Will NASCAR dump The Chase?

MRM

MRM

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They probably won't anytime soon, but they need to. You're going to have someone win the championship 4 out of the 6 years they've had this thing. The first 26 races are meaningless except for winning races and getting yourself into the top 12. Then all the top 12 has to do is throw everything they have toward 10 races. The Chase was supposed to create excitement at the end of the season and raise TV ratings. That only worked for the first year. Ratings continue to decline, attendance is down, and the same guy is winning. Most people outside of hardcore race fans are interested. It's time to dump The Chase, but NASCAR is slow to admit they are wrong.
 
MRM said:
They probably won't anytime soon, but they need to. You're going to have someone win the championship 4 out of the 6 years they've had this thing. The first 26 races are meaningless except for winning races and getting yourself into the top 12. Then all the top 12 has to do is throw everything they have toward 10 races. The Chase was supposed to create excitement at the end of the season and raise TV ratings. That only worked for the first year. Ratings continue to decline, attendance is down, and the same guy is winning. Most people outside of hardcore race fans are interested. It's time to dump The Chase, but NASCAR is slow to admit they are wrong.
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I agree, but they can't just dump it outright. I think if they do, they need to completely revamp the entire points system, one that creates more reward for winning thr5oughout the season.
 
VaDirt said:
I agree, but they can't just dump it outright. I think if they do, they need to completely revamp the entire points system, one that creates more reward for winning thr5oughout the season.
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I hate to say it, but I think the Chase was a knee jerk reaction, to fix somethin that wasn't broke. It was hard for them to justify Kenseth as champ with one win.... but , big if here, but how would they justify someone who hasn't won a race all season, winning the points, while someone who won a boatload this season, not even bein in the chase....... think about it..... it could happen.
And for me, it is hard to compare Cale's 3 in a row titles to Jimmies........To me there is a difference between week in and week out, all season results as opposed to being good for a couple of months.
What I am still waitin on, and I think it could happen, is for a team, to pick up a few wins, and decide to sit out a race or two when the tour goes outwest, to save money. I know, it's not likely, but...... what if a team is able to sign 2, 3 or even 4 sponsors, ( as most do....) but still not have enough races covered, and just sit out a race or two, knowin that when the chase starts, they can go from like 8th, 10th or so, all the way up to 2nd or so, based on the points as they are now........
 
I have been waiting for that as well and I think it will take just one big name to sit out a race and NASCAR will loose their minds.
 
MRM said:
They probably won't anytime soon, but they need to. You're going to have someone win the championship 4 out of the 6 years they've had this thing. The first 26 races are meaningless except for winning races and getting yourself into the top 12. Then all the top 12 has to do is throw everything they have toward 10 races. The Chase was supposed to create excitement at the end of the season and raise TV ratings. That only worked for the first year. Ratings continue to decline, attendance is down, and the same guy is winning. Most people outside of hardcore race fans are interested. It's time to dump The Chase, but NASCAR is slow to admit they are wrong.
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They don't need to dump the Chase, they just need to change tracks every year. Let's face it, the tracks Jimmie does best at (Martinsville, Dover, Kansas, Charlotte, Texas and Phoenix) are all Chase races. And they need to add a road course in the Chase.

NASCAR says they won't add a road course because a Chase contender could get wrecked out. But, they have Talladega which is a purely-luck race so that's a moot point. They won't add a road course because Jimmie Johnson doesn't do good on road courses.
 
No points system is perfect, and I don't remember NASCAR being in danger of folding when Cale won three years straight. NASCAR wanted a "playoff" system to compare with those in the major stick & ball sports.
 
PettyBlue said:
No points system is perfect, and I don't remember NASCAR being in danger of folding when Cale won three years straight. NASCAR wanted a "playoff" system to compare with those in the major stick & ball sports.
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That's were all this went wrong. Trying to compete with stick and ball sports by having a playoff. I think NA_CAR had a good thing going before they brought in the Chase. All they needed to do was improve the point system they had by giving more points to race winners, and not make it easy for a sandbagger to win the Cup. I'm not saying Kenseth was a sandbagger, but I think Winning and running hard for the win is more entertaining than watching someone rack up top 10's while having all the racing luck walk away with the Cup. Just ask Rusty Wallace what he thinks about it.
 
PettyBlue said:
Hamlin was whining about that very thing last night. :D
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Hamlin was dead on. It's not JUST the best driver, it's a lot of luck.

Talladega, a race of luck, locked up the championship for Jimmie last year. Carl was better than him all season long, had more wins, scored more points, and had a better average finish. But one bad race handed the championship to Jimmie.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Hamlin was dead on. It's not JUST the best driver, it's a lot of luck.

Talladega, a race of luck, locked up the championship for Jimmie last year. Carl was better than him all season long, had more wins, scored more points, and had a better average finish. But one bad race handed the championship to Jimmie.
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Actually, Carl followed up that bad run at 'Dega with an even worse finish (33rd) at Charlotte.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
He was still statistically better than Johnson in just about every category last year.
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Hmm, average finish during the chase:

Edwards, 8
Johnson. 5.7

Remember, as much as you don't like it, everyone is in the same 10 races during the chase. He who finishes better over those ten races, wins.
 
Richard Petty was saying the other day to get rid of the 5 points for leading a lap and bonus points for leading the most laps. Points should be based on where you finish. He said it kind of like rewarding a football team for leading at halftime even though they lost the game. Well when you put it that way it kinda makes sense.
 
I don't think Nascar will dump the chase but they will change it I think when JJ has it locked up 2 or 3 races ahead of time.
 
Yeh it kind of ,makes the entire chase not relevant if you have it locked up a race or two before the end of the season. Who wants to watch racing when there is a much more exciting football game on! I don't know about the rest of you but i liked the old way a lot better. I was never a fan of the new system, there were plenty of close finsihes with the old points system. Yes there were a few runnaways, but like any year there are going to be teams that dominate, this is true in any sport. Reward the driver with more points for a win ....say 15 or 20 and you will see a lot more teams racing for a win. To me having a playoff system in Nascar makes no sense. the rest of the field is racing for points the same way they did all season the top 12 should be too. I'd love to see a few non Chase guys win some races in this format and really mess things up. I think the system worked just fine before, with a little tweaking it could be even better.
 
The Chase definitely has stunk up things and I get sick of seeing the same person win week after week. At the very least, they DO need to change up the tracks they run in it. Dega has no business being in it since there is so much luck involved on whether you stay out of the "big one." They've made passing so much more difficult with the tank called the COT that I think some tweeking on that car is definitely needed. I think the safety improvements are fantastic, but how many races do we watch the lead car just about lap the field in a very short time? A LOT. The main problem is Brian France not wanting to admit anything needs fixing. I guess he'll wait until all of the tracks are near empty on race weekends. Too bad.
 
NEWSFLASH This Just In.....

The chase isn't going anywhere. They're not going to change the tracks for the sole purpose of denying Jimmie Johnson wins during the Chase. IMO the problem isn't that Jimmie Johnson is winning all of these races. The problem is the other 42 teams are stinking up the show. They need to get off of their collective a$$e$ and get the deal done! He beats them on the track and in their heads. They're all racing under the same rules and they know how this thing works. Jimmie and Chad don't know any more about the Chase than anyone else but they sure know how to win races.
 
The Chase isn't going any where, and NASCAR wont be changing the points system just to prevent Johnson from getting a 5th title.

People were *****in about Kenseth winning the championship by a landslide with only 1 win, and now those same people are *****in about Jimmie being successful? Even though the Championship is far from decided? Jimmie could crash out at any of the remaining races, and the Championship would be wide open again.

Nearly all the Chasers but Jimmie had a bad night on Saturday. That's nothing to hate Jimmie about. That just shows what a good team he has. All of you non-Jimmie fans need to face the fact that your favorite driver and their team is behind the curve. Jimmie's team has figured out what works. Why hasn't anyone else?

I thought I'd never do this, but to quote the Junior haters: "Maybe your driver just isn't that good." :D

rsz_85791109.jpg
 
foehammer111 said:
People were *****in about Kenseth winning the championship by a landslide with only 1 win, and now those same people are *****in about Jimmie being successful? Even though the Championship is far from decided? Jimmie could crash out at any of the remaining races, and the Championship would be wide open again.
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I don't remember it being a landslide for Kenseth but I do agree with you on your Jimmie assessment. Like Carl Edwards said 1000 things have to go right to win those Chase races, only one thing has to go wrong to end up in the back of the pack. He's only one bad move/call from being mired up with the rest of the Chase racers. Personally, I am rooting for a couple of bad calls for him before the end of the season but they just hardly ever seem to make a mistake. Even when they do, they always seem to recover.
 
So because Jimmie is winning, both non-Chase and Chase races, the lot of you want to change the rules again? The fact that other drivers have problems that they can't overcome where Jimmie can isn't really his fault, now is it? Just a bunch of 48-haters. If this were Lil'E having this kind of run some of you would have chapped thighs from peeing on yourself over and over.

And the very fact that Andy agrees with you should be proof enough that you are wrong... ;)
 
While I do agree that the Chase needs more variation in the tracks that they run at, I think that most of the people who are against the chase are against it because Jimmie is winning. I guess you can't please everyone.
 
SpeedPagan said:
While I do agree that the Chase needs more variation in the tracks that they run at, I think that most of the people who are against the chase are against it because Jimmie is winning. I guess you can't please everyone.
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And if you think about it, there's a fairly good representation of all the kinds of tracks anyway. Just no road course.
 
VaDirt said:
And if you think about it, there's a fairly good representation of all the kinds of tracks anyway. Just no road course.
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Agreed.

I think we can take Texas out of the Chase since it's nearly identical to Charlotte, and add a road course.
 
Since most everyone thinks that the Chase races need to be altered. I did a little research and found that the Chase needs to consist of the following 10 tracks. This is the only way that the other 42 drivers have any hope of beating Jimmie Johnson.

Jimmie Johnson's worst average finish tracks.....

Rockingham - 23.2 - Of course we have to have it added back to the schedule.
Richmond - 18.2
Indianapolis - 17.9
Talladega - 17.7
Sonoma - 17.4
Michigan - 16.0
Bristol - 15.9
Daytona - 14.2
Homestead - 13.6
Watkins Glen - 13.0
 
I think they need to score the chase drives by themselves and then the rest of the field. If you have a bad day the worst you would get points for is 12th place. It would keep the points tighter that way. also start all the chase drivers at 0 points and reward for wins during the chase.
 
SpeedPagan said:
While I do agree that the Chase needs more variation in the tracks that they run at, I think that most of the people who are against the chase are against it because Jimmie is winning. I guess you can't please everyone.
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No. I've been opposed to the Chase since the beginning. Like someone else said, it was a knee jerk reaction to an unpopular driver (Matt Kenseth) winning only one race and beating Junyer to win the Championship. Nobody whined and sniveled when a popular driver (Terry Labonte) only got one win en route to the 1996 championship (beating an unpopular Jeff Gordon).

I just think the tracks should be shuffled up. Every other series has changes every year or two. Every other sport has their championships decided in different venues each year (except the National Hockey League).
 
I think the whole schedule needs to be re-thought.

To begin with, we need to start the season and end the season with Daytona. Brian France has shaken just about everything else, why not the whole season.

And while we're shaking, why not end with the Daytona 500? If Brian wants to be like football, end with the season with the SuperBowl.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
No. I've been opposed to the Chase since the beginning. Like someone else said, it was a knee jerk reaction to an unpopular driver (Matt Kenseth) winning only one race and beating Junyer to win the Championship. Nobody whined and sniveled when a popular driver (Terry Labonte) only got one win en route to the 2006 championship (beating an unpopular Jeff Gordon).
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Labonte won it in 1996 and he won two races. Oh, and it's spelled Jr. LOL
 
TexasRaceLady said:
I think the whole schedule needs to be re-thought.

To begin with, we need to start the season and end the season with Daytona. Brian France has shaken just about everything else, why not the whole season.

And while we're shaking, why not end with the Daytona 500? If Brian wants to be like football, end with the season with the SuperBowl.
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Someone else (VADirt I think?) had a great idea a while back of ending the season with the Southern 500 at Darlington.

NASCAR needs more tracks. There are definently a bunch of tracks that should lose their second date in favor of expanding to other markets. NASCAR should run races at Gateway, Iowa, Kentucky, Nashville and the Pacific Northwest (Portland).

I think Daytona and the short tracks should be the only tracks with two races.
 
While at it, bring the Nationwide Series back to Myrtle Beach, Nashville Fairgrounds, Hickory, South Boston and New Smyrna!
 
There have been seveal threads about the ideal racing schedule, so I wont bother repeating myself here.

However, I feel that the Chase is the best thing to happen to the sport in a long time. Granted, it's not perfect, but I feel it's better than the old system. It makes one driver running away with the Championship far less likely than in pre-Chase years.

But I can understand why some people don't like it. Some people like seeing a Championship develop over 30+ races. But in my thinking this format is better because it keeps the Championship closer, and harder to win. Plus it means it's difficult to clench the Cup before the final race. Imagine if in the NFL it was possible to win the Super Bowl before the playoffs even started? That's kind of how the old system worked.

When you think about it, the Chase is like a condensed season. The ones at the top of the standings will be the ones who have the best consistant finishes. Sure, Jimme looks like he's on his way to winning his 4th Chase in a row, but that just shows how consistant he is. No one else can argue that anyone has been better than Jimmie in the Chase.

Look at how F1's championship was this year. Their point system is like how the Cup series used to be. Button won 6 of the first 7 races, and hasn't won since. I'm not saying that he didn't earn the Championship, but his strong performance at the start of the year all but ensured we would win the title. Thus setting up something of a fairly boring Championship run where he more-or-less coasted to the title.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Didn't I say 1996? (EDIT: Nope, typo, my bad)

You're right -- I forgot about his North Wilkesboro win. Still... Gordon won how many races? Nobody was whining then.
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Gordon won 10 races that year and yes, people whined then too!

It was similar to the whining of the people this year when Kyle didn't make the Chase.
 
Although I know I'm wishing, I still think the point system could be tweaked so that the whole year be used to determine the champion.

Drop the bonus for leading a lap and for leading the most laps. The winner gets 43 points, plus 25 for winning. 2nd gets 42, 3rd gets 41, and so on, down to 43rd getting 1.

No one gets points just because they tried to qualify. You make the race, you get points for finishing.
 
I love Daytona --- I just wish they could find some way to slow the cars down without the plates.

There's just something about that track that fascinates me.
 
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