October 27, 2008
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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Despite winning the first two races of this year’s Chase, Greg Biffle finds himself 149 points behind Jimmie Johnson going into Atlanta with three races remaining. Most of the Chase contenders are already talking about looking forward to next season, but not Biffle.
However, as long as Johnson keeps winning races, Biffle doesn’t have much of a chance. All he can do is run as best he can and hope that a little bad luck befalls Johnson. Even though Biffle has a history of strong finishes at the remaining tracks on the schedule, he’s going to need some help.
Just as Johnson desperately wants to become only the second driver to win three consecutive Cup titles since Cale Yarborough accomplished the feat in the ’76, ’77, and ’78 seasons, Biffle has plenty of motivation for overtaking Johnson this year.
If by some miracle, Biffle were to catch and pass Johnson, he would become the first driver to win championships in all three of NASCAR’s major series: the Craftsman Truck, Nationwide, and Sprint Cup.
“It would be a dream come true for me, a lifelong goal, obviously, to win all three of them, but most importantly, win the Sprint Cup title,” Biffle was quoted as saying in a Jim Pedley article for the Kansas City Star.
NASCAR instituted the current Chase format to garner more fan interest during the end of the season when most of the fans attention turns to football and to keep one driver from wrapping up the championship too early in the season.
Still, the current format is in need of a little tweaking. A lot of drivers are already eliminated only three or four races into the Chase, take Kyle Busch for example. Busch was NASCAR’s golden boy early in the season, winning races in anything and everything with wheels on it. But after posting poor results in the first two races of the Chase, Busch eliminated himself from championship contention.
Ideally, every driver should have a legitimate shot at winning the title throughout the entire Chase “mini season.” Otherwise, what is the point? The Chase has become what NASCAR was trying to avoid in the first place. One driver has pretty much locked up the Championship before the season is over.
NASCAR legend Darrell Waltrip, currently an analyst for Fox, has the answer to fix the Chase format.
"I would shorten the Chase up. It's just too long and lets somebody get too far ahead. I would shorten it up and make it a little more intense and change the points structure so that you're never out of it and you've got to be on your toes all the way to the last race."
How about a five race Chase and a separate points system for the drivers that qualify for the Chase so that no matter where the “Chasers” finish in the 43 car field, they still acquire enough points to remain in contention for the title?
What would the ratings be for the final race of the season if all twelve contenders had a chance at winning the title based on where they finished the race?
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