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November 01, 2006
Chase is Working
Way back when the Chase points system was introduced I was a critic of changing the point’s format. The last few years have proven to me that a "playoff" type system makes things much more interesting. There are probably still some critics out there but it is hard to argue that 84 points separating the top 5 drivers is much more exciting than one driver leading by some huge margin. I think that the Championship will come down to the last lap of the Homestead race and that is the way it should be.
The NASCAR Busch Series had an unfortunate situation this year with the championship being clinched so early, but you have to give it to Harvick and his teams, they were on their game this year. I have heard a lot of people say that they need the same system for the Busch Series but I really don’t think it would work the same. There is such a mixture over there with all of the Cup drivers that I don’t think it would build the same type of excitement. I will say that it could be worth a try if someone is going to win the points by 600 plus points.
NASCAR has done a great job with the creation of the Chase. I like to think of it as a playoff system but I am not sure they like it to be used in that context. The reason I think of it that way is simple. During the NCAA basketball tournament you might have a team that wins the tournament that had a rough start to the season or you might have the team with the best record win the championship. At least more that one team had a chance to compete and maybe even show that they could recover from a few bad games. They still have to win the most games in the tournament. Some teams are better than others but you have to be the best team once you qualify for the tournament. The NCAA does not just go ahead and crown the team with the best record before that team goes through the tournament. The Chase reminds me a lot of a playoff system. It is as close as NASCAR Nextel Cup racing could get to a playoff system.
Overall I like the system, but like anything, I have my ideas on some things that might need to be changed or at least tweaked. First, I think winning races needs a little bit more of a bonus. Maybe it is just five more points, just like leading a lap, or leading the most laps but there should be more of a reward for winning. Next, I would give bonus points for the top three qualifiers or at least give the pole winner 3 to 5 points as a bonus. Let’s face it, qualifying is boring. I like the number of drivers in the Chase and the formula for being within 400 points of the leader after the 26th race but I think it could be expanded to maybe 500 points. You don’t want to water it down or make it where too many drivers make it but there could be a few more Chase qualifiers.
Should the previous year’s champion be automatically in the Chase? Or in if he is in the top 15 or so. I am just throwing that out there but I think the champion from the year before should be included somehow. It just so happens that the champ from last year did not get in but is in contention for the 11th place bonus. I think it would add to the hype a little if the year’s previous champion was in the Chase.
Look, I am just throwing my ideas out there. Some of them are pretty far fetched but I am sure we all have some things we want to change. NASCAR does a good job with all of this but it can’t hurt to have our own thoughts about how to make it better.
Who will peak at the right time?
I think the next three races play in favor of Jimmy Johnson and Dale Earnhart Jr. I guess we will see!
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November 1, 2006 | Permalink
Comments
Maybe, if it came down to the most deserving drivers fighting at Homestead I'd think it was exciting. The Chase lets non-contenders play for a title. Look at where these drivers are in real points...Gordon, just for example, 11th. He deserved a title shot? Stewart, now closing on 3rd in points wont sit at the head table. It lessens the excitement of the last ten events as TV just covers the top 10. It's 1/4 of the season where undeserving top 10 drivers are rewarded positions they would have lost.
Posted by: Keith | Nov 1, 2006 11:12:39 AM
My mine problem is that the chase take away from the races in the beginning. I think if you win more than two races in a season you are in the chase. It wouldn't effect the number of cars that much maybe one or two more. As much as it pain me to say this, last year champion must earn his way into the chase by winning races or being constant. There is no free ride into the chase.
Winning the race should give you more points than the guy who finish second and lead the most laps. This would give more emphasis on team planning for the race. Lay in the back of Super speedways is the plan for some drivers. The only problem with is that we would only care about the last 20-10 laps of a race.
Winning a pole is more of owner thing. I think only owner points be awarded for those that win the poll. It wouldn't effect the driver standings that at all.
Posted by: WBinCC | Nov 1, 2006 12:32:26 PM
I still think they need to give more points to the winner. A lot more. The first year of the chase, Kurt Busch won 1 race in the final 10 and won the championship while Jimmy Johnson won 4 times in the final 10. Last year Tony Stewart didn't win any races in the final 10 and won the championship. This year Matt Kenseth may do the same thing. Mark Martin could have won the title without winning a race all year. If you're going to have a playoff then reward the drivers that are going to win races instead of having the same old "points racing" that won Kenseth his first title and led to this chase format to begin with.
Posted by: Ken | Nov 1, 2006 12:42:39 PM
The chase demeans the sport. Points earned on the track are taken away....that is just wrong!
For the sake of entertainment, we possibly get an undeserving champ, as in the first season. Someone gets lucky and has the least amount of issues in the short run.
I don't buy the hype. The racing is not better.
Posted by: Jimroy | Nov 1, 2006 4:30:21 PM
Sorry guys but the rules for the Chase are known to everyone at the begining of the season. Everybody has the same chance to be in the top ten. Stewart didn't make it, sorry but that is how the game is played. Luck plays just as big a part as being good or driving the best car. So I don't buy into the B.S. anyone in the Chase is undeserving. They played by the rules and made it.
Posted by: jeff | Nov 1, 2006 5:34:24 PM
Jeff,
No one is argueing the fact they don't deserve it, but it is the gernal format set up that is being question. You can get top 10s all season and win the championship. You wouldn't need to win a race. Something wrong with that.
Posted by: WBinCC | Nov 1, 2006 8:13:16 PM
Jeff, You missed the point.
Taking points earned on the track away from a driver is not fair. What sport does that?
WWE?
Posted by: Jimroy | Nov 2, 2006 2:09:19 PM
The only racing venue in the world that has decided that TV ratings should help determine a Champion is NASCAR. Stick and Ball sports need playoffs...They don't compete head to head every week.
Posted by: Keith | Nov 2, 2006 2:54:53 PM
I'm tired of people calling 10th place just driving around. Teams strategize to get the best position they can. The sport is so competitive, you miss the setup you can't win with a 20th place car. The good teams work all day and maybe get a 10th. But, you can't tell me they just ride when they have a winning car. I'm sure Jason has been in both situations at some point. You can only ride the horse you have.
No racer is a points racer at heart. They might say they are, but, wave the green flag.
Posted by: Scott | Nov 2, 2006 3:18:51 PM
Jason:
Please elaborate on how the Chase is "working" when the guy in 11th has more wins, more top fives, and more top tens than half the guys in the top 10?
How is it "working" when there's a guy in the Chase with a chance to win the Cup who has 0 wins?
It's only "working" because the advertisers aren't bailing out after someone clinches the championship six races before the season's over. That's what NASCAR wanted... not fan happiness... advertising for the full season. I'll concede that the Chase is "working" in that regard.
Posted by: RCSanders | Nov 2, 2006 3:44:38 PM
Here's an idea that might make the Chase "work" a little better:
Other sports' playoffs have wild card teams. Let the guy in 11th be the "wild card" Chaser. Things might have played out a little different last year (Jeff Gordon as Wild Card) or this year (Tony Stewart as Wild Card - he's already fourth in REAL points) if NASCAR did this.
Posted by: RCSanders | Nov 2, 2006 3:49:50 PM
RC, NO, NO, NO to a wild card! Absolutely NO! Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. are NOT entitled to be in the chase because of who they are, which is what a "wild card" would be used for, whether it be fan vote, panel vote, or whatever.
If there is a chase (which I do NOT like), then the only person other than the top 10 who should be in is, maybe, a driver with more than one win during the season. Maybe. Maybe more than two wins. Or maybe the non-chaser with the most wins. I.e., if Kahne had not made the top ten, I think it would have made sense for him to be in the chase.
Chase the pooch out the door!
Posted by: Doug | Nov 2, 2006 4:05:25 PM
If you make the "Wild Card Driver" the guy in 11th place after 26 races, you're not "giving" it to Jeffy or Junior. They have to actually get into 11th to be the Wild Card. It's not an entitlement.
Posted by: RCSanders | Nov 2, 2006 4:13:51 PM
The chase is a total joke, NASCAR wonders why ratings are down and attendance is down, it is because of stupid decisions like the chase and putting all their eggs in one or two baskets in the case of promoting Lilly above all overs.
NASCAR has backed themselves into a corner, when the claim can be made that 2/3's to 3/4's of the fans are claimed to be for Lilly, well that means NASCAR lost before they started in this deal.
I say good bye, lets let NASCAR die and move on to a series that will replace it that will allow the manufactures design the cars.
I no longer support NASCAR, don't go to their tracks anymore, rarely watch even part of a race on the TV, NASCAR does not care, yet they continue to lose market share.
NASCAR deserves to die a slow painful death, but I say the fans should help NASCAR die a fast death so racing can move on and return to what it once was, not these phony races NASCAR puts on.
Posted by: FranceFries | Nov 2, 2006 4:49:28 PM
In reponse to the above comments you could win the championship before without winning a race. You could top ten the other teams to death and win the Cup. And as far as taking points away from drivers. Any driver not in the Chase didn't earn the right as set forth in the rules. They get to fight it out for eleventh place and hopefully increase their chance to make it next year. Sure it has it's flaws but so did the other system. I didn't realize how change scares people. It's only a sport, enjoy it.
Posted by: jeff | Nov 2, 2006 5:56:06 PM
Jeff,
Before the Chase no one ever won the cup without a win during the season. Change isn't always for the good and we don't have to like it.
Wasn't their reward a chance at a title? Where's the consequence here for this playoff? You're in you're in...That's it? Let them fall back where they belong in points if they don't perform during the last 27% of the season.
Posted by: Keith | Nov 2, 2006 7:42:04 PM
Look at what the Chase does to DNFs. Sooner or later every driver gets bit by some bad luck, and if a driver gets a DNF in a 26 race season it is more harmful, and in a 10-race playoff it is devastating. Jeff Gordon didn't make the Chase last year because of some genuine bad luck. Jeremy Mayfield didn't outrace him.
The Chase has destroyed the integrity of the champion. A guy who has a good race or two and doesn't DNF often in the last ten races doesn't deserve to be the champion, and that is how it has played out every year since the Chase started.
Posted by: Kurt Smith | Nov 2, 2006 8:27:21 PM
Jason, that five drivers are seperated by 84 points is irrelevent. No one is performing up to the snuff of a champion, and the big winners are not even in contention for the title.
Yes, the BGN title was clinched many weeks early, but it still had the integrity of counting ALL the races toward the championship; the Chase simply locks out most of the field from the top ten in points and that top ten races just to beat each other, not win races.
The Chase needs to be abolished and replaced with the basic Latford System with massive quarterly and seasonal bonuses for winning most races and leading the most. Make wins and laps led count directly into the point race so that there is no choice but to go all-out for the lead and the win, no matter what race or what lap.
Posted by: Mike Daly | Nov 3, 2006 12:35:57 AM
Mike Daly,
Where ya been, buddy? We'll disagree on how to modify it, but a "Modified Latford" would be way more acceptable than this "FranceOff system." The Chase wastes over 1/4 of the season (27%) and gives pretenders a shot at the throne they didn't earn. Not to pick on Gordon but he went into the Chase in 10th and right now in real points he's in 11th but still up for a title. Meanwhile, Stewart, who could end up with a 3rd place season won't be on the stage with drivers he rightfully beat. The Chase IS a farce.
Posted by: Keith | Nov 3, 2006 8:17:35 AM
Even as a Gordon fan, I don't think he deserves to have a shot at the title.
Jason, what bothers me about you praising the Chase format is that this seems to be the opinion of everyone who is in some way employed by NASCAR. No offense intended, I'm not saying that it's not what you really think, but it seems like NASCAR employees and NASCAR fans have diametrically opposed views on the Chase.
The fans don't like it, period. And NASCAR hasn't won any of the "they just go around in circles" crowd with the Chase.
Posted by: Kurt Smith | Nov 3, 2006 2:48:17 PM
Please.
The Chase gives points to teams to artificially make the championship race close. The reason was obvious at the time, which was to increase interest in racing during football season. This years ratings show how successful that's been.
I can only speak for myself, but I stopped watching. I love racing, but between the coverage of the chase and the chase itself, I'd rather watch football.
Everyone knows this is about ratings, advertising, and dollars (just like the stupid 'lucky dog' rule). But the chase isn't the only thing broken with NASCAR, and I think it would be dying a slow death, anyway.
Posted by: Paul | Nov 3, 2006 4:51:53 PM
Don't you think that someone that earned a big lead should deserve to keep that lead? Harvick has earned every point in the Busch series, he's just the best by far this year. In a chase format he might not win his deserved trophy.
The chase is stupid. I don't think fairness should be taken away just for excitement.
But I'll keep watching, because I love the racing.
Posted by: John | Nov 3, 2006 5:59:56 PM
Paul said, "I can only speak for myself, but I stopped watching. I love racing, but between the coverage of the chase and the chase itself, I'd rather watch football."
It helps that I would rather watch paint dry than watch football, but isn't the option watching a NASCAR race? I don't watch "the chase." I watch race #33 or whatever it is Sunday. It might be just as good or as bad as any other race. If Vickers and Elliot Sadler (or any two drivers, chasers or not) go to the line neck and neck, then I'm happy.
And is there a stupider graphic than "points as they run now?" A guy is 80 points down! Now he is 22 down! Now he's 24 down! Now he's 56 down! Tell me when it counts - at the end. "If the race ended now..." Well, the race ISN'T ending now!!
Posted by: Doug | Nov 3, 2006 9:19:31 PM
Doug,
Have you heard? If they ended the race now (hrs ahead of the scheduled start) that Johnson has assumed the points lead. Just thought you'd wanna know...LOL
Posted by: Keith | Nov 5, 2006 10:52:41 AM
I missed today's race except for the last 5 laps, but am happy to see that it is coming down to Johnson and Kenseth, as it should. I'm not a huge fan of either, but they've been the best this year.
Posted by: Doug | Nov 5, 2006 8:00:20 PM
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