Filed under: Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup, FanHouse Exclusive, NASCAR
Editor's Note: Ben Blake is a long-time racing reporter and commentator known for his honest, perceptive and irreverent commentary. He started covering NASCAR and motorsports in 1982 with The Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch and later spent 10 years as chief NASCAR editor for Racer magazine and for SpeedTV. He is author or co-author of five NASCAR-related books, including Dale Earnhardt: Determined, the authorized biography of Dale Earnhardt.
My first response to NASCAR's package of structural changes, announced Jan. 26 in Charlotte, was: fine thing. After years of diddling with details and tweaking (NASCAR President Mike Helton's and U.S. President Barack Obama's favorite word) around the edges, the cartel finally presented a comprehensive plan for conducting races and determining a champion.
Then it struck me: No matter what the positive radiation from the announcement, NASCAR CEO Brian France's single stroke of monumental silicone idiocy remains - the so-called Chase to the Sprint Cup championship. As long as that bit of opium folly exists, confusion will continue to plague each season, and the sport's championship will stand as a joke.
First, what I liked: The idea of a simplified points system is a good one, and what could be more simple than awarding race points on a 1 to 43 scale for 43 finishing positions (assuming 43 racers continue to show at every event)? One recurring term in the talking-head talking points was that the fans won't need a calculator. This is quite true. And it also brings NASCAR more in line with the World Championship, American open-wheel, and weekly stock-car racing.
Good. Check one.
Also, I'll give NASCAR a hand for juicing up qualifying with some drama. Time trials, especially in the restricted era, offer a good opportunity for a three-hour nap, and really, what's a pole position without a speed record or some other brush with danger?
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