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Now may be the time for a radical point system overhaul
By admin | June 2, 2009
By Steve Monday
The most recent edition of the Sprint All-Star race has NASACR and NASCAR fans clamoring for exciting races and even more for exciting finishes.
Talk of double file restarts and 10 lap shootouts are just a couple of ideas that are making the rounds now.
Fans want to see close racing, drivers want to have more competitive race cars, and above all, the television networks definitely desire higher ratings. Additionally, speedways would like to have higher fan attendance as well.
NASCAR has some major issues that need to be addressed, and sooner rather than later. With the Car of Tomorrow, Brian France taking over for Bill France, Jr., a possible schedule re-alignment, GM and Chrysler filing for bankruptcy, and Humpy Wheeler leaving Speedway Motorsports, a lot of change has taken place within the NASCAR world lately.
With all of this upheaval going on, what better time for NASCAR to adjust the way driver points during a race are awarded?
The typical fan has some idea of how the points are earned, but very few understand all the intricacies involved in the seasonal points system. Perhaps now is the time for NASCAR to make the points mechanism easier to comprehend.
My suggestion would be to reduce the number of points earned during the race. Simply put, first place earns 43 points; second place earns 42 points, third place 41 points, and so on through the field. The 43rd finishing position would be worth one point.
Instead of five points for leading a lap, and five points for leading the most laps, an additional point would be added for every lap led during the race. This would place a premium on leading the race, and more importantly, would offer an incentive for the drivers to actually “race” during the race to get to the front.
If you think Kyle Busch puts on a show now? Just think of how exciting the racing would be if 30 - 35 “Kyle Busch’s” were actually racing during the entire event.
Steve Monday is a guest blogger for RacingWithRich.com.
Topics: Guest, Pod & Humor |
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:18 am
Love the idea of 43 points for winning, but I would cut it off at the top 35(if we kept that inane rule.) The one point per lap idea smells to high heaven. How about 10 points for anyone who leads at least 10 laps and nothing for less. I would give 10 points for winning a race and 5 points for coming in second as a bonus and 10 and 5 points for qualifying first and second . I would also give a 25 point bonus for anyone who puts Kyle into the wall and a 25 point bonus , bonus if it upsets him enough to pull a run away and hide act after the race.
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:40 am
This is what I have preaching for years!
Pay points for leading laps, give one point a lap, total up and give the winner a bonus!Give a base point system
for finishing!
This one single thing will create more passing, and make racing better in the early and mid stages!
This will help elimate the stroking or chess match that ‘WE TAKE A TOP 5″
We need to make race day more important, not the chase!
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:00 am
I personally think that getting any points for leading 1 lap is ridiculous. And points should stop after about 35th–no need for someone getting in the way of faster cars for 4 points or so. But the main thing is that winning should get way more than 2nd. Never like the old system of 185+1 lap led crap and dont like the new 1 either. Make it where you win,you get like 50 more points than 2nd. Or go to podium style—win=50 extra,2nd gets 20 extra and 3rd gets 10 extra–the rest continue on down. Something should be done (in addition to many other things but I digress).
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Joe, the idea is to get ‘passing for the lead’ back in racing especially in the ususally boring mid and early parts of a race!
If each time a car leads a lap, he or she gets one point, but if they lead 100 they get 100 points, the compeditors will try to lead, instead of the current system where finishing is more important than trying to lead! A teams who wants to win the Championship will be gunning for the lead and exchanging the lead will make racing more exciting!
Paying points just to win, is important, but the premium is to put on ‘good race’ that day for the 400 or 500 laps, not just at the end! There is to much stragedey involved now, and the good racing is usually at the end!, not the middle or early portains!
This way if a team want to win the Point Title they have to lead laps, this gives them incentive to lead!
They should aleast experiment with it especially at some of the most boring races!
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:46 pm
There was nothing wrong with the points system before 2004. Before the Drunk changed it all up, nobody ever mentioned that the points system had anything wrong with it. This is Cup racing. The races are long, the season is long the list of teams is long and the points system should reflect this by awarding consistency. Sometimes it was close and sometimes it was a blowout. I liked this about it. I don’t want the championship to be a nailbiter every year. If a team had consistent top five cars each week and had good luck, they deserve to be champions even if they win by 300 points with barely any race wins. Anything else is just a gimmicky ploy to artificially generate exitement. All this crap about winning and doing whatever it takes to win and rewarding that is crap. Dale Jarret once said that no matter what the points system is, every team every week is trying to win the race. If by the end of the race they know they cannot win, they do everything they can to get the best finish possible (consistency). Therefore the only points system that works for these cars running these long races and these long seasons is one that awards consistency at all tracks. Go back to what works. With this chase crap I don’t even watch these races anymore, because they really don’t matter. Before you had to drive carefully and calculated and not damage your equipment. Now we have Kryle Booshes out there tearing up expensive race cars driving like crazed “I need to win everything” idiots. When you had a problem in the race with the old points system, it took a long time to make it up, so each race was very important. Now, only the final 10 matter. If a team has even one problem in this final 10 race stretch they are done as far as title contention. Ahh, look at that it really all still comes down to consistency. What a joke NA$CAR has become and the stands and TV ratings don’t lie like the Bigwigs running this travelling circus. This modern “show” is crap and it will die off very shortly. Before 2004, there was nowhere near this much negativity surrounding this once great sport. The Drunk has managed to “F” it up this badly in just five short years.