By Terry Blount
ESPN.com
All you Chase haters out there, consider this: Jeff Gordon has a 303-point lead in the Nextel Cup standings. Any realistic chance of catching him wouldn't exist without the playoff format.
Gordon could coast home, continue to post top-10 finishes and easily win his fifth championship without anyone seriously challenging him.
Under this new format, Gordon needs to fight to win races to start the Chase on top. The 12 playoff contenders are seeded by wins, not total points.
Gordon is tied for the top spot with teammate Jimmie Johnson, each with four victories. But neither man has a lock on it. It wouldn't surprise anyone if Tony Stewart got hot and won two or three more races before the Chase starts.
Complacency is not an option now with the added importance on winning.
Obviously, there's a huge downside to the Chase format for Gordon. It could cost him the championship for the second time.
Gordon would have won the 2004 Cup title (the first year of the playoff format) under the old system that accumulated points for the entire season.
If it happens again this year, he would have had six championships -- one short of Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty -- without a Chase. But who's to say Earnhardt and Petty would have won seven titles if the Chase had existed when they raced.
What is clear this year is we'll see a much more exciting battle for the championship than we would have seen without the Chase.
ESPN.com
All you Chase haters out there, consider this: Jeff Gordon has a 303-point lead in the Nextel Cup standings. Any realistic chance of catching him wouldn't exist without the playoff format.
Gordon could coast home, continue to post top-10 finishes and easily win his fifth championship without anyone seriously challenging him.
Under this new format, Gordon needs to fight to win races to start the Chase on top. The 12 playoff contenders are seeded by wins, not total points.
Gordon is tied for the top spot with teammate Jimmie Johnson, each with four victories. But neither man has a lock on it. It wouldn't surprise anyone if Tony Stewart got hot and won two or three more races before the Chase starts.
Complacency is not an option now with the added importance on winning.
Obviously, there's a huge downside to the Chase format for Gordon. It could cost him the championship for the second time.
Gordon would have won the 2004 Cup title (the first year of the playoff format) under the old system that accumulated points for the entire season.
If it happens again this year, he would have had six championships -- one short of Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty -- without a Chase. But who's to say Earnhardt and Petty would have won seven titles if the Chase had existed when they raced.
What is clear this year is we'll see a much more exciting battle for the championship than we would have seen without the Chase.