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Sprint Cup
CUP: Changes NASCAR Should Make In 2011
More points for race wins are among the changes NASCAR should make this season...
Despite winning a Sprint Cup Series-high eight races in 2010, Denny Hamlin (Left) and crew chief Mike Ford (Right) failed to win the title. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
In the next two weeks, NASCAR officials are expected to announce changes that will affect both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series.
Will the Cup points system undergo a complete overhaul? Will Cup drivers not be allowed to earn points in the Nationwide Series? Will the Chase for the Sprint Cup go through yet another format change? We’ll know the answers soon.
In the meantime, here’s a look at seven changes we would like to see in 2011:
1. More points for winning a race
Let’s face it. Pulling off a win in NASCAR’s top series isn’t easy. It takes a tremendous amount of preparation, skill, teamwork, stamina and even a bit of luck. And yet, those drivers that do manage to accomplish such exceptional feats are rewarded with a ridiculously minuscule 15-point advantage (excluding any bonus points for leading laps).
While it would be equally illogical to reward the race winner with an excessive amount of points – after all, consistency should still be a component – a difference of 15 points is hardly noteworthy given what winning teams achieve on a given weekend. Drivers finishing second and fourth are separated by no more than that amount.
Winning needs to carry more weight. After all, it is the objective.
Given that the points for those that qualify for the Chase are reset heading into the final 10 races (a subject we’ll touch on later), any huge advantage a driver might have through the first 26 races is going to be wiped out anyway. And while a driver that gets hot in the Chase might pile up an insurmountable points lead if he was able to win several races, again, isn’t winning races what it’s all about?
2. No bonus points for leading under caution
There’s nothing wrong with awarding five bonus points for leading a lap under green-flag conditions. Any time a driver is able to race his way to the front or pull away from those behind him and lead a lap is an accomplishment. It encourages competition on the track, which is never a bad thing.
However, there’s absolutely no reason to award points for leading a lap when the caution flag is displayed. It’s an easy five points awarded for basically doing nothing.
Bonus points should be awarded for extraordinary accomplishments, not for simply staying on the track when the field is under the yellow flag.
3. Reward the points leader after 26 races
Kevin Harvick managed to build a 228-point lead through the first 26 races in 2010. But when the field was reset heading into the Chase, based on bonus points for wins, everything Harvick had accomplished up to that point meant practically nothing. Granted, it earned him one of the 12 Chase berths, but with three wins, his new point total was no different that that of Kyle Busch, who trailed Harvick by 228 points before the reset.
Harvick’s situation wasn’t unique. Since 2007, when NASCAR restructured the Chase to set the field based on wins through the first 26 races, Harvick, Tony Stewart (2009) and Jeff Gordon (’07) went from leading the points to finding themselves trailing.
That wasn’t the case from 2004 through ’06, when the Chase field was seeded based only on the points standings after the 26th race, with the field separated by five-point increments. So leading the points did have meaning.
Rewarding those who have won races leading up to the Chase works. It lends weight to victories. But not rewarding a team for leading the standings after 26 races in some fashion trivializes what that team has accomplished.
4. Stop rewarding winning teams when their cars fail post-race inspection
NASCAR can levy all the penalties it wants, but allowing a driver to be credited with a win when his car fails post-race inspection sends the wrong message to fans and competitors. And that message is that a team can break the rules and still come out on top.
It also unfairly penalizes the other drivers in the race whose cars do pass inspection.
Monetary fines and points penalties are all well and good, but in the end, a driver that is allowed to keep a victory with an illegal car is still being rewarded.
And that’s simply wrong.
Will the Cup points system undergo a complete overhaul? Will Cup drivers not be allowed to earn points in the Nationwide Series? Will the Chase for the Sprint Cup go through yet another format change? We’ll know the answers soon.
In the meantime, here’s a look at seven changes we would like to see in 2011:
1. More points for winning a race
Let’s face it. Pulling off a win in NASCAR’s top series isn’t easy. It takes a tremendous amount of preparation, skill, teamwork, stamina and even a bit of luck. And yet, those drivers that do manage to accomplish such exceptional feats are rewarded with a ridiculously minuscule 15-point advantage (excluding any bonus points for leading laps).
While it would be equally illogical to reward the race winner with an excessive amount of points – after all, consistency should still be a component – a difference of 15 points is hardly noteworthy given what winning teams achieve on a given weekend. Drivers finishing second and fourth are separated by no more than that amount.
Winning needs to carry more weight. After all, it is the objective.
Given that the points for those that qualify for the Chase are reset heading into the final 10 races (a subject we’ll touch on later), any huge advantage a driver might have through the first 26 races is going to be wiped out anyway. And while a driver that gets hot in the Chase might pile up an insurmountable points lead if he was able to win several races, again, isn’t winning races what it’s all about?
2. No bonus points for leading under caution
There’s nothing wrong with awarding five bonus points for leading a lap under green-flag conditions. Any time a driver is able to race his way to the front or pull away from those behind him and lead a lap is an accomplishment. It encourages competition on the track, which is never a bad thing.
However, there’s absolutely no reason to award points for leading a lap when the caution flag is displayed. It’s an easy five points awarded for basically doing nothing.
Bonus points should be awarded for extraordinary accomplishments, not for simply staying on the track when the field is under the yellow flag.
3. Reward the points leader after 26 races
Kevin Harvick managed to build a 228-point lead through the first 26 races in 2010. But when the field was reset heading into the Chase, based on bonus points for wins, everything Harvick had accomplished up to that point meant practically nothing. Granted, it earned him one of the 12 Chase berths, but with three wins, his new point total was no different that that of Kyle Busch, who trailed Harvick by 228 points before the reset.
Harvick’s situation wasn’t unique. Since 2007, when NASCAR restructured the Chase to set the field based on wins through the first 26 races, Harvick, Tony Stewart (2009) and Jeff Gordon (’07) went from leading the points to finding themselves trailing.
That wasn’t the case from 2004 through ’06, when the Chase field was seeded based only on the points standings after the 26th race, with the field separated by five-point increments. So leading the points did have meaning.
Rewarding those who have won races leading up to the Chase works. It lends weight to victories. But not rewarding a team for leading the standings after 26 races in some fashion trivializes what that team has accomplished.
4. Stop rewarding winning teams when their cars fail post-race inspection
NASCAR can levy all the penalties it wants, but allowing a driver to be credited with a win when his car fails post-race inspection sends the wrong message to fans and competitors. And that message is that a team can break the rules and still come out on top.
It also unfairly penalizes the other drivers in the race whose cars do pass inspection.
Monetary fines and points penalties are all well and good, but in the end, a driver that is allowed to keep a victory with an illegal car is still being rewarded.
And that’s simply wrong.
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