November 19, 2009
By Doug Demmons
This is the sixth season of NASCAR’s playoff format that was introduced with the idea of providing enough buzz to the end of the year to compete with the NFL for TV viewers.
By that measure, the Chase hasn’t worked. In fact, there has been plenty of evidence this season that it’s starting to backfire.
NASCAR’s TV ratings are down almost across the board -- and that includes every Chase race except Talladega. The ratings nosedive has been blamed on a laundry list of complaints that range from Jimmie Johnson stinking up the show to the Car of Tomorrow to the poor economy.
But let’s face it -- Johnson isn’t driving fans away from NASCAR any more than the Yankees drive fans away from baseball. And the car may look bad but teams have pretty much figured it out by now.
And the economy? It clearly affects ticket sales, but watching at home is free.
The problem is the format.
Unlike other sports which have multiple rounds in the playoffs, the Chase is one big playoff blob. And it’s 10 weeks long. Would the first round of the baseball playoffs hold your interest if it was 10 weeks long?
And every Chase race except Charlotte competes directly with the NFL for TV viewers. That’s like scheduling any event in Alabama on the same weekend that the Crimson Tide plays at home.
So six years into the experiment is a good time to make some changes to the Chase. NASCAR will never admit that. NASCAR policy is that the Chase is just fine the way it is.
But NASCAR said the same thing about its Drive for Diversity program, which coincidentally also failed to produce its desired result after six seasons and has been drastically changed starting next year.
So let’s consider a few changes that go beyond mere tweaks but constitute less than a 180-degree course correction. Going back to the pre-Chase system just isn’t going to happen.
Break the Chase up into two rounds of five races each. The top 12 drivers make it into the Chase after 26 races. After race 31 the top six drivers advance. Reset the points by throwing out the worst finish from Round 1.
Compact the schedule so the Chase starts before football season begins and ends at the end of October. Dragging out the season until Thanksgiving is unnecessary and counter productive. Move Homestead to the second race of the season; combine the All-Star race and the Coke 600 into one weekend and delete an off week.
Move race day from Sunday afternoon to Friday night. Put the Chase in prime time and take it away from direct competition with the NFL on Sunday and college football on Saturday. This would require swapping New Hampshire out of the Chase since lights are not allowed there. And it means installing lights at Talladega. It also means running the Nationwide or truck race on Thursday night or Friday afternoon.
Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at Blog of Tommorow
Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougdemmons
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