This is a subject I feel very strong about. The Chase for the Cup is undoubtedly one of the best additions to the season that NASCAR has ever made. There's nothing like that "playoff" atmosphere in stock car racing with every race of the Chase being just as tense and critical. One single wreck or equipment malfunction can bring your quest for a championship to an end, unless that is, your Jimmie Johnson in 2006.
While the Chase for the Cup has been very successful during its first 4 years, I still think it needs some more refining in addition to the small changes that have been made. For those of you not familiar, the Chase was implemented starting with the 2004 season, with the top 10 drivers after 26 races qualifying for a shot at the championship. The point standings leader's total was reset to 5,050 points, with the other 9 positions separated by 10 points each. Whoever was on top after the final 10 races was declared the Champion.
Even though this format proved successful for the next 2 years, many felt that race wins throughout the season weren't factoring in as much as they should. A good example of this was the 2006 season in which Kasey Khane won 6 races, yet barely made the Chase by edging out Tony Stewert by 16 points. Because of this scenario, NASCAR decided to make some changes to the Chase beginning with the 2007 season. After the first 26 races were complete, the top 12 drivers would qualify for the Chase with everyone's points being reset to 5,000. An additional 10 bonus points were awarded for each race win and then the drivers were seeded accordingly.
This is where I feel that NASCAR is being a little too black and white with the situation.
I love the idea of awarding the drivers for race wins, but with this format I feel that a driver's consistency with top 5 and top 10 finishes is being totally disregarded. There are drivers such as Jeff Burton and Dale Jr. who spend virtually the whole regular season within the top 3 or 4 in the points standings because of their hard work and consistency, but because they only have 1 win, they would start the Chase in the basement. Like i said before, I'm all about putting an emphasis on winning, but without consistency you wont even make the chase and I think that needs to be a little more recognized.
Now I know you shouldn't complain unless your going to offer a solution so I will try to do that. I really think NASCAR could fix this by somewhat combining the 2 formats. Reset the standings after 26 races with drivers 1-12 separated by 10 points each, and then award the 10 bonus points for each win, or something along those lines. Drivers like Jeff Burton and Dale Jr. would still lose some positions but at least they wouldn't be in the basement for being 2 of the most consistent drivers on the track.
I also want to make this clear. This isn't an issue I have all of a sudden because Dale Jr. happens to be in this predicament at the moment. The same thing happened with Matt Kenseth last season. He was easily one of the most consistent guys on the track, sitting near the top of the point standings during the first 26 races. But because he only won one race, he started the Chase at the bottom.
As always, comments/opinions are welcomed.
-R.B.P.
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1 comment:
I like your thinking here. I like the excitement the "chase" adds. I agree it should be tweaked a little. It doesn't seam right that the leader after 26 races gets nothing. If the leader at that point has won few or no races they would be near the bottom after the reseed. My suggestion would be to reset the top 12, add 10 pts. for wins, then add pts. to the seasons top five drivers based on this scale:
First - 30 pts.
Second - 20 pts.
Third - 15 pts.
Fourth - 10 pts.
Fifth - 5 pts.
Sepparating all 12 spots by 10 pts each would essentially create a 12 win difference from first to last place, that is too much. Spots below fifth place should receive no added points as they don't show enough consistency. While on this supject I hav eto comend NASCAR for withholding the 10 chase pts. from Carl Edwards when his car was found to be illegal after his Las Vegas win earlier this year.
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