New Points System Confirmed

[BootsOntheSide]

http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=25809&s=9

"NASCAR has confirmed that it will change its scoring system for this season. As rumoured, there will be a showdown for the Nextel Cup over the last ten races on the 36-race schedule.

NASCAR had some harsh criticism last year after Matt Kenseth won the 2003 championship by winning just won race. Ryan Newman was sixth in the standings although he won eight. The points system has always rewarded consistency above all else, and has been unchanged since 1975.

Those (top 10) drivers will have their point totals adjusted after the 26th round, which this year will be at Richmond on 11 September. The first-place driver will begin the final 10 races (starting at New Hampshire on 19 September) with 5,050 points, the second driver 5,045 and so on, with incremental drops of five points.The drivers not involved in the championship will keep the points they have earned to that point in the season.

NASCAR President Mike Helton says this is to give "more drivers a chance to win the championship", but I think it's ridiculous, and destroys the entire purpose of competing in racing on a serious season-long basis. All NASCAR want is a megabucks show, and I think they'll get a nasty shock when they see audiences drop.

[gttouring]

this is **** as we all stated before everywhere
the first races may matter, but as soon as you see by race 10 every one pretty leveled out, no interest will be had for 20 races
NASCAR crappies have made this stinking deal with NBC and Fox(who initially opposed the idea) because late season races were down like 13% in viewing-HA!
its gonna be worse now ALL year- i seriously hate nascar for devising this system. the best option would have been an indy car style points system it works every where else in the world you know winning matters most.

[Emfa]

Seems to me that someone should tell Brian France that the "Chase for the Championship" starts in Daytona, not Loudon, because he obviously doesn't have a clue.

[muggle not]

Brian chubby cheeks is a dunce and doesn't have a clue. If a driver is in 11th place and 402 points out of the lead and the 10th place driver is 400 points behind the 11th place driver cannot overtake the 10th place over the last 10 races, I believe that is the way it is.

[Emfa]

That's the way that I understand it too, muggles. The have effectively eliminated the situation where drivers are racing to make it to the 'top table' at the awards (after Richmond, anyway). Also I read that the champ will get $5m and 2-10 will get $1m each - where's the incentive in that? Or did I misunderstand?

[muggle not]

It is absolutely ridiculous that drivers outside the top 10 cannot advance into the top 10 during the last 10 races.
Chubby cheeks is going to look even more foolish than he is....if that is possible.

Sponsors are surely going to have a problem with the new system. Wait until TV starts focusing on only those drivers and cars that are in the championship hunt during the last 10 races.

[gttouring]

that's just the hugest problem may be- the Sponsors fighting to get to the top ten in the final ten. as they leave the sport- maybe they'll migrate back to Indy/Champcar or ALMS!
we'll see
and "ChubbyCheeks" is the best name for that silver spoon punk

[kingfloopy]

"Chubby Cheeks" is a good name. What a door knob. These point system changes are a major slap in the face to Matt Kenseth and a lot of past champions. Jayski was reporting that under the new system, four of the last five champions wouldn't have won the championship. What an insult to a bunch of good drivers. It also ruins the fight to get to the head table at the banquet which is usually pretty exciting. And all of these changes come after a close points battle in Cup in 2002 and in BGN and CTS over the last two years. What a bunch of ****.

J.D.

[KC]

What happens when the points leader at the beginning of this event has two car failures/crashes that take him out, the rest all take turns winning one or two events and the guy who never finished outside the top 5 and did not win one race becomes Nextel Cup champ? Is that going to be much better than what happened this year?

[kingfloopy]

The new points system sucks, but it isn't the first bad decision that NASCAR has made. Their major concern any more seems to be with making money and not with respecting the fans or heritage of the sport. But I supposed the same can be said of a lot of the major sanctioning bodies any more. Maybe NASCAR should figure out a way to make the plate track races better instead of messing with the points system.


J.D.

[gttouring]

nope it'll be worse and contrived.
the simplest systme and best for points is to chop points awards for anyone under 30 points and the winner gets at least 15 points over 2nd place
5000 points? these numbers are out of hand, i know its been like this for 30 years-its okay, but if you are going to change it why make up some crazy system, that won't pick a real winner any way, in the last races a guy doesn't need to win just top fives 10 times and he takes it- isn' this what ChubbyCheeks was aiming to avoid-the dull champion controversy?

[kingfloopy]

http://www.fordracing.com/news/?arti...1&flashcheck=1

This is Matt Kenseths opinion on the new points system.

J.D.

[gttouring]

i think Matt our current champion, hit it squarly on the head-NASCAR is making a big mistake, and it may not recover when sponsors pull out after 26 races, if they are not in it.

[kingfloopy]

It's hard enough to find a sponsor under the old points system. Imagine trying to explain this points system to a potential sponsor.

J.D.