November 19th, 2010 
Journo It’s hard to believe, but we’re just a couple of days away from the end of the season. And with a three way battle for the championship I thought now would be as good a time as any for my annual look at the points within the Chase and in the old points format.
Current Points Under the Old System:
1)#29-Kevin Harvick, 5109
2) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 4814, -295
3) #11-Denny Hamlin, 4744, -365
4) #99-Carl Edwards, 4625, -484
5) #24-Jeff Gordon, 4617, -492
6) #18-Kyle Busch, 4580, -529
7) #17-Matt Kenseth, 4497, -612
8 ) #14-Tony Stewart, 4481, -628
9) #2-Kurt Busch, 4350, -759
10) #31-Jeff Burton, 4348, -761
11) #16-Greg Biffle, 4280, -829
12) #33-Clint Bowyer, 4249, -860
13) #5-Mark Martin, 4249, -860
14) #1-Jamie McMurray, 4225, -884
Current Points Under the Chase:
1)#11-Denny Hamlin, 6462
2) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 6447, -15
3) #29-Kevin Harvick, 6416, -46
4) #99-Carl Edwards, 6198, -264
5) #17-Matt Kenseth, 6151, -311
6) #24-Jeff Gordon, 6124, -338
7) #18-Kyle Busch, 6115, -347
8 ) #16-Greg Biffle, 6113, -349
9) #14-Tony Stewart, 6074, -388
10) #2-Kurt Busch, 6033, -429
11) #33-Clint Bowyer, 6028, -434
12) #31-Jeff Burton, 5958, -504
13) #5-Mark Martin, 4249, -2213
14) #1-Jamie McMurray, 4225, -2237
In previous years what we’ve seen is a lot of similarity between the two lists, this year, not as much.
Only Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards maintain their same positions within both points systems. And for a few it’s one shift down or up. While the lists are different, the cream is at the top of both.
No doubt though, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin have benefited substantially from the Chase – without it they’d be out of the fight. Obviously, Kevin Harvick has benefited the least.
Under the old system Harvick would have easily pulled out the Championship win – in fact we would have been celebrating that one a couple of weeks ago. Now we’ve got a three way Chase (finally) going into the last race. I know it’s worn and tired, but with just 46 points separating first from third, it’s still anybody’s game.
Every year I do this, I always get scolded by someone for taking part in this “pointless, what if practice.” At the very least though it’s entertaining to see how the two differ – for the sake of curiosity. For me, I think it’s interesting to see how, despite the implementation of a thing like the Chase, the best cars from that season are always the ones competing for the championship – if not a little closer than they would have been.
Chase or not, I know I’m looking forward to seeing how this thing ends on Sunday.
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I might actually have to watch Homestead this year… not one of my favorite tracks to watch generally speakin’.
This might get interesting.
Go Chevy!
-W
This is a futile exercise. The Chase has manipulated how teams race during the “regular” season. Gone are the days where the only thing that matters is a win.
The “classic” points always gives us something to think about, but I’m guessing guys would race different midseason if there was no Chase. I still think NASCAR would get more consistently closer points finishes if they changed the way driver points are rewarded. IndyCar and Formula-1 don’t use a playoff format, but structure their points so it’s harder for one team to run away. The current driver point system is basically 30+ years old and needs an overhaul, Chase or no Chase. For example Harvick is 46 points out but that seems like 100 because its more important for him that the 11 and 48 have trouble that to just beat them.
However it looks,It’s going to be a good race.
For those that kept up w/ the F1 points system (newly tweaked for 2010), the battle was intense down to the wire with no “play-off” req’d. Points are only awarded thru 10th place in a 24 car field, broken down by 1st=25, 2nd=18, 3rd=15, 4th=12, 5th=10, 6th=8, 7th=6, 8th=4, 9th=2 and 10th=1.
NASCAR should tweak for 43 field, say only points 1st thru 25th or 30th and a pole bonus. “0″ points for 31st thru 43rd. The entire season now becomes paramount for wins. The best part is…..no one gets points “just for starting” and you only get bonus points if you are in the finish points. No laying back….guaranteed!
We can speculate about how the chase format changes the way teams race during different parts of the season but that doesn’t change the fact that the point system is still set up to reward consistency as opposed to rewarding excellence. The chase hasn’t changed the fact that your better off racing for top tens all year instead of taking chances to win races. Is it more interesting that we have three drivers with a shot to win the championship going into the final race? Absolutely, but the fact that Harvick would have wrapped the title up weeks ago cheapens Hamlin or Johnson winning it if they do. It’s hard to discount the old way of determining the championship because the scoring system is still the same. Nascar should either reconfigure how they score the races in regard to the championship or scrap the chase and go back to the old way of doing it. Harvick has had a great season but he doesn’t have as many wins as Hamlin or Johnson. The question of which way is the best gauge of the season, consistency or winning, is what the chase format has given us. Nascar has failed it’s fans and hurt the integrity of the sport by waffling on this issue. The chase is basically a compromise that doesn’t give either side of argument what it’s asking for. Racing three quarters of the season under one point system and then running the final quarter under a different one is akin to giving a football team three points for a touchdown for the first three quarters of the game and seven in final period.
Keith KaGee :
come on now… they were ‘points racing’ back in the day too! Soft pedallin’ it to finish and not spin out…
I’m over this consistency stuff… I wanna see some racin’… maybe they should start using some of that scoring loop data for the championship points… most cars passed!
-W
I do not like the chase: never have, never will.
BUT NASCAR wants a champion, and they set up a system to decide who that is. The teams then compete for the title under the rules given. I have always said that my preference is simple: 43-42-41 etc., add ‘em up at the end of the year. Those who say most wins = champion have a good argument too.* Who’s to say the IRL’s system is any better or worse than F1s or NASCAR’s? Might some teams have done something differently under the old system, or the one before that? Sure. But now we have the chase, and I’ll be watching tomorrow as three teams go for the title. Is it manufactured excitement? Sure, but so is every movie I’ve ever seen.
*Those two systems make the most sense for me because they are OBjective. Other systems are SUBjective. Who’s to say a winner should get 10 more points than 2nd? Why not 7? 23? 118? Why do NASCAR points drop by 5, then 4, then 3? Why not 7, 5, 2? 26, 13, 8?
The old system is also what every short track still uses. The more NASCAR gets away from their roots, the larger the number of fans that leave for good. Like me. I have not watched a race all year, but I race asphalt super late models most every week. The F1 style system seem much more interesting than the Chase for a professional racing series.
I don’t care for ‘the chase’…the driver who accumulates the most points 3/4′s of the season never wins because of ‘the chase’…and I think that is very unfair to that team…seems the worst place to finish before the chase is 1st…not taking anything away from the 48 team…I feel badly for the 29 team…they should have won the championship…instead they are handicapped because they finished the ‘regular’ season on top…or give a trophy to the team who finishes at the top of the standings just before the chase…reward their efforts for the 24/26 races THEY were the best!….DO AWAY WITH THE CHASE…teams need to be rewarded for their effort EVERY WEEK…not just to make the chase…would show more exciting racing every week if EVERYONE had their eyes on the same prize…not just 12 of 43…
The Chase is a big part of why people are not tuning into Nascar
races.
People realize the whole 36 race season comes down to a crap shoot of 10 races.
Another bought championship for the corrupt Rick Hendrick. I’ve pretty much stopped going to and watching races. It’s all about the money and not racing anymore.
Go back to the way it was and watch the fans come back.
They need to go back to old points system. It was the fairest way to name a champion. I feel sorry for Harvick and Childress Racing, who consistantly did better than everyone else all year, while the guy who did better in only the last 10 races gets the championship title. Championship “playoffs” do not belong in auto racing.
Hey, why not just make the last race decide the title? Whoever wins the race is the champion! What’s more exciting than having FOURTY-THREE drivers in contention for the title?!
Please do something different in chase. my thoght i first driver in points first 26 weeks vs wild car chase for champion.let say 12 wild cards for for chase 9 weeksthe driver on top chase after 9 weeks.2 driver one champion online at homestead. thank you