Full Throttle

Lee Spencer of Fox Sports confirmed on Sunday what was assumed all along.

This years Chase will have 12 drivers eligible and a win will be worth an extra 10 points. What isn’t clear is if the 10 additional points be for the full season or just the Chase.

If just for the Chase, and looking at the ‘06 results, it would appear to be a band-aid that tries to stem an arterial flow. Lotsa luck, it wouldn’t have made a bit of difference in the final ‘06 standings with Johnson having a single Chase win and Kenseth having none.

Also, if the 10 points are awarded during Chase only why bother. Again looking at ‘06, Stewart had five wins last year, two prior to the Chase. 20 points if awarded would have been enough for him to make the Chase.

To do anything other than award 10 points to each of the 36 2007 season winners would only prove one thing, NASCAR is stuck on stupid.

As far as the additional 2 allowed in the Chase… who cares. Other than sponsors voicing concern about not having their millions represented and able to win the Championship it’s a rather meaningless exercise.

The three previous editions of the Chase have proven by race 30 (Talladega) most if not all (J.J. being the single exception last year) below fifth in the standings are out of the running anyways.

The addition of 2 more in the Chase is nothing more than kissing the wallet (and what’s underneath it) of sponsors that pay the bills. Nothing wrong in that, it just won’t make one wit of difference to competition on the track. (except two more able to whine about non-Chasers being in the way)

UPDATE: OK, official word is out, a win is worth more than in previous years. Let me restate what was said earlier, NASCAR is stuck on stupid!

“The adjustments taken [Monday] put a greater emphasis on winning races,” NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France (a/k/a HWSBO) said. “Winning is what this sport is all about.

Puzzle me this: Other than the inherent difference in the importance of 26 events vice 10 Chase events - a fish bowl compared to 50 gallon aquarium - why do they feel more “winning points” should be awarded during the Chase than 26 events prior to it?

More to the point, despite NASCAR’s attempt at showing how the ‘06 Chasers would have started the Chase point-wise the new system wouldn’t have altered the final outcome. J.J. would still be wearing the ring.

NASCAR attempts to justify the change noting how the system would have changed past runs for the Cup since 1975, a span of 32 years. They cite three cases in that 32 years where the new system would have altered the outcome. One of those, Alan Kulwicki’s 1992 championship, didn’t change the winner only the amount Kulwicki won by.

Maybe there’s more, I’m not going to crunch the numbers (maybe Darren will numbers are his “thing”) but I would think if there were more examples from the past NASCAR would have highlighted them.

Moreover, it’s important to note what they didn’t change. The past Champions provisional remains. With so many new fully sponsored teams there will be cases of highly funded teams sitting despite having a time quicker than a Champ from years ago. Not a good thing.

Also remaining unchanged is the lap led bonus. That should only be awarded to those that lead under green flag conditions not under yellow.

If nothing else NASCAR has provided another subject to blog about. Beyond that I don’t think they have changed much.

Upon Further Review: I’m far from surprised, NASCAR has changed the Chase and “regular” season points structure and have gotten it ass backwards. They’ve placed more importance on the first 26 events and less on the Chase.

Think of it this way. Drivers can race their collective butts off for 26 events. They do so because of the extra points on offer for a win. At the 26 race mark the top 12 are evened out with respect to points at 5000 for each. Added to that are 10 points for each drivers win in the “regular” season.

Soooo… a driver with 5 wins would start at 5050, a driver with no wins would still be at 5000 and in twelfth place. At that point NASCAR shoots themselves in the foot by dropping the win bonus to only 5 points during the Chase.

If France thinks that will entice drivers to throw caution to the wind for the sake of gaining 5 points he’s smokin’ some serious stuff. If it’s race 34, maybe. If it’s race 27 thru about 30, forgetaboutit!

Reportedly France thought up this plan while driving to lunch one day. I suspect it wasn’t a lunch but part of that late night episode with a tree and a parking lot a few weeks ago.

Prove me wrong!

NASCAR, Chase, NEXTEL Cup, Sports, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle