Changes to Chase could include more drivers
January 5

NASCAR will tweak the Nextel Cup points system for the 2007 season to give more points for race victories and allow more drivers in the Chase for the Cup, published reports said Thursday, quoting vice president of communications Jim Hunter.

The exact nature of the tweaks is still being determined, Hunter said.

"We're still running the models," Hunter said, the newspaper reported.

NASCAR should make an official announcement around Jan. 22, during the annual NASCAR media tour, Hunter indicated.

NASCAR introduced the Chase for the Cup in 2004. The playoff-style format gives points all season, then trims the field to the top 10 drivers and anyone within 400 points of the leader for the final 10 races. The driver from those 10 with the most points at the end of the season wins the Cup title.

Jimmie Johnson won the Nextel Cup championship in 2006. Kurt Busch won in 2004, while Tony Stewart took the title in 2005.

It will be interesting to watch this story unfold, we all agree that some changes need to be made. So I guess that we will know before the end of the month what changes the powers that be will be making.

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thanks for the articles you always keep us updated thanks!

I've been waiting for them to stop lying to us and tell us what they've been up to, lol. They kept dancing around the issue, or at least, up until now.

I think they're going to expand the field to 12 drivers, with a special bonus for the 13th place driver, and then wins will be worth 30 points. I think they will get rid of the 400 point barrier, as with 12 drivers, it would be almost impossible to get more then that.

changes come and go. and theres not a thing we can do (just watch the races)

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Ever since the incepton of the Chase its been said its a work in progress and changes can be made. Well its about time they changed a few things !

More points for Wining! isnt that what racings all about? Weve had to many multi race winners not makeing an impact on the Championship.

More drivers in the Chase, uh yea it was a little sad to see the previous years Champion not make the Chase this year

While there at it how about some points for qualifying? Since the inception of the top 35 in points automaticaly makeing the race to many drivers just put in a lap. How about 10 points for the pole 9 for second 8 for third on down to 1 point for tenth?

What the heck lets get rid of the whole tail end of the lead lap thing too I hate that mess it just causes wrecks and another caution!.The Leader should be the first car to take the Green.

I want to get rid of the wrecked cars riding around trying to get a few more points too. How about positions 36 thru 43 getting the same amount of points? That would get some of the moving roadblocks of the track and vastly improve track safety!

OOPS went on a rant sorry! So what do yall think?

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The JACK CREW!!!

Agreed. Wholeheartedly.

AND The year before, as well (aka Kurt Busch). We were starting to see a new trend with past champs.

Interesting idea. Although, with so many full-time teams running now, I think that this problem will fix itself. So, in effect, no reason to add to the points system.

Man, I'm glad somebody's irked about this. I never understood that, anyway. It's pointless. Just let the cars go around, and stop screwing with the way a race will finished. lap down cars I understand, but tail-end? nah.

Hmm. interesting concept, but I don't think that would work. If there's a "big one" at Daytona or Talladega, then you have anywhere from 10 to 30 cars involved. In that case, even with the minimum speed, you're still going to see 10 cars limping around trying to get into somewhere between 25th and 35th place. This could apply at short-tracks with lots of carnage, as well. So I think we should just leave that the way it is, as well. Maybe at least set a minimum number of laps to run to get your paycheck :-) (field-fillers would hate that one, lol)

NP on the rant, we all need to do that occasionally.

Hunter: Chase changes coming for '07 season

More, more, more -- that's the message from NASCAR vice president of corporate communications Jim Hunter.

During a visit to USA Today's newsroom in McLean, Va., on Thursday, Hunter said NASCAR is "still running the models" but the 2007 Nextel Cup season will feature more points for victories and more drivers in the Chase for the Cup, the newspaper reported on its Web site.

Hunter said an official announcement will be made during NASCAR's media tour Jan. 22-26 in Charlotte.

NASCAR chairman Brian France hinted at changing the Chase last June.

"What I have always said about the Chase was we needed a few years under our belt to see how it evolves, how it changes in strategy, see how the actual formula we have really works," France said. "Now in our third year ... it's the ideal time for us make adjustments."

The Chase was devised by France when he took over as chairman in 2004. The format was designed to spice up a stale championship race in which winners were running away with the title and routinely clinching before the season finale.

France wanted more excitement and a dramatic playoff system that could compete with the NFL for television ratings.

The result was the Chase, which uses the first 26 races of the season as a qualifier to set up the title run. The top 10 drivers in the standings automatically make it in, and any drivers within 400 points of the leader are also eligible.

They then compete during the final 10 events to decide the championship.

"We'll be looking at nothing new -- everything that we'll be looking at has been brought up by various people the last couple of years," France said last year. "Just various things that we think will build what we're hoping for, which are big moments and a bigger stage for the drivers.

"That's what the Chase has always been about. It's about showcasing their skills."

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By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
Posted on Sat, Jan. 13, 2007

IN MY OPINION


It’s not too late.

NASCAR apparently has decided to expand the Chase for the Nextel Cup field from 10 to 12 drivers and to alter the points system only by giving the winner of each race an additional 10 points over what he gets now.

The additional points for a winner is a baby’s half-step in the right direction, and the change to go to 12 in the Chase is worse than staying at 10 but better than going to 15 and much better than slapping some bizarre “wild-card” appendage on the format.

On the good side, going to 12 gets rid of the ridiculous notion that anyone gives a flip about who finishes 11th. And for people who find some kind of reason to care who finishes 10th and gets to make a bad speech in New York, the new format means two guys who make the Chase won’t actually finish in the top 10 at season’s end.

Wow, that should really solve the whole problem with flat TV ratings, huh?

Tweaking the Chase format in such minor ways would be perfectly fine if NASCAR had the courage to address the real problem, though. The problem isn’t with how many people get to be in the sport’s version of the playoffs, the problem is with the overall system of how points are counted.

I’ve said this until people are tired of hearing me say it, but the problem is that winning races should be the predominant factor in determining who qualifies for the Chase and then for who wins it.

NASCAR can change that. Nothing has been announced yet – the changes will be unveiled on Jan. 22 on the first day of the Lowe’s Motor Speedway preseason media tour. There’s still time to make the kind of bold move that would actually fix the problem that makes the championship part of the problem in this sport and not the core of the solution.

Winning has to matter more than anything else.

More than “having a solid points day.”

More than “keeping our nose clean.”

More than “putting ourselves in position to win.”

More than any of those platitudes that are really nothing more than euphemisms for “points racing” or, in the pejorative term that people in the sport once used more than they do now, “stroking.”

I don’t keep bringing up my idea to address this real problem just to drive fans nuts, and I honestly don’t care if somebody else steals the idea and takes all the credit for it.

I’ve done the math, folks. I know that giving a driver a 500-point bonus for his first win – not each win, just the first -- in the regular season and again in Chase would put the kind of emphasis on winning there should be in the Nextel Cup Series.

Retro-fitting results to a new system isn’t an exact science, but using just the 500-point bonus system (and not any of the other changes I’ve proposed over the past few months) you would have had Tony Stewart leading Jimmie Johnson by four points going into the final race last year, then Johnson winning the title by 26.

People would have raced differently, though. You might say that Stewart wouldn’t have gambled on fuel mileage to win at Homestead, but he might have if he thought he could win his first Chase race and get his 500-point bonus that way.

The math would make your eyes glaze over, trust me. I’ve modeled every season back to 1996 and you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that I can readily defend the champion the 500-point plan would have produced every year.

The number scares people, but it could be 500,000 points and still have the same effect. Once two drivers have won, they’re competing against each other exactly the same way they do now. You could have 12 in the Chase and give 10 extra points for all wins and still use the bonus plan. All the bonus does is make winning the first priority for making and then winning the Chase.

NASCAR is scared of giving “too many” extra points for race wins for two reasons. First, it doesn’t want teams to be able to skip races and still contend for a championship. That’d be possible if you gave 50 or 100 points more for every win. Second, it wants the Chase to stay close down to the end. That’s why it likes the 10-point addition, because the models for the past three years show that would have kept things even closer than they have been.

I’ve written this before, but it’s true. One NASCAR official, a man who I think has one of the best minds in the sport, once told me that my 500-point plan puts “too much of an emphasis on winning races.”

I nearly fell off the chair.

Until the people running NASCAR understand you can’t possibly put too much of an emphasis on winning, they’re hopelessly missing the point.

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I would LOVE 500 points for wins. Now we are talking about drivers actually caring about winning instead of points racing, because winning would basically be your points.

If you thought it was already confusing enough, here is the new CHase formula...

NASCAR Announces Adjustments to ‘Chase’ Format and Points System: Race victories will become more important than ever in 2007 as a result of adjustments to the points system and the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup format announced today by NASCAR. The adjustments are designed to establish more balance between winning and consistency, but there is a new emphasis on the former. “The adjustments taken today put a greater emphasis on winning races,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France. “Winning is what this sport is all about. Nobody likes to see drivers content to finish in the top 10. We want our sport – especially during the Chase – to be more about winning.”

Chase Adjustments: The Chase – consisting of the season’s last 10 races – will further reflect the importance of racing to win, via a variety of adjustments.

> During the format’s first three years, the top 10 drivers in points after the 26th race of the season (at Richmond International Raceway) qualified for the Chase; in addition, any other driver outside the top 10 but within 400 points of the standings’ leader was also eligible.
Starting this season, the 400-point cut-off is eliminated.

Also, after Race 26, the top 12 drivers in the points will qualify for the Chase.
> All 12 drivers will have their point totals re-set to 5,000; each will then receive a 10-point bonus for each race victory they had during the first 26 races.

> The Chase drivers will be “seeded” to start the Chase based on the number of wins amassed during the regular season.
Points adjustment: In line with the Chase adjustments, wins throughout the season will be more valuable.

> Race winners throughout the 36-race season will now receive 185 points, a five-point increase. Counting the five-point bonuses available for leading at least one lap and leading the most laps, a race winner now can earn a maximum of 195 points, creating a possible maximum of 25 points between first- and second-place finishers.

The 2006 season of Kasey Kahne provides a dramatic illustration of the adjusted Chase format’s implications. Kahne qualified for last year’s Chase, but started it in 10th place – despite having won a series-high five races. Under the new format, Kahne would begin the Chase in first place, with 5,050 points. Mark Martin and Jeff Burton, seventh and eighth at the outset of last year’s Chase, would instead start in 11th and 12th, each with 5,000, since they had no race victories entering the Chase. Also, Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle, who failed to make the Chase last year – they were 11th and 12th and beyond the 400-point cut-off – would qualify under the adjusted format. Stewart would be fifth with 5,020 points, Biffle 10th with 5,010.(NASCAR PR)(1-22-2007)

So, what do you guys think?

Personally, I believe that while more confusing, somewhat, this will benefit everybody just a little bit more. I think ti will also make winning more of a desire than before, with the extra 5 points now and an extra 10 points if you make the chase.