All-Purpose NASCAR thread II

Disagree with you Poole. The championship might be a non-issue this year, but buzz about the Chase is non-existent outside of NASCAR's core areas.

And in years where the championship was in doubt to the bitter end -- which happened more often than the Chase defenders admit -- the season-long points format allowed drama to build over the course of the season. Now it's stilted.

And I look at your point about newspapers in a different way -- how many newspapers that didn't cover NASCAR post-pigskin in the pre-Chase days cover it now? My guess is none. My guess is that fewer papers cover NASCAR at this time of year overall than 10 years ago. My guess is that airtime for NASCAR from networks that don't have a vested interest (cough ... ESPN and Speed) is about the same as it was pre-Chase.

In other words, the best case scenario is that NASCAR interest is dead even pre-Chase to now. And I'm being kind because I know of many long-time NASCAR fans that absolutely hate it.

The Chase is a gimmick that hasn't set the world on fire as it was advertised when it started. It's a silly concept for auto racing unless they pulled all but the Chase cars off the track which they'll never do because it would alienate too many sponsors.

 

What gets me, outside of the fact that this guy thinks NASCAR has cooties, is that these immunizations, plus more are required for children to be enrolled in school (even for home-schoolers). With that in mind, why wouldn't our congressional staffers, the very people who maintain laws requiring the children of the nation to be immunized be up to date on immunizations themselves?

 

It's fake drama and most NASCAR fans see right through it. It hasn't had the desired effect to create buzz during football season. NASCAR needs to lose it.

 

NASCAR's championship, before the Chase, was seriously in doubt down the wire in 1992 and 1997. Most other years it had been clinched before the final race, or at least the champion had only not to throw up in himself in the finale to clinch. It's no more fake than playoffs in baseball or football, or the men's NCAA basketball tournament, is it? An unbeaten hoops team loses in the sweet 16 and that's what makes March Madness great. The system could be tweaked, sure, but it amazes me there's all this nostalgia for the old system when it was almost universally hated before the Chase came along.

 

An unconfirmed report from a Canadian website has Jacques Villeneuve buying Bill Davis Racing.



http://flagworld.auto123.com/en/racing/news/index,view.spy?artid=90934

 

That's a function of NASCAR's points system, which rewards keeping the fenders clean and going out for a Sunday drive and avoid bad luck and DNFs, and doesn't really reward winning or high finishes, so if you get behind, it's virtually impossible to catch up. And if you get ahead, you just stay out of trouble.

The points system is an antiquated thing that dates back to NASCAR's days of the "A," "B," and "C" rides, giving people who followed a driver in a crappy car some hope that they could stay in contention for the title by rewarding staying clean. Problem is, today's cars are closely-bunched and NASCAR doesn't need artificial means to bunch up the field. The points system needs to be tweaked to reward winning more than rewarding finishing. NASCAR's points system really doesn't reward winning as much as it penalizes DNFs. Gaining 10 points over 2nd place on a 180-point scale isn't going to make it very easy to come back if you're behind in the standings.

NASCAR has borrowed a few open-wheel drivers, why not steal open-wheel's points system, too? The IRL's points system balances rewarding winning (a 50-point scale, winner gets 50, 2nd gets 40, 3rd gets 35, 4th gets 32, then skips 2 points down from there) with rewarding consistency. A modified version of that to fit a 43-car field (e.g., winner gets 200 points, 2nd gets 160, 3rd gets 140, 4th gets 135, and then step down in the increments from there) would really make NASCAR's championship chases more competitive without having to resort to throwing a fake debris caution on the points chase with 10 races to go to manufacture a close finish.

 

Robin Miller drops <a href="http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/41067/">this bombshell</a> on his speedtv.com column:

 

Yeah, right.

 

Jayski says there was some sort of altercation on-camera between Edwards and Kenseth after the race. Anyone know the scoop?

 

It was on SPEED. I haven't seen it.

Mayfield out at BDR, moves to the 66 starting this weekend replacing Jeff Green. Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson finish the year in the 36.

 

I wonder if there was another sissy push involved, a la Kenseth on Gordon at Bristol.