Change up the Chase

By Jenna Fryer
June 20, 2010


NASCAR proved last season it was open to constructive criticism, and with its unprecedented Town Hall meeting last May, it actually invited its competitors to discuss what was ailing the racing series.

It wasn’t just lip service, either. NASCAR took feedback from those sessions and used it in implementing a series of changes this season that many feel have improved the sport.

After another similar session last week with its competitors, NASCAR is again willing to make tweaks if it benefits the industry. Apparently, potential changes to the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship were at least briefly discussed.

Bring ‘em on. And scrapping the entire format – as plenty of longtime NASCAR fans who have argued since its 2004 inception that the Chase is a contrived means of crowning a champion – is not an option.

Although the Chase is always going to have its detractors, I firmly believe NASCAR is far better off for having the system. Unfortunately, the format has really only reached its ideal once, in its inaugural season, when five drivers went to the season finale in contention for the title that ultimately went to Kurt Busch.

It was a dream debut for NASCAR, which had envisioned the system creating interest and excitement at a time when the sport battles the NFL, NCAA football and baseball’s World Series for attention.

Unfortunately, the Chase hasn’t reproduced that same drama again since that first year. Although there have been tight two- and- three-driver battles, it’s not had a wide-open title race heading into the finale at Homestead since 2004.

When chairman Brian France revealed in 2006 that he was considering slight tweaks to the Chase, I felt I had some great ideas that could benefit the system. Alas, nobody really wanted to hear my blueprint for success. What followed was an expanded field from 10 to 12 drivers, as well as the 10-point bonus for “regular season” victories that is applied to the “seeding” when the field is reset at the start of the Chase.

I was against the expanded field, but now support it because it’s created a drama-filled scramble for the final few spots during the summer stretch. It also puts more teams in play at a time when usually only the top dogs are receiving much attention.

Now, as the series heads to the road course in Sonoma, Calif., for this weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, I still think some of my original ideas would benefit the Chase format.

Here we go:

1. Change the tracks!

Muhammad Ali once said, “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion,’ ” That sort of applies here.

Most drivers hate racing on road courses because it’s so different from what they do the other 34 weeks of the year. Purists don’t support the idea, either.

But from my perspective, tossing one in makes the championship run a true test of skill, because it would force drivers to get better at that style of racing.

Adding a road race to the 10-race Chase would require an additional road race to the schedule – the drivers have to have their annual trips to Sonoma and Watkins Glen as tune-ups. It could be a second trip to Sonoma, which is one of the more celebrated stops on the circuit, or perhaps NASCAR could go international and figure Montreal into its plans.

Aside from that, there has to be more variety in the current 10 tracks.

Jeff Gordon firmly believes he’d have his fifth championship by now if not for the current Chase tracks, which have a heavy slant on the 1.5-mile, cookie-cutter speedways. The tracks used now, Gordon said, suit teammate Jimmie Johnson’s style far better than his, and it’s no wonder Johnson has won the last four Cup titles.

I’d personally like to see the Chase open under the lights at Richmond in a Saturday-night race that couldn’t possibly lack the drama or excitement needed to launch the 10 weeks.

I’d also like to see Darlington added to the Chase because NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway is one of the most difficult tracks on the circuit, and shouldn’t a champion be able to master the Track Too Tough To Tame?

Assuming NASCAR isn’t going to touch the 10 tracks currently included in the Chase, then at least change the order a little. Find a rotating system – maybe the 10th race moves up to the first each year – so the opener and the finale are always in different places.

Just do something – please! – to add a little bit of unpredictability to the system.

2. Make it a real playoff

Since its inception, the Chase has been flawed in that it’s often referred to as a playoff, but it isn’t because nobody is technically eliminated. However, a quarter of the field has generally fallen too far behind to contend for the title by the third or so race, and at least half the field is too far back by the halfway point.

While there’s always hype at the start of the Chase, right before Talladega and at the end of the 10 weeks, there’s a lull through the middle section that could be more exciting if drivers were racing for their eligibility.

My suggestion is to start dropping drivers from contention at certain spots in the schedule. I initially thought it should be the halfway point, when half the field drops from title contention and is left only to race for the monetary rewards between the sixth- and 12th-place payouts. That forces everyone hovering from third to eighth to race for their lives at a time when they otherwise may have thrown in the towel.

With the 12-driver field, though, I don’t think it would be disastrous to drop drivers every three races. Maybe positions 10, 11 and 12 are dropped after the third race, and 7-9 are cut after the sixth event. Then 4, 5 and 6 get knocked out with three to go, leaving only three drivers racing for the title over the final three weeks.

3. Put a greater emphasis on winning

Points racing has both supporters and detractors – people who think Juan Pablo Montoya played it perfectly last season in playing it safe to make the Chase, and others who believe not racing for wins is cheating the system. The debate can go either way, as teams have always found ways to manipulate the system to their benefit.

But does anyone think it’s exciting to watch a driver, who knows he needs only to finish 15th or better to lock something up, race conservatively for an entire day?

I’m all for putting a premium on winning, thus forcing drivers to throw caution to the wind and race hard for victories. Consistency still must be rewarded, but there’s got to be a decent incentive to gamble on set-ups and strategy, and to get aggressive when one might normally play it safe.

How could that hurt the racing?

4. Give the Chase drivers their own points system

NASCAR argues that scoring Chase drivers on their own system can be confusing, but I strongly believe a sliding scale is not only easy to follow but also would keep the championship race competitive.

Let’s give the highest-finishing Chase driver 25 points (and another 10 if he wins the race), the next highest-finishing Chase driver gets 23 points and everyone on down gets two less through the lowest-finishing Chase driver, who gets just 3 points.

That’s a whole lot easier to follow than trying to do the math on, “OK, so my favorite driver finished 32nd today, so he gets 67 points, but Jimmie Johnson finished second and he got 170 points, plus he led a lap for another five points, so my driver trails Johnson in the Chase standings by how much now?”

The separate points system also prevents disastrous days from completely blowing up a team’s championship hopes. Sometimes a driver makes a mistake that leads to a poor finish, but sometimes a driver gets caught up in someone else’s issue – see the 2004 and 2005 Chase openers, when Chase drivers Jeremy Mayfield, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart were all wrecked at New Hampshire, and the next year, when defending champion Kurt Busch was a victim of someone else’s error.

If the idea is to have a tight championship race, then finding a way to keep more drivers in the hunt deep into the Chase is the best solution.

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