New System keeps NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase Interesting
Sep 04, 2008
CIA Stock Photo, Inc.
Only a couple of months ago many people were already engraving Kyle Busch’s name on this year’s Sprint Cup Series trophy.
Then all of a sudden Carl Edwards got hot and the 2008 championship picture became a little murkier.
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Now with Jimmie Johnson’s late-summer hot streak there is no clear favorite on who will end up on top of the NASCAR mountain when the final checkered flag flies at Homestead in November.
While Busch, Edwards and Johnson will be the favorites once the Chase kicks off next weekend in New Hampshire, after Saturday night’s race in Richmond there will be nine others with a shot at winning the title.
Those who long for the “old” point system would basically have a two-driver race to follow over the last eleven races of the season with Busch holding a massive 208-point advantage over Edwards after 25 events.
Johnson is a whopping 329 behind and with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton in fourth and fifth, a distant 432 and 521 back respectively.
A stronger emphasis on winning has been missing in NASCAR racing for a long time. Race winners should be rewarded with more points, plain and simple.
Adding the bonus point concept to the mix was a step in the right direction and seeding the Chase based on those victories and points is the right idea.
But let’s not go as far as to award a driver a Chase spot simply based on winning a race in the regular season. Consistency should still be a benchmark in the point standings. I would just give a race winner 25 more points than the second-place finishers to reward what the sport is supposed to be about—crossing the finish line first.
Let the championship contenders battle among themselves and not get eliminated in Week 1 on a boneheaded move by a non-Chase driver, like we’ve seen happen many times since the format debuted.
The race within a race would make more sense to fans and viewers if the drivers in the title battle had a separate system.
