2009 NASCAR running thread

Uh, that happened last night.

 

I know. Now we're just waiting for next weekend's double-file restart with 31 guys shuffled to the back of the pack for the last 10 laps.

 

It's been the rule for several years. Probably would have been more prudent to complain about it then.

Kind of a pointless exercise now, right? I mean, I realize NASCAR isn't as awesome as F1...but jesus.

 

I complain about it every year, because the Chase is quite possibly the most idiotically contrived things in sports (especially because the final 10 races were somewhat randomly chosen, not well-thought out. A true playoff would have a plate race, a road course race and a mix of short tracks, 1.5 milers and at least one 2.5-miler).

The real issue is NASCAR's flat points system, which made sense when Petty,Pearson & Yarborough/Yarbrough would lap the field 35 years ago, but there's no real reason to have a system that doesn't really reward winning but severely punishes DNFs, which can be (and often are) incidences beyond the driver's control. It also makes it next-to-impossible to catch up once a driver gets behind.

I've always liked IndyCar's points system -- every driver gets points, but by having the top 2 drivers get substantially more points than the rest of the field (50-40-35-32-then flattens out from there), it makes it easier for drivers to make moves by winning races, rather than riding around in 8th place all season and hoping everyone else has bad luck like Matt Kenseth did the year prior to the Chase being implemented. And I know the ICS runs about half NASCAR's schedule, but that system has managed to provide multiple championship races that have gone down to the final race (often between 2-3 drivers), and a couple of times, down to the last lap of the last race.

 

Well, that's a good point. Except the Chase does have a mix of all the tracks you described except for a road course:
New Hampshire - flat 1-mile track
Dover - Goofy concrete 1-mile track
Kansas - Cookie-cutter 1.5-mile track
California - Cookie-cutter 2-mile track
Charlotte - 1.5-mile track
Martinsville - Short track
Talladega - Plate race
Texas - Cookie-cutter 1.5 mile track
Phoenix - Flat 1-mile track
Homestead - Near cookie-cutter 1.5-mile track

So you have one plate race, one short track, three one-milers, three or four cookie-cutter 1.5-milers (depending how you categorize Homestead, which is slightly different from the others) and one boring 2-miler. There's enough variety in there to change things up and test the drivers, and enough cookie-cutter tracks to get a sense of which teams are the best.
It'd be nice to mix in a road course and maybe one more short track, but to say it's not a good mix is just wrong.

 

I'm still trying to figure out the suggestion to have a plate race and a 2.5-miler. Um......

 

Back to Pocono!

Hell, anything's gotta be better than Loudon.

 

Are Michigan and Pocono the only 2.5-mile tracks that aren't plates?

And if you could handpick the 10 tracks for the Chase, what would they be? Without adding a third race to any one track and considering things like weather. In other words, you don't want to end the season at New Hampshire or Pocono.
I think, in no particular order, a decent mix would be: Talladega, Martinsville, one of the road courses, Darlington, Dover, Texas, Charlotte, California, Phoenix and either Bristol or Homestead.

 

Michigan's only 2 miles.

 

My embarrassing mistake.....I totally forgot that Pocono was 2.5 miles.

I guess you could throw Indy in there too, because it's also 2.5 miles.

 

Here's what I'd like to see:<blockquote># 26th and below: 1 point. Thanks for comin' out, too bad for you, don't strip off the crash damage and become Milka Duno <cough cough> er, a rolling chicane.
# 25th-21st: Two-point progression per position. Twenty-fifth gets three points, 21st gets 11.
# 20th-11th: Three-point progression. Twentieth gets 14, 11th gets 41.
# 10th-6th: Four-point progression. Tenth gets 45 points, sixth gets 61.
# 5th-2nd: Five-point progression. Fifth gets 66 points, second gets 81.
# First place: 96 points. Fifteen-point advantage over second provides a reward for winning.
# Pole-sitter: Two-point bonus for the fastest driver in qualifying. Not awarded if field is set by owner points due to weather.
# Bonus for leading one lap: Zip. Zero. Nada.
# Bonus for leading the most laps: Four points. If you win and lead the most laps, you get a flat 100 points That's something people can remember, kind of like a perfect score on a test.</blockquote>And for the Chase, I'd still like to see the original system blended with the current one: Take the top 12 after Richmond, start at 5,000 points (or whatever similarly exorbitant number provides separation in my points system), five-point progression per spot in the standings, then add in the 10 bonus points for each win in the first 26 races.