus on those who didn’t and why more than three don't.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame began in 2010, and ever since, 15 nominees enter the voting with 10 in the Modern Era Ballot and five in the Pioneer Ballot. Two make the cut from the former and one from the latter.

Motorsports journalist Jordan Bianchi raised concerns with this system via an article and a clip posted to his social media. Bianchi said that several deserving candidates are missing out every year, and the list of those who should be in the Hall of Fame is now entering a backlog that will be difficult to clear. 

"In NASCAR right now, there is such a backlog that’s being created. Why do we have this system where we’re only letting two guys in, and then we’re gonna add more guys next year, so it’s gonna continue this backlog? At some point, you’re gonna have to figure out a way to undo this log jam," said Bianchi.

Another point he stressed was that only one legend gets NASCAR HOF status amongst 5.  "They only take one of the guys out of five. All five of those guys should all be in the Hall of Fame already. Period. That's not even an argument to make."

Bianchi’s point was made clear with his article on Greg Biffle missing out on a spot. Biffle tragically passed away last December in a plane crash. He had 19 Cup wins, 20 Xfinity wins, and 17 Truck Series wins, and was the first driver to win a championship in both the Truck and Xfinity series.  

Should NASCAR Look Towards Baseball for Inspiration?

There are several problems with the NASCAR HOF system. As Bianchi pointed out, the number of names now on the back burner before they receive due recognition is one part of it.

While the NASCAR HOF is stuck on inducting just three icons, some other sports don’t have limitations on the number of entries. Baseball is probably the best example for NASCAR to look at. The rule is simple: if any nominee gets more than 75 per cent of the votes, they get inducted into the Hall of Fame. 

For this to work, each voter would be allowed to vote for one or more drivers, depending on how many on the list they feel deserve the NASCAR HOF status. The percentage of votes required could be set as a precedent, and anyone getting that percentage of votes across ballots should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

A unique aspect of NASCAR's HOF voting is including fans in the system. There are 65 ballots, and the total fan votes account for 1 vote, while the rest are from the voting panel.

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Yask Kotak