NASCAR to reward regular season champ

Reading the comments below is much like reading this forum. Did y'all post there under different names?

Why does Steve O'Donnell think he knows more about fans want then fans do?
 
26 race season champion gets a bye into the final 4 at Homestead and starts with 5 extra points meaning he can't lose if he comes in second at Homestead.
 
Cup Series regular season points leader gets a bye in Round of 12 + pit stall selection
NXS regular season points leader gets 3 bonus points (plus wins) + pit stall selection
NCWTS regular season points leader gets 3 bonus points (plus wins) + pit stall selection
 
The fact that further modifications to this convoluted format are being contemplated only magnifies its inherent flaws.

Points resets, win and you're in, win and advance, Chase Waivers, win bonuses, Top 30 in points, failed segment names, blah, blah, blah..... All overly complicated changes to a system that once rewarded the best driver of a given season.

We had a simplified system that worked for many years. Have we even gone two season in a row since 2004 without some sort of changes to this format? Nope. Why? Because this format has been flawed since its inception.
 
While I will always dislike the Chase, I think rewarding the regular season champion would be helpful. Right now, once you win a race, you can largely coast to the playoff. This doesn't happen in any other sport because a team that is doing well still has something to play for--a bye in the first round, home field advantage, even just a trophy for being divisional champ. NASCAR should make this change. A first round bye plus some bonus points in Round 2 sounds reasonable.
 
AuzGrams said:
Cup Series regular season points leader gets a bye in Round of 12 + pit stall selection
NXS regular season points leader gets 3 bonus points (plus wins) + pit stall selection
NCWTS regular season points leader gets 3 bonus points (plus wins) + pit stall selection
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So what would be the point of even trying for those first 3 races?
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
The fact that further modifications to this convoluted format are being contemplated only magnifies its inherent flaws.

Points resets, win and you're in, win and advance, Chase Waivers, win bonuses, Top 30 in points, failed segment names, blah, blah, blah..... All overly complicated changes to a system that once rewarded the best driver of a given season.

We had a simplified system that worked for many years. Have we even gone two season in a row since 2004 without some sort of changes to this format? Nope. Why? Because this format has been flawed since its inception.
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Yet, what amazes me is that this system (and yeah, I acknowledge that there are flaws) has crowned two worthy Champions IMO....regardless of the waiver argument for Kyle, what is without argument is that Harvick in '14 and Kyle in '15 were amongst the best two or three drivers in their respective seasons. What more can you ask for?
 
Revman said:
Yet, what amazes me is that this system (and yeah, I acknowledge that there are flaws) has crowned two worthy Champions IMO....regardless of the waiver argument for Kyle, what is without argument is that Harvick in '14 and Kyle in '15 were amongst the best two or three drivers in their respective seasons. What more can you ask for?
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.....The fact that a winless Ryan Newman came within a hair's breadth of winning the title says otherwhise.
 
Imagine explaining to the non-fan how someone won a championship but didn't really win the championship. Laughing stock.
 
Just give the regular season points champ a first-round bye, then award bonus points for the next round to any chase winners just like they do for the regular season. Pure points racing like we saw at Dover is pretty bad.
 
Season champion gets the trophy and the cash . Chase champion gets an ice cre\am cone ( three flavor) and the satisfaction of being the chase champion.
 
I like the idea of rewarding the regular season champ. Call him the MVP.
Get rid of the last cutoff before Homestead, i.e. make the round of 8, 4 races long.
So you would have
Round of 16 - Chicago, NHMS, Dover
Round of 12 - Charlotte, Kansas, Talladega
Round of 8 - Martinville, Texas, Phoenix, Homestead

Regular season champ gets automatic bid into the round of 8. You could call it the Great 8!
8 guys battle it out for the championship over 4 races.
 
29-4 said:
Not trying for three races is better than not trying for 25 races (though I do think they go out to win every week regardless).
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In case you were asleep for the last 6 months the same group of elite teams went out and battled for the win week after week in the regular season. Despite your hypothetical anti-chase talking points we saw drivers battling for those bonus points week in and out and it was a much better competition than last week's point racing at dover.
 
Acs said:
In case you were asleep for the last 6 months the same group of elite teams went out and battled for the win week after week in the regular season. Despite your hypothetical anti-chase talking points we saw drivers battling for those bonus points week in and out and it was a much better competition than last week's point racing at dover.
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I think you misread. If we take the hypothetical that drivers don't try when they are in (which I don't believe) as being true, then it is better that they don't try for a shorter period of time. I like rewarding the regular season champion not because I think drivers are just playing it out, but rather because it adds some entertainment value to watching the points chase for the first 26 races which has been largely rendered pointless from the perspective of the fan.
 
Acs said:
Pure points racing like we saw at Dover is pretty bad.
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This. I am opposed to *anything* that increases the incentive to adopt a points racing mindset. Better to increase the "win bonus" and have those bonuses survive each reset (not just the first reset).
 
FLRacingFan said:
For the love of Christ, if we're going to have this abomination around forever can we at least carry win bonuses into the second and third round as well? And make it five points or something?
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I like that idea. Win and you're in! With my other idea where 8 drivers race the final 4 races, One spot would go to the regular season champ, 7 spots left with 6 race opportunities to win. The last spot is filled via points, or any open spot due to a non-chase driver winning the race or duplicate winners, would also get filled via points.

LouieLouie said:
I like the idea of rewarding the regular season champ. Call him the MVP.
Get rid of the last cutoff before Homestead, i.e. make the round of 8, 4 races long.
So you would have
Round of 16 - Chicago, NHMS, Dover
Round of 12 - Charlotte, Kansas, Talladega
Round of 8 - Martinville, Texas, Phoenix, Homestead

Regular season champ gets automatic bid into the round of 8. You could call it the Great 8!
8 guys battle it out for the championship over 4 races.
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So the 2016 Great 8, would look like this so far starting at Martinsville
1. Kevin Harvick - Regular Season Champ (on points not wins, Kyle Busch would get in on wins)
2. Martin Truex - winner at Chicago
3. Open Spot via Points (Kevin Harvick - winner at NHMS)
4. Open Spot via Points (Martin Truex - winner at Dover)
5. Winner of Charlotte assuming it is a driver in the chase
6. Winner of Kansas assuming it is a driver in the chase
7. Winner of Talladega assuming it is a driver in the chase
8. Open Spot via Points

After Dover, the next 3 highest point leaders that would fill spots 3, 4, and 8 listed above would be Kyle Busch, Brad K, and Matt Kenseth.
 
Just to remind everyone that the last champion before the chase was criticized for winning only only 1 race while leading the points standings 33 of the 36 weeks. He won the championship before the last last race.
 
Put the chase in the middle of the season for money only. It would make those races have some meaning every third race.
 
Here are the changes I'd make:

Expand Chase field to 40 eligible drivers. Chase begins at Daytona in February and runs through Homestead in November. Driver with the most points at the conclusion of the Homestead race is the champion.

Okay, in reality:

Make Richmond a "Wild Card Round" race. Anyone who's already won a race or mathematically clinched a Chase berth sits the race out, meaning Richmond truly decides the rest of the Chase field.

"Regular season champion" (points leader after first 25 races) + driver with most wins and the next two drivers (or next three if the "regular season champion" has most wins) get first round bye (automatic advancement into Round 2).

"Regular season champion" and driver with most wins get bonus points entering round 2 (home field advantage sort of deal). I'd say anywhere from 10-25 points.
 
Also, Talladega so badly needs to be taken out of the Chase.

I know a big wreck that takes out Chase contenders can happen anywhere which is why this format is horrendous to start with. But the odds of it happening at Talladega are so exponential that it shouldn't be there.

The biggest single problem with this Chase is that you can have 35 great races and still lose the championship. Or, in the Chase itself, you can finish second in two of three races but get wrecked by a competitor in another and not even be able to contend for the championship.

Jeff Gordon not being in the final four in 2014 and Joey Logano not being in the final four in 2015 were so egregious. All it took for Gordon to be eliminated from the championship was being wrecked by Brad Keselowski just once. I know Joey Logano had the wreck at Texas in the round of eight last year, but he would've been safe if Kenseth didn't wreck him out at Martinsville.

Even in the old Chase, one bad race could hurt you but, in a 10 race stretch, you can recover from that over the other nine. But now, not the same. If Kevin Harvick hadn't won at New Hampshire, he would've been eliminated.



I'd even venture to say that the Chase drivers should have their own separate points system during the Chase, that way interference from non-Chasers wouldn't be severe like it is now.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Also, Talladega so badly needs to be taken out of the Chase.

I know a big wreck that takes out Chase contenders can happen anywhere which is why this format is horrendous to start with. But the odds of it happening at Talladega are so exponential that it shouldn't be there.

The biggest single problem with this Chase is that you can have 35 great races and still lose the championship. Or, in the Chase itself, you can finish second in two of three races but get wrecked by a competitor in another and not even be able to contend for the championship.

Jeff Gordon not being in the final four in 2014 and Joey Logano not being in the final four in 2015 were so egregious. All it took for Gordon to be eliminated from the championship was being wrecked by Brad Keselowski just once. I know Joey Logano had the wreck at Texas in the round of eight last year, but he would've been safe if Kenseth didn't wreck him out at Martinsville.

Even in the old Chase, one bad race could hurt you but, in a 10 race stretch, you can recover from that over the other nine. But now, not the same. If Kevin Harvick hadn't won at New Hampshire, he would've been eliminated.



I'd even venture to say that the Chase drivers should have their own separate points system during the Chase, that way interference from non-Chasers wouldn't be severe like it is now.
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I get what NASCAR is going for here though.

In football, you can have a perfect season and then lose to an 8-8 team in the Super Bowl. The 2007 New England Patriots lost the Super Bowl to a 10-6 team. In theory, a 16-0 team could lose in the Divisional Round of the playoffs and be done in the first round. The sports world is full of dominant teams that choke in the post-season. The 1990s Braves practically made it an art form. The whole "THE BEST TEAM DOESN'T WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP" argument has always seemed really weak to me.

Of course the 2007 Patriots didn't have to worry about the Jaguars running onto the field and taking them out. That's the best argument against the Chase to me. In no other sport can non-playoff teams affect playoff teams.
 
Zerkfitting said:
Just to remind everyone that the last champion before the chase was criticized for winning only only 1 race while leading the points standings 33 of the 36 weeks. He won the championship before the last last race.
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Really ? That's why they ruined Nascar ? Because a couple of idiot " fans" criticized a Champion with only one win ? Is this a Great Country or What ?
 
Zerkfitting said:
Just to remind everyone that the last champion before the chase was criticized for winning only only 1 race while leading the points standings 33 of the 36 weeks. He won the championship before the last last race.
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Four of the eight finalists thus far have had zero wins or one win, so I'm not sure this is much better.
 
What idiots ever thought racers would or could try harder with a 'win or go home format ' . . I mean ..try that in the Boston Marathon and see how it motivates the runners ..
 
The Nature Boy said:
Of course the 2007 Patriots didn't have to worry about the Jaguars running onto the field and taking them out. That's the best argument against the Chase to me. In no other sport can non-playoff teams affect playoff teams.
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The 2007 Patriots faced the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Divisional. :p

Thing in football, and every other sport with a playoff system is, regular season standings still mean a lot. If you go 16-0, you're going to get a first round bye and home field advantage through the playoffs.

I think the equivalent in NASCAR would be giving four drivers a first round bye and two of those four some sort of points advantage in the second round.
 
ted@economy said:
What idiots ever thought racers would or could try harder with a 'win or go home format ' . . I mean ..try that in the Boston Marathon and see how it motivates the runners ..
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16 drivers, 12 advance, only a maximum of 3 can advance with a win. Points were always going to matter.

Second round, drivers will go harder for a win in the first two races because they won't have to sweat Talladega.
 
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