Darrell Waltrip is no fan of NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format.
Waltrip, said the problems he sees are that the 10-race Chase is too long and that the 12 drivers who qualify for the stock car postseason should have a separate points system to keep things interesting.
“Once we get in the 10-race Chase, they use the same points system that they used to get to that point,” Waltrip said. “And we know for a fact that in three, four races you have several guys who were already eliminated. They need their own point system.”
If Waltrip was in charge of NASCAR, how long would the Chase be?
“I think it should be five (races),” he said. “I love to watch NCAA basketball. Tournament time. One bad game, buddy, you’re done, go home. If you’re going to have it and you’re going to insist on doing it that way, I would make it as intense and as exciting and as nail-biting as I possibly could. And, unless I’m missing something, I don’t see it.”
Waltrip, who got the nickname “Jaws” for his outspoken ways during his driving career, said he doesn’t believe many NASCAR fans are really into the Chase format.
“The Chase is only exciting to those of us that cover it,” he said. “I don’t hear (the fans) talking about it.
Heading into Sunday’s race at Martinsville, Jimmie Johnson appears well on the way to joining Waltrip and contemporary Cale Yarborough as the only drivers to win three straight Cup titles. And Waltrip is impressed by the way Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have figured out the way to win under the Chase format that began in 2004.
“We’re not talking about back in my day when you had to do it for 36 weekends,” Waltrip said. “These cats have got to do it, really, for 10. Jimmie Johnson and Chad have got that figured out. I believe they were the first driver-crew chief who figured out a system for winning the championship based on the Chase format, versus somebody like Jeff Gordon, who is still trying to race like we did for all the years before that.
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