I suspect many fans are confused and disturbed by what happened when NASCAR took the 5 (Mark Martin) and the 48 (Jimmy Johnson) cars back to Charlotte for more inspection following the Dover race. At first we heard that the bodies were illegal by a few thousandths of an inch. Then we were told that they were, after all, legal. Then John Darby shrewdly stated that he told those teams that the cars were legal, but had nearly failed, so don’t bring them back.
Huh? Is he saying that they are legal, but you can’t race them? He then tried to backtrack and say that what he meant was they are so close to being illegal that you better not use them. Huh? Darby then used a weight limit analogy to describe what he meant, thinking that if he brought it down to our level we’d understand it. Is he saying that a car right at the weight limit cannot come back? His explanations are tortured to say the least.
Many fans and competitors (Jack Roush for example) have often felt that NASCAR shows some level of favoritism toward Hendrick Motorsports. It’s hard to say if it is true, but NASCAR seems to have a penchant of making decisions that can be viewed that way. Others will point to how many times Hendrick’s crew chiefs have been suspended as proof that there is no favoritism. Regardless, penalizing the 5 team after the race is something that fans might not smile upon. Mark Martin has, in his post-retirement era, become a real fan favorite.
But, every time NASCAR does something like this they lose a little bit of credibility. I think what happened here is that these two teams found a little way around some measurements that NASCAR had never imagined. Since NASCAR has an incredibly difficult time admitting to an error or an omission, and since they were deathly afraid of taking points away from Mark Martin, NASCAR had no choice but to give these two teams a free pass.
Fans are treated with disdain and sometimes, outright contempt by NASCAR when it comes to issues like this. Otherwise, we would have been given a complete and exact description of what was found and why it was deemed to be legal.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Change the Points System
I have been contemplating possible ways that NASCAR can improve the Cup points system. Let’s face it - the current approach using the Chase has resulted in lower ratings rather than the intended higher ratings. No matter how much Brian France and his posse pretend otherwise, ratings are sacred. Sports are just another television show. All television shows live and die by their television ratings. It’s not just the money that NASCAR and the tracks make off television rights - those ratings are looked at very closely by team sponsors.
There are two approaches that NASCAR can take. One involves a major tweaking of the Chase as it is today. The other throws the Chase out and institutes a complete new (to NASCAR) points system.
1 – The fatal flaw in the Chase is that teams compete who do not have a chance of winning the championship. No other professional sport includes teams in their play offs that are not eligible to win it all.
The solution to this is to, at the start of the Chase, change the point structure to let the top 35 teams be able to win it all. How? Look at the PGA and the FedEx Cup. They start their 4 tournament playoff with a fixed number of players, all who have a theoretical chance of winning the championship. Then, after each tournament, some players at the bottom are dropped off – but those remaining are still, in theory, able to win it all.
Apply this to NASCAR. Start the Chase with the top 35 teams. After each race, drop off the team with the least points. When the series arrives in Homestead there are 26 teams left. But, restructure the points so that all teams can still win the championship.
This approach will make for some interesting racing. The only downside is that sponsorship contracts have to be designed to allow the possibility of not competing in all 36 races. But, it does eliminate the fatal flaw in the current Chase system by allowing all teams in the races to be competing for the championship.
2 – The other approach NASCAR can consider to boost ratings is to eliminate the Chase and adopt a Formula 1 type point system. Formula 1 awards points to only the first 8 finishers. Since their typical starting field is about 20 cars that is usually 40% of the field.
Apply that to NASCAR and award points to only the top 15 finishers. Weigh it heavily toward the top 3 finishers so that there is a reward to not go into “points racing” mode. Something like:
1 - 30
2 - 26
3 - 22
4 - 18
5 - 15
6 - 12
7 - 10
8 - 8
9 - 7
10 - 6
11 - 5
12 - 4
13 - 3
14 - 2
15 - 1
Using this method thru this year’s 29 races so far (three Chase races) the top five is:
Stewart - 395
Gordon - 371
Johnson - 343
Martin - 338
Hamlin - 308
With seven races to go at least the top four have a legitimate shot at winning the championship. The key concept is that a team receives no reward for a less than fifteenth place finish. The top teams have to continue to race hard or they can be caught.
NASCAR has always maintained that their points system rewards consistency. That’s a nice idea, but wasn’t the Chase instituted after Matt Kenseth put us to sleep with his consistency in 2003 when he won the championship? Fans will love it when teams gamble and go for a win rather than being content with a top ten finish.
There are two approaches that NASCAR can take. One involves a major tweaking of the Chase as it is today. The other throws the Chase out and institutes a complete new (to NASCAR) points system.
1 – The fatal flaw in the Chase is that teams compete who do not have a chance of winning the championship. No other professional sport includes teams in their play offs that are not eligible to win it all.
The solution to this is to, at the start of the Chase, change the point structure to let the top 35 teams be able to win it all. How? Look at the PGA and the FedEx Cup. They start their 4 tournament playoff with a fixed number of players, all who have a theoretical chance of winning the championship. Then, after each tournament, some players at the bottom are dropped off – but those remaining are still, in theory, able to win it all.
Apply this to NASCAR. Start the Chase with the top 35 teams. After each race, drop off the team with the least points. When the series arrives in Homestead there are 26 teams left. But, restructure the points so that all teams can still win the championship.
This approach will make for some interesting racing. The only downside is that sponsorship contracts have to be designed to allow the possibility of not competing in all 36 races. But, it does eliminate the fatal flaw in the current Chase system by allowing all teams in the races to be competing for the championship.
2 – The other approach NASCAR can consider to boost ratings is to eliminate the Chase and adopt a Formula 1 type point system. Formula 1 awards points to only the first 8 finishers. Since their typical starting field is about 20 cars that is usually 40% of the field.
Apply that to NASCAR and award points to only the top 15 finishers. Weigh it heavily toward the top 3 finishers so that there is a reward to not go into “points racing” mode. Something like:
1 - 30
2 - 26
3 - 22
4 - 18
5 - 15
6 - 12
7 - 10
8 - 8
9 - 7
10 - 6
11 - 5
12 - 4
13 - 3
14 - 2
15 - 1
Using this method thru this year’s 29 races so far (three Chase races) the top five is:
Stewart - 395
Gordon - 371
Johnson - 343
Martin - 338
Hamlin - 308
With seven races to go at least the top four have a legitimate shot at winning the championship. The key concept is that a team receives no reward for a less than fifteenth place finish. The top teams have to continue to race hard or they can be caught.
NASCAR has always maintained that their points system rewards consistency. That’s a nice idea, but wasn’t the Chase instituted after Matt Kenseth put us to sleep with his consistency in 2003 when he won the championship? Fans will love it when teams gamble and go for a win rather than being content with a top ten finish.
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