NASCAR drivers ready for another year, another Chase
By Rea White
Monday, December 31, 2007
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This time last year, NASCAR officials were firming up plans to tweak the Chase For The Nextel Cup. They decided to expand the field to 12 drivers, putting two more in contention for the championship in the 10-race, title-determining segment of the season, and to seed the standings based on wins once the Chase began.
It was the fourth season of the format that features what is essentially a regular season and postseason for those chasing the title.
Once more, it was a format that tightened the points battle in the closing races and that left more than one driver in contention for the title when the final race loomed.
Still, the system continues to have its critics. Some fans count 2007 as a Jeff Gordon-championship season even though he lost the title to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson.
Why? Because under the outdated points system, Gordon would have tallied the most points and would have been the champion. Four years of the Chase, and still NASCAR listens to discussion of what might have been, what could have been, under the previous system. That system, one should note, also drew its share of criticism after years in which the champion was decided prior to the final race, seasons in which those closing events seemed mere technicalities when it came to naming the champion.
Obviously, there is no way to please everyone with the way the points are structured. Yet, drivers have universally stepped up and supported the system over the past few seasons - and continued to do so this year.
Even Gordon, the driver some think was robbed by the format, throws his weight behind the format. Certainly the system isn't going away, though it might be tweaked again from time to time.
But as drivers and teams wrapped up 2007 and turned their sights to 2008 Sprint Cup competition, they voiced support and even pleasure in the way the format has changed the sport.
Throughout the Chase, Gordon stated that since the drivers knew entering the season how the format worked, and what it would take to win a championship, that one could not complain about the system. After all, it worked well for some while it seemed to penalize others. Yet everyone knew what to expect, especially since this was the fourth season with the format.
That left little room for complaint when the points were reset - especially when the top drivers over the course of the season moved to the top of the points standings. There is no driver who could argue that his championship effort has been hampered by the Chase on an annual basis. It seems that most everyone involved has benefited from the gain in points the new system has awarded to some drivers at some point over the past four championship seasons. So drivers have either personally experienced or at least witnessed the impact the points shuffle can have.
Gordon isn't arguing that point. He does, however, point out that history should note when the Chase started. When championships are listed, when drivers are compared head to head when they didn't necessarily race that way, there should be some delineation noting when the Chase was in effect and how championships were won.
"The one issue that I've got is that there's no way you can write history and compare history if it constantly changes and there's no way that you can compare a champion back before the Chase to once the Chase started and there's no way you can compare a driver in the Chase if they're changing constantly," Gordon said. "I think it's very hard to really create new history for the sport when they change it like that."
Entering 2008, complaints about the Chase were hard to come by in the NASCAR garage. It's simply become a fact of the sport, a reality of competition and a path to the championship.
Someday, it may even become something people cease to discuss. Those currently inevitable comparisons of points under the old systems to those earned under the new could become a thing of the past - much as the full season of championship competition has.
Richard Childress Racing's Jeff Burton, a two-time veteran of the format, points out the change of momentum between a regular season and championship run is also true in other sports. NFL teams can excel during the regular season and be quickly eliminated in the playoffs. That doesn't alter who is named champion.
The same is true of the Chase.
"The way this thing lays out is that the regular season, let's call it, is about positioning yourself for the postseason, and the postseason is about winning the championship and if you don't execute, then you're not the deserving champion and it's just that simple, under this points system," he says. "Whatever the points system is, whether you like it or not, whatever it is, you have to be able to do that well in order to be the champion. If you don't do that well, then you're not the champion."
While Burton recognizes that there may be some who do not agree, he also understands that this is simply the way things are - in all sports. The stated format for winning a championship may be disputed from time to time, but it is still the only route to winning a title.
"Some people may not like that because the guy that traditionally likes the point structure the way it used to be, you're never going to tell him this is better, because he likes it like that," he said. "But you cannot deny that when NASCAR or Major League Baseball or the NFL says, 'This is how you win a championship,' if you don't do that, then you're not the deserving champion."
© 2007 Street & Smith Sports Group. NASCAR Scene is published weekly, 50 weeks per year. Visit www.scenedaily.com for more information.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Jeff Burton
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