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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Drivers Blast F1 Points Plan
NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers have a message for Formula 1: Just Say No.
Tom Jensen  |  Posted March 20, 2009   Bristol, TN
Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson is on top again in final Cup practice at Phoenix (Photo: LAT Photographic)

NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers on Friday showed tremendous disdain for Formula 1’s new points formula, which will award the World Driving Championship to the driver who wins the most races each season.

“Initial thoughts are, if they raced 36 times a year, I would be curious to see how their champion would be crowned at that point. I think they are different worlds,” said Jimmie Johnson, one of many drivers weighing in on the topic prior to qualifying for the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. “You have three teams that can really win and fourth if it rains. I just think it is a different environment and I am not sure it would work in our form of racing. I still think we could spread out the points and reward guys for finishing better in the top-three, top-five and keep breaking that out further and go that direction.”

“Being consistent and being good is what’s important – maybe not so much the stick-and-ball sports – but you can’t be on one day and off another and racing is sort of the same,” said Greg Biffle. “You have to be at a very, very consistent level. If you want to do that, continue to give wins more points. If you really want to impact your series with wins make it a 50-point bonus to the winner if you want to reward a team for winning. There are ways of doing it versus saying whoever wins the most we’re gonna give the championship to them.”

Kevin Harvick was even more outraged. “I think that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard” he said. “If it is about winning the most races, the other ones just don’t count?”

Even Kyle Busch, who won eight races last season, was adamantly opposed to the idea. “I think it’s wrong. It’s so hard to win races here that you can have a guy like Matt Kenseth in his championship year he won one race, but killed everybody in overall points. I think that’s the way it needs to be done. It needs to be based on consistency . … A championship should be built on your bad days – how good you make your bad days not how good your good days are.”

And that was Harvick’s point as well. “In my opinion, it is all about 10 races (the Chase) and when you have problems, it is all about the guy who can fix his car and it is about the guy who can come back and make something out of a loose wheel and make up two laps and to me it takes an element of the sport away because if you aren’t going to win and you are having a bad day, what the consequences of just pulling in?”
PHOTO GALLERY: BRISTOL

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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