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BYRNES: The Case For The Chase
Written by: Steve Byrnes   
11/19/2009
Charlotte, NC
 
The dull roar gets louder and louder as we close in on crowning the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Steve Byrnes on SPEED. (Photo: SPEED) ยป More Photos

As Jimmie Johnson hones in on what likely will be his unprecedented fourth consecutive championship, chatter intensifies that the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup is “boring” because many people, inside and outside the garage, perceive the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team as robotically dominating the sport. The next logical conclusion for most is that it’s time to fix the Chase because it has lent itself to a ho-hum run-up to the season finale. Not so fast.

I don’t think the Chase is broken. In fact, I think it’s the most appropriate format for a sport that is vastly different from other stick-and-ball sports in a myriad of ways.

However, I was not a proponent of the championship format when it was first introduced because I thought it had too much of a “gimmicky” feel. But the more I thought about it, the more it appealed to me on several accounts.

Think back to 2003, the final year of the previous points system, in which Matt Kenseth went on such a tear that he commanded the points lead midway through the season. People began decrying the championship structure as in dire need of a makeover long before we got to Homestead. Kenseth knocked off top 10 after top-10 finish, 25 total, while winning only one race, but walked off with the Sprint Cup in the painfully anticlimactic season’s end.

So, NASCAR instituted the Chase. And the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. In 2004, the inaugural year of the Chase, we rolled into Homestead with five drivers in contention, a far cry from Kenseth virtually locking up the title weeks shy of the season finale.

It suddenly dawned on me that the playoff system gives hope to fans of all 43 drivers each week. For instance, Kasey Kahne simply had to qualify for the playoffs for a chance at the championship that he otherwise wouldn’t have been within shouting distance of. This opportunity is similar to when NFL wild card teams make it to the Super Bowl because they get “hot” at the right time of the season. From that standpoint, I love the Chase because when everything falls into place, it possibly could reward the underdog and certainly injects more excitement into the latter part of the season.

Additionally, altering the Chase structure won’t prevent Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus from winning again because they will figure out how to prevail despite what the points system might be.

Richard Petty was on This Week in NASCAR a few weeks ago and I asked him if he was in favor of the Chase. He responded that he won seven championships, five of which were under different points systems, so it didn’t really matter to him.
The best team will always figure out how to remain on top.

Furthermore, to demonstrate the true relevance of all 43 drivers up until the checkered flag at Homestead, consider football. At the end of football season, be it NFL or college, there are many meaningless games staged amongst teams without a prayer of making a bowl or playoff game. Sure, their fans are interested, but those squads essentially are irrelevant in the big scheme of things until given another chance the following season to prove themselves.

What has been lost in all the talk of the No. 48 team’s dominance, and what I think distinguishes NASCAR from other sports, is the fact all 36 races are significant to 43 teams and drivers. While Johnson has all but locked up the title, 42 others still can pull into Victory Lane this weekend.

The Cup Series enjoyed 14 different winners this year. How can we truly call the Johnson bunch “dominant” when 13 other drivers won a race? Sure, Johnson has won seven races but what his team really has accomplished is figuring out how to win the championship given the particular points system – not necessarily dominate. Eliminate Johnson’s crash at Texas two weeks ago and his average finish inside the Chase is astounding. This feat plays right to the fact that our points system rewards consistency and excellence. A team need not win the most races to claim the title, but they do have to be the superior team.

Finally, I applaud the Chase format because it covers a variety of race tracks – short tracks, one-mile, restrictor-plate and mile-and-a-half venues. While every football field is the same size for every game, what makes a NASCAR championship special is that the winning team must prove excellence across all types of tracks. The Sprint Cup recognizes the best overall driver and team. A driver can’t be just a superspeedway specialist – Bill Elliott proved that in 1985 when he won 11 races but lost the championship to Darrell Waltrip because DW was far better on short tracks than Elliott.

While I’m quite content with the manner in which we crown a champion this week at Homestead, I would like to see one small tweak to the format. Give the winner more points. I don’t care if it’s five or 50, but anyone who can win a race in the most competitive form of motorsports in America deserves a few extra points. But it looks like Johnson won’t need those extra points this year.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel
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