By Rebecca Gladden

December 3, 2004

Prior to the start of the 2004 Nextel Cup season, NASCAR made major changes to the points system that had been used to determine the series' champion since 1975.

Reading the post-season hyperbole, the new format sounds like best thing to happen to NASCAR since racing moved from sand to hardtop.

Looking back, however, a number of current and former Cup drivers expressed serious concerns. Below are 20 quotes about the new points system, from the time it was announced in January through the final race in November.

In fairness, some of these opinions may have changed over the course of the season, and certainly there have been drivers who supported the new format.

Nevertheless, it is important to realize that not everyone embraced the radical changes that resulted in the "Chase for the Championship."

1. "I still don't like it. There are so many reasons why. It takes the edge off the rest of the year. There are a lot of things I'd love to change about the sport; the points system isn't at the top of the list.'' Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

2. "If you start it at zero with ten races to go, I don't like that idea at all, because in the last ten races there are no Daytonas, there are no Bristols, there are no Poconos and there are no road courses. I don't think a champion should be rewarded off of how good they are at 1½ -mile tracks. I think it should have to be rewarded on how good you are at all the tracks like it always has been." Matt Kenseth

3. "You can call me a traditionalist or whatever, but I'm not for the change. We've always been a season-long deal, performing for 36 races. Whoever does that the best wins the championship." Dale Jarrett

4. "The Busch race came down within the last ten laps and the truck race came down to the last lap to determine the champion (in 2003). I thought we had a pretty good deal going." Sterling Marlin

5. "Things change, but it's going to be frustrating wherever that cutoff is. How will the sponsor feel? Those top guys will have a cushion, but there will be big plusses and big minuses involved with this new points system." Casey Mears

6. "I would have gotten creative with the system we had as opposed to overhauling everything. Now, after 26 races, even if you have a 200-point lead, they basically wipe the slate clean. That doesn't jive with my spirit of competition." Darrell Waltrip

7. "I guess my key point is, racing is racing, and I want it to stay the same. I don't know of any other racing series that has done a playoff. NASCAR is trying to make things better, but they could potentially make things worse." Ryan Newman

8. "I don't like the way it makes the people out of the top ten feel. I don't like the way it makes the sponsors feel ... If you're out of the top ten this time, it's going to make you feel like a loser, and I don't think that's good for the sport." Rusty Wallace

9. "Despite all the changes to the points system, a few bad finishes are incredibly costly - perhaps even more costly this year." Elliot Sadler

10. "With the new points deal, you've got nine or ten guys doing everything they can to get back into the top ten in points, and you have four or five going all out to stay up there in the top ten. There's so much pressure on these guys and these teams that there's a lot of stupid stuff going on." Rusty Wallace

11. "I think on the entertainment side, the new points system is great. On the competition side, I don't think it's something a lot of teams favor, including myself. I think the champion is somebody who races all 36 weekends and proves over the long haul that they're the best team. I think our points system should reflect that." Jimmie Johnson

12. "I guess I'm from the old school. I look at the championship being the whole year ... From the PR standpoint, the excitement it can get on TV or in the grandstand or whatever (is good), but I think the old racer still believes that it needs to be a full year championship." Richard Petty

13. "The last four races of the year should be a short track, a road course, an intermediate and a superspeedway. You make sure that's the way the season ends, so whoever wins the championship in the last four races has to run Talladega, Sonoma or Watkins Glen, Bristol or Richmond, and then an intermediate like Atlanta." Kyle Petty

14. "It's ridiculous. It's not even a good system, and everybody wants to talk about it. Everybody talks about it because it's not a good system." Ryan Newman

15. "It's exciting that there are ten guys that can legitimately win the championship. I think that's great. But from a competitor's standpoint, and when you work hard all year, and you want every race to count towards the championship, it's hard for you to swallow when it only comes down to ten." Jeff Gordon

16. "If they didn't have a playoff system, we would be racing just as hard, and if there was no system at all, we would be racing just as hard. Years ago, there wasn't such a big premium placed on championships, points and stuff like that. It was about the race." Mark Martin

17. "That's the only problem I see with the new system right now. Once we narrowed it down to the top ten, we've still got the same points system, so it's still about consistency." Jeff Gordon

18. "I think if they were to ask us (drivers) all right now, that we would all say, 'Let's just go back to the old way.' But they didn't do it for the drivers. They did it for the fans and for the TV, and I think it has done what NASCAR wanted to do." Jamie McMurray

19. "My first impression was, why try to fix something that's not broke? I think sponsors that in the past would have gotten mentioned are not getting the mentions." Ricky Rudd

20. "This points system is only going to make drivers' and crew members' careers shorter. The intensity has increased to where it's greater than it's ever been before. The pressure is unreal." Jeff Gordon

Several recurring themes are found in these drivers' quotes: the new format discounts the first two-thirds of the season; continues to reward consistency (points racing) over winning; creates additional stress for drivers and teams; doesn't include enough variety of tracks; may hurt sponsorship deals; and favors entertainment value over competition.

As Tony Stewart said, "It is what it is."

"What it is" to many drivers and fans, however, is regrettable.

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.