There has been quite a bit of banter over the last two or three weeks about the championship/playoff format in NASCAR. Mark Martin has been quite vocal about the fact that the sport should go back to a full season championship points chase. Fans have been screaming this for years but there are now some industry insiders who are visibly beating the drum for a change.
While there is plenty of sentiment to see the series return to a season-long format, there are some very large partners of the sport who, thanks to their large checks that they sent to Daytona, have more influence on this subject than anyone else.
The series champion has been decided by numerous different point systems over the years. Many people don’t realize it but Richard Petty won his seven championships via four different point systems. All of them were season-long battles but they were all different.
The uproar over the points format really began when Matt Kenseth, in 2003, won the championship while only winning one race during the season. Ryan Newman won eight races that season and wasn’t even the runner-up. He finished in sixth place in the points. He did have seven DNFs that year while Kenseth only had two, and one of those was in the final race.
After that season, there was enough uproar from the fans that the sanctioning body decided to change things up. It was perfect timing as Nextel was moving in to replace Winston as the title sponsor of the sport. Brian France introduced the Chase format for deciding the season champion. Ten drivers had their points reset at the end of the 26th race of the season and they battled it out for the season championship over the final 10 races. Kurt Busch ultimately claimed the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
It was also the first glimpse that we all had at what Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson would do with the Chase format. Win a few early, experiment in the summer time, and then turn it on in the final 10 races. Unfortunately for them, two DNFs in the final 10 cost them just enough points to relegate them to second place.
Since that time there have been tweaks and changes. Playoff points and stage points have come into play. Driver eliminations have also become the norm in the final 10 races. The fans have never really embraced the playoff format but last year was the season that really seemed to put the nail in the coffin. Joey Logano won the season championship with an average finishing position of just over 17th place. It was the worst average in the history of the sport. With that backdrop, fans have been screaming for a return to the season-long points, and they are getting support from the likes of Martin and Brad Keselowski, among others.
The interesting fact that seems to escape many of the detractors is that the drivers do not really seem to care what the format is. They almost all espouse that they know the rules when the season starts and they play by those rules until the end of the season. That mentality has been present in all sports as the times have advanced in the last few decades. The NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB have all made changes to their playoffs over the years, and the teams simply adjust their strategy to what the rules are as they are set out at the beginning of the season.
The NHL used to have its playoffs by division. Teams in the division would play and then one team from each division would advance onto the subsequent rounds. The NBA has implemented reseeding for its playoffs. If the number 16 playoff team beats the number one seed, they don’t get to play the winning of eight and nine. They go against the number two seed, assuming they advanced from the previous round.
MLB added a wild card. It used to be that the division winners were the only ones to advance. Heck, for decades the league champions were the only two who made the playoffs. NFL also added wild cards to the system of determining a champion. Now they’re even talking about giving the teams with the best records the highest seeds, regardless of whether they win their division or not.
The bottom line is that the rules are the rules and the teams involved in the sport will play by those rules to determine a champion. The talking heads will banter about, dissecting the validity of any given champion depending on the format, but the record book will always show the team who won the trophy as the champion of the sport. At this point in time, NASCAR is no different.
There very well may be some tweaks to the system next year. We may see the final 16 have their own points system during the final races so that bad races don’t destroy a team’s chances right out of the gate. If Josh Berry had received one point each for his two DNFs to start the playoffs but the winners had only received a maximum of 36 possible points instead of over 60, the deficit for a bad race could potentially be overcome.
Unfortunately you are not going to see the season-long championship return. The bottom line is that the television partner(s) want the perceived excitement of a playoff. They do not want a scenario where the champion of the sport has clinched the big trophy before the season reaches the final race on the schedule. They pay too much money, and the sponsors of the championship weekend drop way too much cash on those races for them to be basically meaningless at the end of the year. They will probably keep making changes to chase the elusive game seven moments that they so desperately want, but a season long run is not going to happen.
Everyone will play by the rules, however they are written to start the year. Embrace them and celebrate the champion.
What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.