As we descend into the depths of the 2014 season with yet another infernal change as to this sport’s definition of a champion, so begins the countdown to the end of this infernal column. Yes, that’s right, I’m really, really gonna do it this time. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you!
As I get older, I find my tolerance for stupid is declining at an alarming rate. I mean, you can rant and rave for years but no one seems to listen. Or, to put it another way, “You buy ‘em books and send ‘em to school and all they want to do is …” well, you get the gist (and hopefully, some of my more mature readers can finish the quote!)
At the heart of stupid is the Chase. Especially this new one. Let me show you an example as sometimes, I find it more beneficial to actually see things with your own eyes than it is just to hear or read about it. The following is the list of how our top 25 drivers would line up under the current points system, or as it is commonly called, the ‘classic system’ (with their current “Chase” position in these cute little things like I am using here, called ‘parenthesis’ ).
1) #24-Jeff Gordon(C2) 914 2) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.(C3) 883, -31 3) #2-Brad Keselowski(C1) 830, -84 4) #22-Joey Logano(C5) 829, -85 5) #48-Jimmie Johnson(C4) 802, -112 6) #20-Matt Kenseth(C14) 797, -117 7) #4-Kevin Harvick(C6) 788, -126 8) #31-Ryan Newman(C16) 782, -132 9) #99-Carl Edwards(C7) 777, -137 10) #16-Greg Biffle(C15) 753, -161 11) #15-Clint Bowyer 746, -168 12) #42-Kyle Larson 737, -177 13) #5-Kasey Kahne(C11) 735, -179 14) #1-Jamie McMurray 706, -208 15) #27-Paul Menard 701, -213 16) #3-Austin Dillon 698, -216 17) #18-Kyle Busch(C8) 687, -227 18) #55-Brian Vickers 681, -233 19) #11-Denny Hamlin(C9) 659, -255 20) #41-Kurt Busch(C10) 651, -263 21) #9-Marcos Ambrose 645, -269 22) #43-Aric Almirola(C12) 628, -286 23) #47-AJ Allmendinger(C13) 611, -303 24) #13-Casey Mears 596, -318 25) #78-Martin Truex Jr. 580, -334
Now, when you actually see the visual, (and it can be found all year long on the ESPN owned jayski.com), don’t you think something is totally wrong with this picture? Some guys are robbed while others are given benefits akin to the illegal aliens pouring into our country!
If this were one scant year ago, rookie Kyle Larson would be racing for a championship, but no! No one on this planet will ever convince me that a couple of guys, that would ‘classically’ be in 11th and 12th place don’t deserve the chance to be a champion but a couple of guys in 22nd and 23rd do. It just ain’t right!
Let’s take this a step further, though, and forget the Chase and this new grid crap. Imagine a ‘classical’ system but with a ‘win’ being worth 100pts more than second place…now look at the list again. What kind of exciting finish might we have then? That’s all they had to do, folks, that’s all they had to do. I’ve been preaching it for years.
Here’s a bit more stupid for you. It was announced that, effective immediately, the geniuses at Stewart-Haas Racing are swapping the crews of the No. 14 and the No. 4 because…”We made this change in the best interests of the entire organization,” said Greg Zipadelli, vice president of competition at SHR “Our primary goal is to win races and championships, and this pit crew swap provides championship experience to the No. 4 team and continued race-winning experience to the No. 14 team.”
Excuse me!? If I was Harvick, I’d be a bit pissed off. I mean, who’s in the Chase and who is not? Who has won races this year and who has not? And what happened with the No. 14 crew last week? Oh that’s right…Stewart had climbed to as high as tenth inside the final 100 laps but fell back when his crew missed a lugnut on the final…yes, the ‘money’ stop…the final pit stop! Bob only knows the logic behind this decision!
While I could sit here all night long and point out the stupid of the last 11 yrs, there has been at least one good change in the last few years and one that is coming up. The first is, of course, the double file restart. Look at the word! R E S T A R T! It is starting over again. You start the race double file, common sense only dictates that you RESTART double file as well! The other good change coming up is the final capitulation of NASCAR by bringing the Labor Day race back to Darlington! It only took them how many years and empty seats to figure it out?
As much as I am going to miss this weekly thing to some point, don’t start celebrating just yet. While I won’t be writing weekly, I will still be voicing my version of righteousness from time to time in other existing or upcoming features. After all, I do love to argue and who better than me to keep hanging around and piss a few of my favorite colleagues off!?
But hey, it ain’t over yet! I got 10 more weeks. After that, well, since I can’t fix ‘stupid’, I do enjoy sitting back, sipping a few beverages and watching it!
Stay off the wall!
Jeff Meyer