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Sprint Cup
HEMBREE: Let’s Put More Wind Behind The Wins
The new Chase format will look better if much of the focus is on race victories…
SPEED.com NASCAR Editor Mike Hembree is a veteran, award-winning motorsports journalist. (File Photo)
One of the leading rumors – and there are many – surrounding NASCAR’s upcoming announcements about competition and Chase changes for the new season involves the possibility that there might be more emphasis placed on race victories.
And there has followed some gnashing of teeth.
You mean a driver could lead the points throughout the “regular” season and miss the Chase because of no race wins? You mean a road-course ringer like Boris Said could parachute in for Watkins Glen weekend, win the race and thus qualify for the Chase? You mean Dale Jr. would have to finish first somewhere to get there?
Horrors.
First of all, NASCAR hasn’t leaked any sort of information that would lead any reasonable person to think that any of those scenarios will be part of the new setup. So remove the blood-pressure collar.
But, if the intention is to put more wax on wins – by all means, let’s do it.
Here’s an idea: Put the top 12 – or 15, if you want – drivers in points in the Chase, then invite any other driver with a seasonal race win in the first 26 events to join the fun. Just tack them on to the bottom of the Chase point-reset list.
Imagine the fun in the final regular-season race at Richmond International Raceway. Drivers with no shot of making the Chase via points would have one last chance by muscling their way to a win in what could be a short-track tempest.
This would have opened the door last year for drivers like Jamie McMurray, who won the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 – only the two biggest races of the season – and added a victory at Charlotte but found the gate to the Chase locked.
But what about a guy like Said, who might run a few races and score a road-course win? Easy enough. Drivers who don’t run every race can’t qualify for the Chase.
Unlike the ridiculous eligibility changes that accompany the Budweiser Shootout virtually every year – generally made to get virtually all key drivers and all key sponsors in the race, the “winner” rule would earn a Chase spot for drivers and teams willing to put out the money, energy and preparation to do that which NASCAR has been about since they first cranked engines – winning a race.
In the otherwise admirable push to put more and more emphasis on the championship, somewhere along the way wins became less important than consistently piling up points. And that’s a shame.
Buy a ticket to any particular race, and you should be able to see every driver running full-tilt toward the victory, not working calculators overtime to figure out how many points fifth place and one lap led might produce.
NASCAR has recognized the importance of race wins by tacking on bonus points for winners at the start of the Chase.
Anything else they can do to underline winners in whatever shape the new format takes is welcome.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
And there has followed some gnashing of teeth.
You mean a driver could lead the points throughout the “regular” season and miss the Chase because of no race wins? You mean a road-course ringer like Boris Said could parachute in for Watkins Glen weekend, win the race and thus qualify for the Chase? You mean Dale Jr. would have to finish first somewhere to get there?
Horrors.
First of all, NASCAR hasn’t leaked any sort of information that would lead any reasonable person to think that any of those scenarios will be part of the new setup. So remove the blood-pressure collar.
But, if the intention is to put more wax on wins – by all means, let’s do it.
Here’s an idea: Put the top 12 – or 15, if you want – drivers in points in the Chase, then invite any other driver with a seasonal race win in the first 26 events to join the fun. Just tack them on to the bottom of the Chase point-reset list.
Imagine the fun in the final regular-season race at Richmond International Raceway. Drivers with no shot of making the Chase via points would have one last chance by muscling their way to a win in what could be a short-track tempest.
This would have opened the door last year for drivers like Jamie McMurray, who won the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 – only the two biggest races of the season – and added a victory at Charlotte but found the gate to the Chase locked.
But what about a guy like Said, who might run a few races and score a road-course win? Easy enough. Drivers who don’t run every race can’t qualify for the Chase.
Unlike the ridiculous eligibility changes that accompany the Budweiser Shootout virtually every year – generally made to get virtually all key drivers and all key sponsors in the race, the “winner” rule would earn a Chase spot for drivers and teams willing to put out the money, energy and preparation to do that which NASCAR has been about since they first cranked engines – winning a race.
In the otherwise admirable push to put more and more emphasis on the championship, somewhere along the way wins became less important than consistently piling up points. And that’s a shame.
Buy a ticket to any particular race, and you should be able to see every driver running full-tilt toward the victory, not working calculators overtime to figure out how many points fifth place and one lap led might produce.
NASCAR has recognized the importance of race wins by tacking on bonus points for winners at the start of the Chase.
Anything else they can do to underline winners in whatever shape the new format takes is welcome.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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