The Chase For The Sprint Cup: Good Or Bad For The Sport?

Brian France and the media think the Chase for the Sprint Cup (NASCAR’s play-off system) is the best thing that’s happened to the Sport in a long time. It gives the media something to talk about almost from the first time the drivers get on the track in Daytona in February. Who will be the chosen 12? How will they do each week? Who will fall out? Who will have the most wins and thus be seeded first when the chase starts. And on and on.

The fans have mixed feelings about the chase. Some like it because no one can run away with the lead. At least not in the first 26 races. Matt Kenseth prompted the chase by winning the Winston Cup Championship in 2003 by being Mr. Consistent the whole year, and winning only one race the whole year. He had enough top fives and top tens to run away with the title. Some of us fans thought that was quite an accomplishment. To be there at the front through the whole year. But others felt no one should be able to run away with the title without winning many times. In my opinion, the system wasn’t broken. Why bother to try to fix it?

Bill France, Sr. started the sport. He made racing a sport and took it to the masses. He made rules and found tracks on which to compete. Bill Jr. took over and made racing what it is today. Brought NASCAR all over the country. He and RJ Reynold’s Winston brand took NASCAR to a whole new level. Then along came Brian France and Nextel/Sprint. Now NASCAR racing has become, not so much a sport, as more a form of entertainment. And I’m not sure this whole thing is really good for the sport. Do we want to be a sport like football and baseball? Or do we want to be entertainment, like WWE?

To me, NASCAR is racing. And racing is beautiful. I’m a die hard NASCAR fan, from the first time I saw a race on television. And in my humble opinion, there was no need to have a play off system to make racing more exciting. To me, racing, just by definition, is exciting. Play offs are for sports that have divisions. And the winners of the divisions play each other to see who is best in the sport. NASCAR doesn’t need a play off system. Mainly because there are no divisions. And mostly because in this system, there are still 43 cars out there every week. The “Super Bowl” of NASCAR is the first race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Is the chase for the Sprint Cup good for the sport? I think not. Many fans are no longer watching because Jimmy Johnson is winning them all. Jimmy has figured out how to do well in the last ten races. So, the chase has become the Jimmy Johnson show. Is that good for NASCAR? It may be for Jimmy Johnson fans. But most fans are not JJ fans and would like to see others do good.

My solution? Put NASCAR back to what it was when Bill, Sr. and Jr. were running the show. When the fans were coming out to watch. When there was no Chase for the Sprint Cup. Give 25 extra points for winning a race. Fans want racing for the win, instead of consistency. That would give it to them. And the driver with the most wins should also be the driver with the most points and win the Championship.

Brian France wanted to take NASCAR a bit further and make it competitive with football. The theory being that fans watch BECAUSE they have a play off. And that making it possible for the wild card to win it all is exciting. I have to disagree. At least with NASCAR, having a twelfth place car win it all is not exciting. And having JJ win all the championships isn’t very exciting, either.

So, let’s put it back to racing for 36 races a year. Give more points to the winner of each race. And maybe the fans will come back to watch. As it is, ratings are way down. Gimmicks aren’t working. The chase isn’t working. And the fans want more than just consistent starting times. In my opinion, it wasn’t broken. Stop trying to fix it. Put it back and leave it alone. Listen to the fans, Brian. The Chase for the Sprint Cup isn’t working. At least not for the fans.

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NASCAR’s Top 12

Winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship in 2008 is Hendrick Motor Sport’s #48 Jimmy Johnson. This is Jimmy’s third Championship in a row! That has only been done once in the history of NASCAR racing. Cale Yarborough accomplished the feat thirty years ago. Jimmy is good at this new Chase system.  The last ten tracks that make up the Chase are at his best tracks. In my opinion he will win every Championship until NASCAR figures out they need to change which tracks are in the chase.

Dale Jarrett says he’s one of the good guys. And he’s my Grandson Trystan’s favorite! Like him or not, with the help of his crew chief Chad Knaus, he knows how to race and win Championships.

Jimmy started the season 27th at Daytona. And after five races was only in 13th place in the points. But by the end of the year he had 7 wins, fifteen top 5’s, twenty-two top tens and six poles.

This is Jimmy’s fifth appearance in the Chase. The only other driver to do that is Rouch Fenway Racing’s #17 Matt Kenseth. But Jimmy shines in those last ten races like no one else. In 2008 Kyle Busch had eight wins heading into the Chase. That put him on top of the points and Jimmy only in third with only four wins.

However, in the chase, he had three wins, six top fives and seven top tens. Jimmy’s worst finishes were at Texas and Homestead Miami, where he finished fifteenth! He won at Kansas, Martinsville and Phoenix. That gave him seven wins for the season. Less than Kyle, but he won the races that counted. Jimmy will be a contender for the Championship for many years to come.

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NASCAR’s Top 12

Finishing the 2008 Season in second place is Roush Fenway Racing’s #99 Carl Edwards. Carl was the only driver who really gave #48 Jimmy Johnson a run for The Chase for the Sprint Cup. Carl ended the season 69 points behind Series Champion Jimmy Johnson. Heading into the last race at the Miami-Homestead track, Carl was the only driver that had a chance to beat Jimmy. Carl also finished second in points in the NASCAR Nationwide Series behind Champion Clint Bowyer.

Carl is good at the 1.5 mile tracks. He won at Las Vegas, Atlanta and twice at Texas. (After the race at Las Vegas, he was penalized 100 points, his crew chief was suspended and his win didn’t get five points for the Chase, because of a rules violation.) Carl also won at the 2 mile tracks of Auto Club Speedway in California and Michigan. And he won at he 2.5 mile track  at Pocono. He also won at the .533 mile track at Bristol. He does his signature flip after winning a race.

Carl came into the Chase second in points with six wins, five of which counted. He went on to win at Atlanta, Texas and Homestead in the Chase. Carl had top fours in eight of the ten Chase races. However, at Talladega he took out team mates in a crash and finished 29th. And at Lowes he had a parts failure that left him finishing in 33rd place.

Carl finished third in points in his first Chase in 2005. Actually, tied for second. But he missed the Chase in 2006. In 2007 he finished in ninth. In the end, he had to hope that Jimmy stumbled so he could win the Championship. And, of course, Jimmy didn’t stumble. Look for him in 2009. He had 27 top ten finishes and 19 top fives.

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NASCAR’sTop 12

Finishing the 2008 Season in seventh place, is Rick Hendrick  driver #24 Jeff Gordon. Jeff has four Championships to his resume. 1995, 1997, 1998, and2001.  All were Winston Cup Championships. Since the Chase has been implemented in 2004, Jeff missed only one. And NASCAR decided to have 12 drivers in the chase, instead of 10.

2008 was not  a very good year for Jeff Gordon. Although he made the Chase, he also had six DNF’s (Did Not Finish). And for the first time since his Rookie year he did not have any wins. His last win came in the fall race at Lowes Moor Speedway in 2007. That is forty-one races without a win. Unheard of for Jeff Gordon, who has 81 career wins. That puts him the top five all time winners.

Jeff is Team mate and part-owner to the #48 Champion for the third time in a row, Jimmy Johnson. And they should be sharing info. Jimmy also started off slow, but he managed to pick it up and start winning. Something Jeff wasn’t able to do. And with no testing in 2009, I’m not sure how he will be able to recover.

Jeff was married in 2007 and had a baby girl in 2008. Maybe with the new family, his focus is on other things. Or, maybe Crew Chief Steve Latarte just doesn’t have what it takes to get Jeff into victory lane. He’s deffinately too young to be washed up. We’ll have to see what 2009 brings. Jeff Gordon haters sure are loving it.

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