My New Points System

By Mark Young

Yesterday was the first day of the 2007 NASCAR Media Tour and one of the main stops for the throng of media that invaded Charlotte was the NASCAR press conference hosted by CEO Pope Brian I.  He announced that this year there will be 12 drivers to qualify for the Chase instead of 10, no big deal I guess but after that things get about as clear as mud.  Once the Chase contenders are decided they will all be elevated to 5,000 points to separate them from any non-Chase driver who happens to get on a mean streak.  Then the Chasers will be awarded 10 points for each race they won leading up to the Chase, emphasis on winning the reason behind that.  To continue on the emphasis for winning France went on to say that the winner for each race, regardless of whether it is a Chase race or not will get an additional 5 points.  Now I am not Brian France so I couldn't possibly come with ideas as good as those but let me share with you a few ideas I came up with to create more balance between winning and consistency.

Surely there is going to be several teams out there that will cry foul about these changes, you can't make everyone happy these days, so for the sake of being politically correct I have a few more changes to make to the points system.

1. 10 points awarded to the team who's hauler arrives first to the track each weekend.  If they are going to put an emphasis on winning out on the track then why not get the guys who drive the big rigs involved?  Could make a race out of the race, the weekly Cannonball Run Series possibly?

2. 25 points awarded to the team who leaves the track first following the start of the race.  This rule serves two purposes.  First this creates balance between winning and losing thus making the points battle that much closer.  Secondly it will allow the cleaning crew to get started a little sooner each week thus creating a cost savings for NASCAR.

3. 10 points awarded to the team on the driver's birthday.  If the driver's birthday happens to be during the off-season then the rule diverts to the crew chief, car chief, jack man, gas man, then tire changers and catch can guy in that order or until the first birthday has been used.  As a provisional the car owner's birthday may be used.

4. 5 points awarded to all cars with even numbers.  This was chosen based upon a coin flip, Mike Helton won.

4.1. 5 points awarded to all cars with odd numbers.  Since Brian France is the boss and he was pissed because Helton won Brian found a way to get his way.......again.

5. 1 point awarded for each year the driver's age is over 40.  This will help get the AARP off of their back and give Dale Jarrett, Ken Schrader, Sterling Marlin, and Mark Martin a little better chance to into the Chase.

5.1 1 point awarded to each year the driver's age is under 30.  This was because someone is bound to cry that NASCAR is playing favorites to the elderly.

If NASCAR wants to even the field between winning and consistency tell me why these idea's won't work?

That's what I think, what say you?