BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) -- If NASCAR had asked Kyle Petty to help devise its new points system, the Nextel Cup Series might have resembled a reality TV show.
Petty believes a format in which one driver is eliminated from title contention each week would attract the most attention.
"The whole point is to make people watch. Why do they watch 'Big Brother' or 'Survivor' or 'Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire' or Donald Trump and his show?" Petty said. "They watch to see who gets eliminated, not who survives."
Under Petty's formula, only a handful of drivers would be left to race for the championship over the final four events.
"The last four races of the year should be a short track, a road course, an intermediate and a superspeedway," he said. "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.
"Its a warped mind thing I came up with."
Petty believes a format in which one driver is eliminated from title contention each week would attract the most attention.
"The whole point is to make people watch. Why do they watch 'Big Brother' or 'Survivor' or 'Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire' or Donald Trump and his show?" Petty said. "They watch to see who gets eliminated, not who survives."
Under Petty's formula, only a handful of drivers would be left to race for the championship over the final four events.
"The last four races of the year should be a short track, a road course, an intermediate and a superspeedway," he said. "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.
"Its a warped mind thing I came up with."
