After much consideration, I’ve come to the conclusion that in order to maintain the integrity of the sport and to try and keep the fly-by-night fans watching, the Sprint Cup Chase should be expanded to include 20 drivers. Really.
[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”300″]
[/media-credit]Let us put aside any crazy notion to determine a champion by elimination rounds, a separate points system for Chasers, or even a coin toss. It was tough enough to convince fans that the best over the season should not be the champion. I mean, if they still did Jeff Gordon would already be a six time champ. Want a playoff? Fine, but don’t make the championship something the fans won’t buy in to. If you want more contenders, then simply invite more to the party.
There once was a time when the winner in the regular season was the champion. Even after the World Series became part of baseball’s fabric in 1903, it still was a clash between two league champs as determined strictly by who finished first over the schedule. However, few fans in any sport object today to having the best team, or teams, during the regular season sitting on the sidelines as a couple of lesser lights survive the playoffs to battle it out in the final. I guess NASCAR is not any different.
So, why in heaven should we expand the Sprint Cup playoffs to include twenty teams? First, the more involved the better the chance of having more contenders as we get to the final race. It would not have happened this year, as regardless as to how many made the Chase, it would have come down to three in 2010. Still, as the likes of Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer saw their hopes flushed down the commode, there was drivers like Mark Martin, Joey Logano and Jamie McMurray who raised their game a notch over the final ten race sprint. Had they made the Chase, got the Chase rate of 5000 points plus ten bonus points per win, those three would have finished fifth through seventh. Instead of 12th, Burton would have wound up a more deserving 19th.
For more than fifty years, the best over the course of the year became the champion. Still, others believe the guy who wins the most should be king. Some think wins should mean more while finishing outside the top twenty or ten should mean less. There is validity in each of those views but if the idea is, like a mysterious debris caution late in a race, to compact the field and leave the outcome in doubt, this appears a more palatable way of doing it.
By the way, if the Chase had included the top twenty drivers after 26 races, then below you will find how the final standings would have looked. Tell me what you think.
Pos-Driver-(2010 Finish) Points
1 Jimmie Johnson (1)———–6622
2 Denny Hamlin (2)————–6583
3 Kevin Harvick (3)—————6581
4 Carl Edwards (4)————–6393
5 Mark Martin (15) —————6342
6 Joey Logano (16)————–6307
7 Jamie McMurray (14)———6295
8 Matt Kenseth (5)—————6294
9 Ryan Newman (13)———-6273
10 Greg Biffle (6)——————6247
11 Tony Stewart (7)————–6221
12 Kyle Busch (8)—————-6182
13 Jeff Gordon (9)—————6176
14 Clint Bowyer (10)————6155
15 Kurt Busch (11)————–6142
16 Juan Pablo Montoya (17) 6111
17 David Reutimann (18) 6048
18 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (21) 6045
19 Jeff Burton (12) 6033
20 Martin Truex, Jr. (22) 6032
