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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Would A New Points System Help?
Jimmie Johnson has a stranglehold on his fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted November 05, 2009   Charlotte, NC
Jimmie Johnson is likely to claim the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship for 2009 before the season ending race. (Photo: Getty Images)

Denny Hamlin sounded convincing and passionate at Talladega Superspeedway last Friday, as he argued for a change in the points system for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

“You’ve got to put us on our own points system whether it is a 1-through-12 point system,” Hamlin said. “Do it to where if you get a win, maybe you get 15 points and if you’re the last Chase finisher then you get 1 point and the next guy will get 11 points. … You’ve got to put us on our own points system to where we don’t get killed when guys finish between us that don’t even matter at this point in the season.”

With such a system in place, Hamlin reckoned, the Chase might be a lot closer than it is right now, with Jimmie Johnson leading all 11 other Chase drivers by at least one full race in points and half the field by two races or more.

“That’s the only way it would work and you would still have a race at the end,” Hamlin said. “It also rewards you for being up front consistently. It doesn’t kill you to have 25 positions between you and the second-to-last Chase guy because you have non-Chasers that are between you eating up all the points in between. That’s the best way to do it.”

Like a lot of his fellow racers, Hamlin is frustrated that the Chase is all but over already, at least in terms of the likely winner. And that sentiment is shared by a lot of fans.

Nevertheless, the points are not likely to be overhauled next season.

“Each year we review every single policy at the conclusion of the season - so everything is subject to revision - but I don't anticipate any changes at this time,” said Ramsey Poston, NASCAR’s Managing Director of Corporate Communications, in an e-mail to SPEEDtv.com.

And even if Hamlin’s system were to be adapted to the Chase, it wouldn’t change things much. Using Hamlin’s 15-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1- system, here’s how this year’s 12 Chase drivers would be ranked heading into Sunday’s Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway:

• Jimmie Johnson, 80 points

• Juan Pablo Montoya, 59

• Mark Martin, 58

• Jeff Gordon, 58

• Tony Stewart, 49

• Kurt Busch, 43

• Greg Biffle , 43

• Kasey Kahne, 41

• Ryan Newman, 35

• Denny Hamlin, 35

• Carl Edwards , 29

• Brian Vickers, 29


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