On the Loose Side
A NASCAR BLOG BY Kenny Bruce
Bashers beware, points battle could be all but over
It took five races for the bashing of NASCAR’s Chase For The Sprint Cup to heat up, which I guess is somewhat surprising.
With a couple of Chase guys already looking ahead to 2010, I thought the complaints would have started much sooner.
For the record, I didn’t hear Denny Hamlin say he didn’t agree with the Chase format, or that he pined for days gone by when champions were determined through a season-long points battle.
Perhaps he did, but I didn’t catch that during his brief interview on television.
Hamlin, who suffered his second consecutive setback when he fell out of Saturday’s race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, simply stated a fact: In a 10-race battle for the championship, one mistake can take a team out of the title picture.
Well, that’s no different than before NASCAR adopted the Chase format.
The Chase has simply given more teams an opportunity to contend for the championship by resetting the point standings for the top 12 drivers after the season’s 26th race.
Get rid of the Chase, and heading into Saturday night’s race, Tony Stewart would have been leading Jeff Gordon by 180 points and Jimmie Johnson by 188. Instead, the top seven drivers were separated by 188 points.
No fan likes it when his or her driver falls out of contention. No team likes it when it happens, either.
But without the Chase, most of these teams would have been history long before this week’s race.
Sometimes that’s a fact that is forgotten in the heat of the moment.
Kenny Bruce
Kenny Bruce covered his first auto race in 1981 and, except for a brief four-year departure to work in drag racing, has been at it ever since. He joined NASCAR Scene in 2001.
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Comments
12 responses to "Bashers beware, points battle could be all but over". Post a Comment.
pingraldi said:
Oct 18, 2009 at 11:03 AMAnybody been listening to Bifle and Hamlin lately...they sound like little sissy's who wet their pants.....Go 48....they are earning it...its not the point system Denny its your ability to not drive
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Oct 18, 2009 at 2:57 PMSo what? The Chase format is an artificial construct and it put Jimmie Johnson into position to swipe the title. "The top seven drivers were seperated by 188 points." It's irrelevant.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportsweetthings88 said:
Oct 18, 2009 at 3:15 PMI think the chase format suxs. I just wish nascar would bring it back the old fashion way. But I know they never will. This is jmo. So much for our what was our good racing.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportsundaemunny said:
Oct 19, 2009 at 5:47 AMYou keep assuming that race fans care more about who wins the championship than each individual race. Artificially putting 12 drivers close in points is as phoney as throwing a 'debris' caution to bunch up the field for the final laps to create a 'close' finish. You also forget that this format excludes any driver from racing their way INTO the top 10 before the season ends. I think that TV ratings and attendance are good indicators of how much the fans care about this 'new' format.
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» Confirm Abuse Reporttinynascarfan said:
Oct 19, 2009 at 9:36 AMThe championship is not worth what it used to be worth. It used to be the champion was the best driver who scored more points than 42 other cars for 36 weeks. Now, it is finish in the top 12 after 26 weeks(or basically the top 1/3rd), then score more points than 11 other drivers for 10 weeks. So if you are better than 2 other drivers on average in nascar, you should make the chase and have a shot at the championship. wow
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» Confirm Abuse Reportpapaof4ncrc said:
Oct 19, 2009 at 10:28 AMCan'tsay I,m a fan of the chase and we had some close finishes in the old system,along with some blowouts.But it is what it is.Think Jeff Gordon handles it about as well as any can,under the old system he'd be a six time champ but he doesn't cry about it.And can you imagine the whining fans if he was.Today we just need something to bitch about,all the monday morning quarterbacks and back seat drivers know more than those who actually perform the task.Think we should just sit back and enjoy the entertainment and quit crying so much over things we have no control over.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportl84somewhere said:
Oct 19, 2009 at 3:37 PMCall me a cynic, but if it was Dale Jr going for 4 in a row I doubt we'd see nearly as many complaints. This isn't about the system, it's about the guy who is beating it.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportvermontcritter-1 said:
Oct 19, 2009 at 6:58 PMThis isn't about a guy beating the points system, it's about a points system allowing one person to win year in and year out. To reset the points with ten to go is not only bogus, but unfair to owners like Tony Stewart who have worked their butts off building a large lead in the points, only to lose that lead with ten to go. You might as well admit it, the points system sucks and needs to be discarded in favor something that really makes sense.
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» Confirm Abuse Reporttinynascarfan said:
Oct 19, 2009 at 9:56 PMthe first criteria for the chase should be have you won a race? if you havent then you dont get in.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportPhere said:
Oct 20, 2009 at 1:16 AMOne could compare the chase to the last presidential election. The one with the biggest wallet wins. Obama did it by manipulation of the internet. I think that technology was the winner, and he knew how to make money from it. The best man doesn't Always win, sometimes the one with the most presidents on paper do.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportvermontcritter-1 said:
Oct 20, 2009 at 3:38 PMPhere, I second your analogy. Hopefully NASCAR will wake up one of these days and realize that big buck teams aren't the only ones racing in the CUP series.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportDutchmother said:
Oct 20, 2009 at 4:44 PMI find it amusing that people think it is a conspiracy that Nascar is 'letting' #48 win the championship. I somewhat feel that nothing could be worse for the sport right now, but IMO the simple truth is that the other teams just need to step up their game. I like the idea that at this point w/ the old system Smoke would be in a huge lead to the other teams, whereas now there are three other drivers who have a chance at winning. Mistakes and accidents and failures happen. The 48 team is not immune to them (JJ has been penalized this year), they are just good at avoiding them. I'm holding my breath- ANYthing could happen between now and Homestead!
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