All Purpose NASCAR Thread

We turned this on for the last five laps, and it struck me -- I haven't watched a NASCAR race in earnest since it got down to the Chase 10.

I guess everything feels anti-climactic now, plus some of the top personalities really didn't have a horse in the race (Stewart, for one).

 

Tony Tony Tony has done it again. Someone here with brains figure this out -- how likely is it that Stewart would win the Cup title if we weren't using Chase rules?

 

It's not that easy. One of his wins came when he stayed out and gambled on fuel, IIRC. After the race he said he'd never have done it if he were in the Chase. He's able to take chances and run races in a way that Chasers can't.

Having said that, with the way he's running, he'd either be leading or damn close to leading.

 

I mean more from a strict points perspective -- would he be leading or close enough to it if we didn't use the current system?

 

Then you're missing out on some of the best runs of Tony's career to date. This is two straight weeks that he's looked at the best everybody else has to offer and just driven away into the distance laughing.

 

Another reason why the Chase is moronic from a competition standpoint. It's turning a marathon into a sprint.

 

Stewart is able to go all out because he's outside the Chase and has nothing to lose. Perhaps the opposite is true -- the other guys can't or won't go all out because they're too afraid of crashing or doing something else to take themselves out of the Chase.

If I'm going for a championship, I'd rather let Stewart win going away than risk a repeat of Talladega. Big-picture racing.

 

Buck, different scenarios. Baseball always had some form of playoffs, even if it was only one round pre-1969. NASCAR always prided itself on necessary consistency over 30-plus races.

The Chase kills the Kulwicki-like tales. Of course, so do $20 million sponsorships, but that's for a different day.

 

Not even close. From Jayski:

"Classic" Points Standings...the old way, not the Chase after Texas:
1) #17-Matt Kenseth 4875
2) #48-Jimmie Johnson 4840, -35
3) #29-Kevin Harvick 4493, -382
4) #20-Tony Stewart 4488, -387
5) #11-Denny Hamlin 4395, -480
6) #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. 4392, -483
7) #5-Kyle Busch 4313, -562
8. #24-Jeff Gordon 4311, -564
9) #31-Jeff Burton 4280, -595
10) #6-Mark Martin 4220, -655
11) #9-Kasey Kahne 4181, -694
12) #99-Carl Edwards 4131, -744
13) #16-Greg Biffle 3829, -1046

 

My bad. I thought the question was where he would be if he snuck into the Chase at No. 10.

 

It speaks volumes about the mediocrity of the performances of the Chase drivers this year to think that Edwards is No. 2 in points earned in the Chase races. In eight Chase races, he has one top-five and three finishes of 12th or worse.

Per NASCAR, here's the top 10 over the last 10 races, with the points they've earned in that period:
T Stew - 1432
Kenseth - 1383
Edwards - 1343
Junior - 1341
Johnson - 1341
Hamlin - 1326
Harvick - 1315
Kahne - 1222
Gordon - 1220
Burton/Kyle Busch - 1216

This also points out the glaringly obvious: The points punish you more for a bad run than reward you for a good one.

But that's an argument for another day.

 

So apparently Brian France had a very good time Monday night. Anybody care to ask him about it?

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD01111006.htm

With 911 call: http://www.news-journalonline.com/media/audio/911-france.mp3