Zastava_101

Looks like some changes coming to the Chase: NASCAR likely will make tweaks to the Chase format for next season, although probably not changes as extensive as initially assumed when chairman Brian France said in July that the governing body was looking at ways to create a Game 7 atmosphere. Officials likely will expand the playoff field from 12 to 15 and reset the points with two or three races remaining to guarantee there is another drama-filled finish such as the one we have going into Sunday's finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "What's really clear to me is when you put drivers in a position where there's a lot on the line, and they just can't have a good position and they actually have got to go out and win or lead laps or compete high, they do it," France said. "You're seeing that the last several weeks & and I bet that's the case on Sunday. So that tells us that the more we can do, to have incentives -- an incentive basis and decide this championship, that puts it all on the line more often -- that's what we need to be thinking about." France will tell you creating this drama is "exactly what drivers want," even though Clint Bowyer started off Friday's media gatherings by saying, "I don't think they need to change the Chase." France will tell you it's what members of NASCAR's fan council and fans in general want. When it was suggested that there are fans who not only don't want to see changes but would like to see the Chase eliminated, France scoffed. "You met somebody that's telling you that?" he asked. Well, yeah. Hundreds, if not thousands. Just read some of the comments from [ESPN's] readers. "OK," France said. "Well, look, I mentioned to you that every -- almost every league and tournament -- is taking a look at their playoff or format style," France said. "Some will do a little; some will do nothing at all; and some might do something more drastic. And so I don't know what we are going to do, if anything."
France doesn't want to announce any changes that will detract from this race. But change is coming. It could come by the season-ending banquet in Las Vegas. The only change [drivers] seem to want is a rotating schedule for the final 10 races. That is being seriously looked at for 2012 and beyond.(in part from ESPN)
AND Key points from France's 30-minute Meet the Press here Friday:
-- No decision has been made on what tweaks to make to the championship points system.
-- He is planning shorter Saturday Nationwide races, coupled with some cost-cutting rules migrating up from the Truck series, such as using engines more than one race.
-- He likes ESPN's production package and on-air talent, but he is reconsidering the starting times of Sunday races.(MikeMulhern.net)(11-20-2010)

m4a1mustang

Its turning more and more into the WWE.

They need to get rid of the Chase and adopt an F1 style points system. Award points only to the top 25 finishers and you will end up with quite a battle. The final race of the f1 season this year came down to 4 drivers.

Zastava_101

This year yes, but champion in F1 is usually known way before the final race.

Same thing with WRC, which is using the same point system as F1. Sebastien Loeb was a champ this year after 11th race (out of 13).

I would prefer the old points system for NASCAR - drivers drive for a whole year and whoever has the most points at the end is a champ. Right now there is a regular season champ and "a playoff" champ. There is no way that Jimmie Johnson would've won the last 4 championships under the old points system.
And this new point system will suck even more. Points will be reset with 2 or 3 races remaining in the season?

2k7gtcs

I'm really getting annoyed with Nascar.

This really doesn't help anything. Now there will three seasons. The regular season. The pre-chase and the final chase.

Go back to the old way. Please!

crescent_wrench

All these tweaks can't hide the fact that NASCAR is boring to me and most people I know. Too many long cautions and just can't hold ones attention for 2 plus hours of going left.

Rather B.Blown

I prefer to watch the Nationwide series. Much better racing IMO.

Zastava_101

I'm just tired of watching those Gibbs Toyotas. They're so good they make racing in Nationwide boring.

houtex

The Chase is DUMB. I specifically stopped watching NA(non-)SCAR explicitly because of it, after I put up with the stupid Green/White/Checker crap. I don't understand how NASCAR lets the losers even run, when there's otherwise no point to their being there except to be in the **** way of the apparently desired winners. No other 'playoffs' in sports lets the losers keep playing, except a loser bracket... and even then, not until the end do the winners see the best of those.

NASCAR simply needs to do two things, and they'll have their excitement back:

1) Regular points system, all races through. No more Chase. If the Champ is decided 3 or 4 races before the end? So be it. They can have that anyway with the Chase. Resetting for the 3 or 4 before the end is just... goodness, that's just crap.

2) Stop punishing the cars with restrictor plates. Bad enough the cars are all bodied and chassied the same. Turn the engines down to 200CI or something like that so that the speeds are down like you want, but LET THEM RUN UNRESTRICTED!

That's it. Done deal. Racing will be exciting again.

StangMahn

more changes just making all of the first 25 races pretty much pointless, if anyone cared to begin with. even ESPN anchors were bashing it the other day

mobster

Really they are going about this all wrong, expanding the playoff field will make more boring, not less. after just a few races there is only 4-5 drivers left within reach of the top spot, so why not just start there to begin with.
Shrink the field to 5 (or even back to the original 10, if that would make people happier.) and award 100 points for winning, that way it will force them to race hard and not "point-race".

2k7gtcs

Yes. More points for winning, and points only for the top 25. Also the points need to be on a more exponential scale and not such a linear one. You need to have more incentive than 5 more points to try to break into the top 10 or top 5.

And although I was against this before, fuel inject the cars already. And if it's a traditional restrictor plate race track then run smaller injectors or something.

m4a1mustang

It used to, yes, but they changed the system and the result was a very exciting finale. Also 2008 was a nail biter (came down to the last corner of the last lap of the final race) when Hamilton won his championship.

As far as Jimmie not winning under the old points system... the thing you need to realize about the 48 team is they adapt to whatever is thrown at them better than any other team in Sprint Cup. There's no way we can look back and say that there's no way he'd have won these five straight without the Chase, because they certainly would have adapted their strategy to the old points format.

m4a1mustang

Here's the current F1 point system:

1st 25
2nd 18
3rd 15
4th 12
5tj 10
6th 8
7th 6
8th 4
9th 2
10th 1

We could very easily do something similar with NASCAR, except we'll pay points to the top 25 finishers where the winner gets 38% more points than second place. As it stands right now, there's only about an 8% points premium for winning in NASCAR over finishing second.

Also, get rid of the 5 point bonus for leading a lap. A points bonus for leading the most laps is OK, but not for one lap.

While we're at it, let's cut the race distances back to 300 and 400 miles. Obviously keep races like the Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600 at their current distances, but a 300 or 400 mile Pocono race will be a lot better than a 500 mile Pocono race. Not only does it make the race more palatable for everyone, it will increase the excitement because the urgency will be kicked up a notch. You now have 100 or 200 fewer miles to work on your car and get to the front!

Evil_Capri

I agree 100%. If nothing else . . . most races should be shortened as you mentioned above. (I also wouldn't mind seeing fueling rigs in the pits and air jacks on the cars.)