As you may have noticed from my previous articles, I’m no fan of the Chase system. This article will detail what would have happened if we had the old points system, but with the 10 extra bonus points for wins feature from 1975-2006 because as you know, NASCAR implemented the extra points for wins following the end of the 2006 season, so repeating what happened from 2007-2010 is irrelevant. I’m going to call my points system, Ryan’s System.
1975 Ryan’s System Champion:Richard Petty (Petty won by over 842 points in my system and by 722 under the system back then. Petty won 13 races to 1 by second place finisher, Dave Marcis.)
1976 Ryan’s System Champion:Cale Yarborough (Won 9 races. Richard Petty had just three to finish second and was behind by 275 points)
1977 Ryan’s System Champion:Cale Yarborough (Won 9 races again. Petty won 5 races this time around, but this time found himself behind 425 points. Better luck next year King.)
1978 Ryan’s System Champion:Cale Yarbrough (3rd and Final Championship in a row. Beat Darrell Waltrip by 519 points.)
1979 Ryan’s System Champion:Darrell Waltrip (Oooh ouch. Petty is not a 7-time champion anymore, but a 6-time champion. Waltrip wins a 9 point nail biter. Now, that is exciting stuff.)
1980 Ryan’s System Champion:Dale Earnhardt (First championship for The Intimidator. 9 point victory over Cale who was going for his 4th.)
1981 Ryan’s System Champion:Darrell Waltrip (No question about it. He won 12 races. Second-place finisher Bobby Allison had 5.)
1982 Ryan’s System Champion:Darrell Waltrip (Same story. No question about it. Waltrip 12-Allison 8)
1983 Ryan’s System Champion:Bobby Allison (Bobby gets revenge and both have 6 wins, but Allison wins by 47.)
1984 Ryan’s System Champion:Terry Labonte (Labonte only won 2 races yet still won by 55 points. Evidence that the system works on consistency as well.)
1985 Ryan’s System Champion:Bill Elliott (Elliott edges Waltrip. Waltrip would have had an 101 point win, but Elliott had 11 wins to Waltrip’s 3 and won the title. Sorry Darrell.)
1986 Ryan’s System Champion:Dale Earnhardt (Won the title easily)
1987 Ryan’s System Champion:Dale Earnhardt (3rd Championship. Made it look easy.)
1988 Ryan’s System Champion:Bill Elliott (Two titles in four years for Elliott. Held off Wallace by 24 points.)
1989 Ryan’s System Champion:Rusty Wallace (22 point win for Wallace over the 3-time champion Earnhardt.)
1990 Ryan’s System Champion:Dale Earnhardt (Cruised easily to his 4th title.)
1991 Ryan’s System Champion:Dale Earnhardt (5th title. 4th title in 6 years. Amazing performance.)
1992 Ryan’s System Champion:Bill Elliott (3rd title. Apologies to the late Alan Kulwicki, but he lost out by 20 points.)
1993 Ryan’s System Champion:Dale Earnhardt (6th title ties Richard Petty for most all-time.
1994 Ryan’s System Champion:Dale Earnhardt (7th title. The best NASCAR driver of all-time.
1995 Ryan’s System Champion:Jeff Gordon (This kid beat the best of all-time in just his third year? Very impressive.
1996 Ryan’s System Champion:Jeff Gordon (Beats out teammate Terry Labonte by 43 points for his second career championship.
1997 Ryan’s System Champion:Jeff Gordon (3rd title in a row ties him with Cale Yarborough for most titles in consecutive seasons.)
1998 Ryan’s System Champion:Jeff Gordon (4th title in a row and only 27 years of age and now has the record for himself.)
1999 Ryan’s System Champion:Dale Jarrett (Heck at least someone other than Gordon won.)
2000 Ryan’s System Champion:Bobby Labonte (First title. Holds off the best of all-time to win it.)
2001 Ryan’s System Champion:Jeff Gordon (5 titles in 7 years is still mighty impressive.)
2002 Ryan’s System Champion:Tony Stewart (Former open-wheeler wins his first title.)
2003 Ryan’s System Champion:Matt Kenseth (Held off Jimmie Johnson for his first title.)
2004 Ryan’s System Champion:Jeff Gordon (6th title in 10 years. Won by 17 points.)
2005 Ryan’s System Champion:Tony Stewart (2nd title.)
2006 Ryan’s System Champion:Jimmie Johnson (He did it! By 14 points, but he did it!)
Now, you know that NASCAR implemented the 10 extra bonus points after this year. 2007 belonged to Jeff Gordon for his 7th title to tie him with Dale Earnhardt for the most championships all-time. Carl Edwards got his first in 2008. Jimmie Johnson took his second title in 2009 and finally Happy Kevin Harvick is a champion finally. So, looking at this article…who is the best of all-time? If you want to go by wins, you have to go with Richard Petty because he won 200, but if you want to go by championships you have to go with either #3 or #24 and Gordon will be King once he wins another title. Yes, Gordon won 4 in a row and that record cannot be broken until at least 2013. I have provided you with the evidence. What do you guys think of it?
Email me at therhino.ryan@gmail.com or facebook me. Thank you.
