Jared Turner: It's too bad it's not time for the Chase
By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer
Saturday, July 19, 2008
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COMMENTARY
I wish the final race before the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup was being held today.
Talk about a showdown soaked in suspense.
More than half a dozen crew chiefs would break out in beads of sweat calculating where their driver needs to finish to secure a spot in the championship-determining field.
Team owners would be pacing up and down pit lane all night long wishing they could reach in the car and somehow give their wheelman that one last little push to keep their title hopes alive.
Fans would be fidgeting in their seats wondering where their favorite driver will shake out in the Chase shuffle when the lights go out and the dust settles.
The scenarios would be exciting and endless.
Can 13th-place Clint Bowyer move back into the 12-driver Chase field a second straight year a week after falling out?
Will 14th and 15th-place Brian Vickers and David Ragan, both still mathematically eligible for the Chase, make it in for the first time?
Will two-time NASCAR Cup champion Tony Stewart hold on to his spot in the top 12 to ensure one final title run with Joe Gibbs Racing?
With 62 points between seventh-place Greg Biffle and 13th-place Bowyer, and less than 200 points separating sixth-place Jeff Gordon and 15th-place Ragan, it would be the kind of made-for-TV classic that no one would forget for a long time.
Last year’s regular season finale didn’t exactly feature much uncertainty.
In fact, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who entered Richmond International Raceway 13th in the standings, was the only driver outside the top 12 with a mathematical chance of moving in.
And that chance was in all reality miniscule since Earnhardt Jr. started the race 128 points behind 12th-place Kevin Harvick and needed a mini-miracle to move up. To the surprise of perhaps only the most ardent Junior enthusiasts, he didn’t.
With seven races still remaining before this year’s Chase field is set, the gap between drivers vying for a spot could narrow even more. But more than likely it won’t.
My fear is that it will widen, making for a humdrum regular-season finale that mirrors last year’s when the 12 championship-eligible drivers were all but locked in before the first engine roared to life at Richmond.
A repeat this season won't help NASCAR inject drama into the final race of its regular season and won't build hype for the ensuing 10-race Chase.
Nor would it do much to boost the promotional efforts by track officials at Richmond to fill all their seats in these economically-challenged times.
The most enticing scenario for everyone involved with the sport – besides the drivers and teams on pins and needles about missing the Chase – would be an all-out, down-to-the-wire battle among multiple drivers for the last few playoff spots that wasn’t settled until the last turn of the last lap at Richmond.
After all, that's what NASCAR chairman Brian France had in mind when he introduced the Chase concept before the 2004 season.
If only we could fast forward time, yet keep the points standings intact.
Comments
1 response to "Jared Turner: It's too bad it's not time for the Chase"
John Stark said:
Jul 19, 2008 at 2:25 PMIt is the closeness of the field that makes all seven of the next races of interest and not just time fillers.
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