July 13, 2005

By Rebecca Gladden

In 2003, NASCAR crowned a Cup series champion who had won only one race the entire season. Matt Kenseth's solitary victory came in the third race of a 36-race with season with a win at Las Vegas. Although Kenseth ended the season with a DNF at Homestead-Miami, he had been first in the points standings for a record 33 weeks, and that, along with 25 top-10's and an average finish of 10.2, were more than enough for the title.

By contrast, Ryan Newman won eight races in 2003 and had 22 top-10's. But Newman's average finish was 13.9 with seven DNF's, compared to just two for Kenseth. Newman ended the season in sixth place, 311 points out of first.

Throughout much of the '03 season critics attacked the points system, which had been in use with only minor adjustments since 1975. Along with awarding the Cup to someone with fewer wins than the next three drivers in points behind him, pundits argued that the season had ended in anticlimactic, even boring, fashion. Kenseth had never relinquished the points lead from the 4th race through the 36th, and by the 26th race at Richmond had amassed a 418 point-lead over then-second place driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr.. With ten races left in the season, he was practically a shoo-in for the championship.

The situation was concerning for NASCAR executives, who acknowledged that those final ten races would coincide with the first few months of NFL football - NASCAR's biggest rival for television sports viewership throughout the late summer and much of the fall.

In part due to the competition from football, and in part as a response to critics, NASCAR announced a major overhaul of the points system in January 2004. The biggest change: the creation of the "Chase for the Championship," a ten-race shootout involving the ten drivers with the most points after 26 races, or any driver within 400 points of the leader.

In addition, the points would be reset after 26 races among the Chase competitors, so that each driver would be just five points ahead of the next. Although the first-place driver might be hundred points ahead of second going into the 26th race, he would only be five points ahead starting the 27th. The goal was to generate excitement (read: ratings) for the final ten races and to prevent any one driver from running away the title.

2004 was the first season under the new Chase format. Despite the overhaul, the driver with the most wins did not become champion. This time, it was Jimmie Johnson with eight wins who came in second, losing the title by eight points to Kurt Busch with three victories on the season. Johnson's average finish was 12.1 with seven DNF's, while Busch averaged a 12.5 with three DNF's.

Now, halfway through year two of the Chase era, the importance of consistency remains obvious. Greg Biffle leads the series with five wins, but is second in points to Jimmie Johnson with just two. Biffle's average finish is 13.0 with one DNF; Johnson's, 10.2 with two. Even Jeff Gordon is ahead of Johnson in terms of wins with three, but his six DNF's and average finish of 19.0 have him currently out of Chase contention in 15th place, 502 points behind Johnson. Elliott Sadler, ten spots ahead of Gordon in the standings, has not won a race this year, but his average finish of 14.3 has been enough to keep him solidly in the top-10 for most of the season. In fact, there are seven drivers ahead of Gordon in points who have yet to win a race, including Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, Jeremy Mayfield and Dale Jarrett.

NASCAR revised the points system after the 2003 season due in part to what writer Marty Smith termed "Matt Kenseth syndrome" - winning championships with consistency though not necessarily with wins. In January 2004, when NASCAR Vice President Jim Hunter first explained the new format, he said, "The balance of winning and consistency has sort of gotten out of whack. It seems that the consistency factor plays more of a role than winning races. We need to change the format. It's a new day, so we want to try this. We think it'll work. In the end, if it doesn't work, we'll change it back."

The Chase format has proven its worth in terms of excitement and ratings - mainly due to the fact that the gap between the top-10 drivers evaporates after 26 races, creating a tight points race towards the end of the season. It's highly unlikely that NASCAR will ever "change it back," but if they really want a system that rewards winning over consistency, further modifications are clearly in order.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN. Although we may not always agree with what is said, we do feel it's our duty to give a voice to those who have something relevant to say about the sport of auto racing.