For years NASCAR fans--and drivers--have complained that there was not enough emphasis put on winning races. Give the winner more points we said. NASCAR ignored us. I'm not sure if it was more talked about in 2003, when Matt Kenseth won the championship with only one season win or in 2006, when Kasey Kahne almost missed the Chase after having already recorded five wins, but the latter is what seemingly changed NASCAR's mind.
In 2007, the points system was modified to award more points for a win. Fans and drivers rejoiced. Wins were finally worth more than consistency.
But NASCAR took it a step further and decided to seed the Chase drivers based on the number of wins thus far in the season, giving them even more than just points for winning races.
Points leader Jeff Gordon was stripped of the lead he's held since the fifth race in the season. And even though the whole intent of the Chase in the first place is to eliminate a runaway points lead, suddenly, more reward for more wins became questionable.
Be careful what you ask for?
"Everybody knew going in what the points were," Jeff Burton said. "There's been a cry throughout the public and in the media about making wins more important than finishing fifth, and that's what this point structure does. It's an example of, be careful what you ask for. This has been a constant cry in the garage from fans and media over wins should mean more, and now they do, and the guy who has led the points pretty much all the time is second. There's always the other side of things. It doesn't matter to me. Whatever the rules are, it's our job to take advantage of them. But when you get something, you have to understand, it's not all positive, and there are other sides."Reigning Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson, who has six wins to Gordon's four, went to Richmond in sixth place and 430 points behind Gordon, pulled out a win and came out on the other side in 1st place with a 20-point advantage over Gordon.
So, based on what we--and the drivers--asked for, this is a good thing. If Gordon was still in the lead, he'd be there on consistency, not wins.
This is what we wanted. Right?
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. The problem is there is such a thing as going to far in one direction. Some hybrid system that takes into account consistancy and wins would be nice. Drivers are rewarded with points in the season for wins already. Ron, Don, myself, and others have all had much better ideas. Personally, my idea was proabably way to simple for Nascar. I think Ron may have had the best idea when people were sending in suggestions at the time. Ron, please refresh my memory with your idea.
Posted at 6:51PM on Sep 15th 2007 by Mike
2. Well, I may be a bit biased since I am a huge Jimmie Johnson fan, but it makes sense to me that the drivers with the most wins & best place finishes should be in the chase. I mean it's obvious why Jr. didn't and shouldn't have made the chase this year with at least six DNF's in one season when there are many other drivers that have one or none. Jimmie has the most wins, therefore it makes sense he should be the top seed in the chase. Nascar tries to make things too difficult. It seems to me like they are finally listening to their fans & drivers by simplifying the chase requirements.
And like Mike :-), I too would like to hear Ron & Don's ideas/thoughts on this.
Kim
Posted at 7:43PM on Sep 15th 2007 by Kim