A couple of days ago Nascar announced that there will be some tweaks in the Chase for the Championship. I wanted to take a couple of days to really soak these changes in, and not knee-jerk with a reaction.
Over-all, I would grade these changes as an A-, as once again it appears that Nascar actually is listening to the 'complaints' about the format and at the very least, attempting to make the product better.
Qualifying for the Chase still has the underlying theme of rewarding consistency, but adding 5 extra points for a regular season win, then adding 'bonus points' for Chase qualifiers with previous season wins, can only benefit the drama we have come to know as 'the Chase'.
For the fans that want to see the 'old ways' return, I would say this. I don't ever want to see a final 1/3 of the season that we saw in the 2003 Cup or even this past 2006 Busch season. Talk about a couple of snoozer last dozen or so races!
The only issue that I might have was the elimination of the fail safe 400 point rule and the additional two teams. This exception, while improbable, was the safety valve just in case if a season was top heavy with 15 or so teams very close in the points and insuring that a deserving team would be left out. Going to 12 teams does dilute the Chase, but I guess it could be worse.
Tweaking the format can only be a good thing in the big picture perspective. If not for a bit of change from year to year, Nascar might still be racing on the Beach Course!
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2 comments:
I get so tired of folks who always prefer the good old days...these will soon be the good old days.
2007 should be a real vroom!
gvav1 is right! Could not say it better.
I do like the 12 places, though! It will give number 11 and 12 a reason to work a bit harder, so that they can walk the stage at year end.
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