FenderBumper
The "good old days" ??
They made the championship way too important. Simple as that.
NASCAR thought that reseting the points would keep a champion from being determined until later in the season, and they were right. This artificial solution had some undesired affects on the quality of the racing, especially amongst the top teams. With $6 to $8 million on the line, and relatively small purses for race wins, teams are so focused on the championship they spend 26 races preparing for the chase instead of winning races. Then they spend 10 races totally focused on points, not race wins.
I would like to see NASCAR go a more natural route to create a more legitimate champ (chase took 2 championships away from Gordon and gave them to JJ, along with one from Harvick). I’m not criticising JJ, the 48 team is the best at working the system and laying low while preparing for the chase and letting a few others go all out for wins. So how does NASCAR make the whole season important while keeping the excitement going all year?
How does this sound?
1) Reduce championship payout to $2 million.
2) Create a race wins champion and a $1 million prize, trophy and side by side recognition at the year end banquet.
3) Increase prize money for top 3 finishers of all 36 races.
All of this would put much more importance on race wins than today, and teams would change their focus during the regular season. The race for the championship would begin at Daytona, and end with an all out slugfest for cash and the most race wins crown, or a share of it.
How does NASCAR keep the excitement going after someone locks up the championship? By giving a $1 million or even a $2 million bonus to the winner of each of the remaining races. Imagine there are 100 laps to go at Martinsville, and JJ has just clinched his 6th title. The announcement goes out, everyones points position is locked in, and the race is declared a non-points dash for cash. Even JJ would race hard at Homestead for that. The rest of the season would be banging and bumping for the win, because there would be no championship implications. Just a pile of juicy red meat for all the competitors to fight over. Hell, I would be cheering for the champ to be crowned early so I could see 3 or 4 no holds bar races to get me through the winter.
Can NASCAR actually afford this? Absolutely, but the TV money formula needs to change, along with track and race sponsor money being shared with the teams through larger purses. Tracks get 70% of TV money, while teams share just 20%. Purse money is based on attendance, but what about the millions brought in by race naming rights and ads in the grass? Kenseth just lost Crown Royal as his sponsor while Richmond picks up a cool $1.5 million for naming rights to the Cup race. NASCAR gets $75 million a year from Sprint alone, along with tens of millions a year from Sunoco and Goodyear, and teams still pay for tires and big entry fee’s. NASCAR has THE most lopsided money sharing formula in all of sports. There is no excuse for $250,000 purses, even in a bad economy.
What do YOU think? Would it create more excitement? Would you consider the champion to be more legitimate or less?
NASCAR thought that reseting the points would keep a champion from being determined until later in the season, and they were right. This artificial solution had some undesired affects on the quality of the racing, especially amongst the top teams. With $6 to $8 million on the line, and relatively small purses for race wins, teams are so focused on the championship they spend 26 races preparing for the chase instead of winning races. Then they spend 10 races totally focused on points, not race wins.
I would like to see NASCAR go a more natural route to create a more legitimate champ (chase took 2 championships away from Gordon and gave them to JJ, along with one from Harvick). I’m not criticising JJ, the 48 team is the best at working the system and laying low while preparing for the chase and letting a few others go all out for wins. So how does NASCAR make the whole season important while keeping the excitement going all year?
How does this sound?
1) Reduce championship payout to $2 million.
2) Create a race wins champion and a $1 million prize, trophy and side by side recognition at the year end banquet.
3) Increase prize money for top 3 finishers of all 36 races.
All of this would put much more importance on race wins than today, and teams would change their focus during the regular season. The race for the championship would begin at Daytona, and end with an all out slugfest for cash and the most race wins crown, or a share of it.
How does NASCAR keep the excitement going after someone locks up the championship? By giving a $1 million or even a $2 million bonus to the winner of each of the remaining races. Imagine there are 100 laps to go at Martinsville, and JJ has just clinched his 6th title. The announcement goes out, everyones points position is locked in, and the race is declared a non-points dash for cash. Even JJ would race hard at Homestead for that. The rest of the season would be banging and bumping for the win, because there would be no championship implications. Just a pile of juicy red meat for all the competitors to fight over. Hell, I would be cheering for the champ to be crowned early so I could see 3 or 4 no holds bar races to get me through the winter.
Can NASCAR actually afford this? Absolutely, but the TV money formula needs to change, along with track and race sponsor money being shared with the teams through larger purses. Tracks get 70% of TV money, while teams share just 20%. Purse money is based on attendance, but what about the millions brought in by race naming rights and ads in the grass? Kenseth just lost Crown Royal as his sponsor while Richmond picks up a cool $1.5 million for naming rights to the Cup race. NASCAR gets $75 million a year from Sprint alone, along with tens of millions a year from Sunoco and Goodyear, and teams still pay for tires and big entry fee’s. NASCAR has THE most lopsided money sharing formula in all of sports. There is no excuse for $250,000 purses, even in a bad economy.
What do YOU think? Would it create more excitement? Would you consider the champion to be more legitimate or less?
