Should it be called NASCAR’s Chase for Mediocrity?
Quote selected text Published September 10th, 2007 in NASCAR News
On Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway the battle for the IndyCar Series title came down to the final lap, with seemingly NASCAR bound Dario Franchitti scoring the championship when Scott Dixon ran out of fuel.
On Saturday at Richmond International Raceway NASCAR, in most anticlimactic style, locked in the field for its Nextel Cup Series Chase for the Championship. In the process NASCAR set a lineup for the title run that’s more watered down than a spring break co-ed on stage vying for the title of Miss Wet T-shirt.
Sunday marked the third time since 2002 that the IndyCar title has been decided on the last lap of the last race of the season. And yet, seemingly nobody cares.
All the while NASCAR is out manufacturing drama on a week-to-week, season-to-season basis and the lemmings can’t get enough of it.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon don’t make the field for the Chase for the Championship, well then, make the qualifying field bigger. And what is NASCAR left with? More drivers who should have no business racing for a title who get to start clean Sunday in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway against drivers who handily outraced them all season long.
Oh and by the way, the watered down 12-driver field, expanded from 10 after last season, still didn’t serve its purpose. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is out. Mr. NASCAR, one of the most overrated drivers in racing today, will watch from the sidelines again.
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Dustin wrote:
BULLSEYE!!!
(group hug)
That was anonymous, not Dustin
In the racing world, Nascar is mediocrity….but, it does make damn good entertainment.
how about using a little bit of common sense when comparing the IRL and NASCAR. because NASCAR has 43 drivers in each race and has a 36 race season, of course there is going to be a dramatic difference in talent and in the point standings between the top tier drivers and the bottom. the IRL has less than half of both, drivers and races, and yet there are still only 3-4 drivers that have a legitimate chance of winning the title each year. NASCAR has 10-15 drivers that have a real chance every year. also, geniouses, the reason the points/championship race is so close in the IRL every year is because of the smaller number of races in that series; its not because its better or more entertaining racing, its because less races and smaller fields means less time and less points to be awarded for the point standings to become as spread out like they do in NASCAR. add 5-10 more races and drivers to the IRL schedule and you’ll see the frequency of close, late-season championship races dramatically decline.
I can just see it now. NASCAR rule makers make an announcement making changes to the Chase rules. “Due to an unforseen circumstances, we have changed the Chase from top 12 to top 13″.
listen it wont be changed for junior they changed it for Stewart remember he was the one who didnt make it last year so go stuff it
I think they changed it from 10 to 12 because Stewart would of won the championship last year if he was included in the chase.
I was never a fan of the chase, i was just starting to like the system, and then they start this bullcrap of points for wins. I don’t care how many races you won, you shouldn’t get to go from 6th in points to first by 20..its just not right! the old system still rewarded the overall eforts of drivers during the first 26 races: good and bad. This horrible system just say that you can ran meiocre all season and barely hang on to a top 12 points spot, but still win 5 races, and take thge points lead for the chase! its just not right. I hope Brian France is happy with the damage he has done to the empire of a sport his family created
“We deserve to be in the Chase,” he said. “We race hard. We don’t quit. We love racing. That’s what we do. It’s just disappointing, man. These dang motors.”
There’s no doubt DEI’s top officials were thinking the same thing, and they determined Monday that a broken oil pump belt - possibly from debris on the track - caused the failure.
Either way, there was no joy in Earnhardt’s failure. After all, whatever is going on with his motors can very well spread to Truex’s, and then DEI would have no shot at all at its first Nextel Cup title.
that was taken from usa today
You mean it wasn’t sabatoge from his own team????????