November 18, 2008
By Allen Madding
NASCAR introduced the Chase for the Cup on January 21, 2004 -- and implemented it in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for the 2004 season.
Their stated purpose for the Chase was to add more drama to the battle for the Cup Series championship. Having had several championships decided prior to the last race of the season, NASCAR created the Chase so that ten drivers would compete in a special points system for the final ten events of the season. NASCAR hoped that by introducing the Chase that it would bring the excitement of the NFL playoffs or the Major League Baseball World Series.
Then NASCAR modified the Chase for the 2007 season to involve the top twelve drivers, as opposed to the previous top ten drivers.
When NASCAR introduced the Chase for the Cup, it only implemented the Chase in the Cup Series. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series still compete for the championship title under the same points system the NASCAR Winston Cup Series used prior to Nextel/Sprint becoming the title sponsor for the Cup Series and the introduction of the Chase.
This year, going in the final event of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Jimmie Johnson led the points standings by 141 points over second place Carl Edwards. In contrast, the points battle in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was much more closely contested. Going into the final event of the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Johnny Benson led second place Ron Hornaday a mere three points. When Benson captured the title at Homestead, it was by only seven points.
In the NASCAR Nationwide Series, points leader Clint Bowyer held a 56 points lead over second place Carl Edwards going into the final event at Homestead-Miami and the final point tally was only 21 between the two drivers.
So, while NASCAR and Sprint devised a completely new structure for determining the series champion, so that the battle would be closer going into the final event and bringing more drama into the last ten events of the season, in actuality, the points system used prior to the Chase and still implemented in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series has produced the results the sanctioning body and title sponsor desired. While Nextel/Sprint needed to make its stamp on the NASCAR Cup Series, the Chase for the Cup has failed to deliver the desired results for all of the work and hype generated around it.
Was there anything wrong with the old NASCAR Winston Cup Series points system?
Competition in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series would seem to say no. But bear in mind, when the Chase for the Cup was originally introduced, many referred to it as the “Matt Kenseth Rule” because Kenseth had won the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship in 2003 with one race win -- while Ryan Newman finished eighth in points after winning eight races. The difference was the number of consistent top ten finishes.
The NASCAR Winston Cup points structure put emphasis on consistently finishing events and consistently finishing in the top ten. If a competitor won eight races and finished 30th or worse in eight races, it would hard for them to win the championship. A win or crash approach would not produce a championship under the old structure. Many thought NASCAR needed to put more emphasis on the number of race wins in determining a championship title.
Looking across the three top series in NASCAR and comparing the two different points systems, one has to ask, was anything broken and did NASCAR fix anything by implementing the chase?
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.
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