 The playoff system has been referred to as "the Matt Kenseth Rule" as a result of Kenseth's championship in 2003, the year prior to NASCAR adopting the playoff system.In 2003, Kenseth won the championship with just one race win (the third race of the year, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway) along with 25 top-ten finishes.Ryan Newman won eight races that year (22% of the 36 races run in 2003), but failed to finish several races due to crashes and ended the season sixth in the driver's championship.