Now before anyone screams sour grapes, I am a fan of the Joe Gibbs stable of drivers and I don’t believe they should be the NASCAR champion this season. When it comes down to this chase scenario, neither Kyle Busch nor Denny Hamlin performed when the chips were down. But I also hate it when the winner of this mythical “Chase” might end up being the second best participant in it.
If you look at this chase setup, you have to ask yourself whether it has served its purpose. It was created with I believe television in mind. Networks that saw races towards the end of the season having little drama because the point’s leader was far in front brought this about. So in its place, a system was created that took the 10 or 12 highest ranking guys and put them in a 10 race shootout for the championship.
It was an okay idea in theory, but it still needs tweaking if you’re going to keep it. It made a God out of Jimmy Johnson and his five time moniker. I can only think of what Dale Earnhardt Sr must be doing open in heaven looking at this junk. You race all year and get a lead, but all it gets you is a few extra points that are gone after say a 20th place finish in race one of the chase. Imagine how many Cup titles Dale Sr would have won if you faced him in a 10 race format with the overall year not factored in that much.
Such is where we are today. We have this system and have to watch it as fans. However the Chase system still has a fatal flaw. It simply does not reward winning enough. How can a driver like Tony Stewart win 4 out of the 9 Chase races and not have a substantial lead going into the Homestead race this weekend? The answer is that the system still stinks!
They made changes to try and reward winning more, but it is still not enough. They might have put more emphasis on the pre-Chase races, but the ten races that count should have more weight in the system. The people that come with the argument about being a consistent finisher are for the birds. It is not as though Stewart finished 43rd in a race or two. Carl Edwards could win this race based on having a more consistent level of mediocrity.
That is the way that I see it. After all, how many Chase races has Carl won this time around? I know it is not equal to the four Stewart has won. Make the winner of races during the Chase get a bonus 10 points if they are a Chase participant. I mean who wants a race next week where the winner of the whole thing could be shooting for staying within a couple of cars of the number two guy.
NASCAR is supposed to be about risk taking and going for the win. Something tells me the last thing we are going to see is Carl Edwards risking much of anything in his pursuit of this bogus title.
Source: NASCAR.com