NASCAR confirmed as the Firecracker 400 weekend was starting that Winston Cup's playoff format - the Chase For The Championship - will be altered for 2007. Four changes are being considered -
- Increasing the number of "playoff" drivers above the current cutoff of ten.
- Changing the 400-point cutoff for the Chase, presumably increasing the point cutoff, with the cynical suggesting such a change is motivated because Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon failed to make 2005's playoffs.
- Changing the point structure for the ten-race playoff run, with Brian France suggesting NASCAR would increase race-winner points, albiet by a very small amount, in the final ten races.
- Changing the types of tracks used in the Chase, as intermediate superspeedways predominate in the final ten races (five are on intermediates) while only one short track and no road courses are in the Chase.
The point structure is the most likely avenue, according to Brian France.
The change comes as the sport approaches its third season with the playoff format inagurated after Matt Kenseth's comparatively easy waltz to a title in 2003. But a rule of thumb in racing and a lot of other endeavors is that format changes come about because of a fundamental weakness in concept - i.e. changing doctrine to justify a piece of equipment, a common fault in military circles over the years.
Format changes have been a way of life for NASCAR's All-Star Race, formerly known as The Winston, and the frequency of such changes indicated a concept that was basically unsound. With the Chase For The Championship, coming changes once again prove the rule of thumb of changing to justify a concept.
The Chase format has never been popular in the sport because of its fundamental unsoundness. The playoff format for racing effectively throws away effort from the previous two-thirds of the season and artificially locks out most of the field from possible position in the final points run. In the very first Chase, the sport saw Jamie McMurray collect enough points to have handily finished in the top ten at the end.
There is also the continued farce that is lack of emphasis on race wins. Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart were the first Chase Champions and won a combined one race between them during their playoff runs. Brian France indicated any increase in race winner points for the Chase will not be anything close to large - "We'll be thinking about the point structure - should we add a little more to the win in the final ten."
None of this can overcome the fundamental unsoundness of the Chase format. And it continues to prove that the only change that works for the Chase is to abolish the concept.
Instead of a playoff format, inherently contrived in a racing setting, the points structure should be the basic Latford system with a strong increase in points for race wins and also direct counting of race wins and total laps led into a driver's points position. There should be massive quarterly and seasonal bonuses for winning the most races and leading the most laps, such as -
- 200 bonus points per season quarter for most wins during that quarter and 200 for most laps led during that quarter.
- 500 bonus points for most wins during the season and 500 for most net laps led.
Such a structure will make the points race a real race by putting in the one requirement presently missing from racing - leaving a driver no choice but to win the most races and lead the most laps to have any chance at the season title.
Some will object that such a system, with its bonuses for winning races, will make points races even bigger runaways that was the case with Matt Kenseth's 2003 title. To this I respond - does anyone think any driver will let any one driver win so many races or lead so many laps?
NASCAR says any changes in the Chase will be "performance driven." The best performance drive for any points structure is abolition of the Chase and replacement with a points structure that directly requires winning the most races and leading the most laps.
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