Once again 12 drivers this weekend will
begin their quest for the Sprint Cup Series championship with Sunday’s kickoff
of the 10-race sprint to the title.
And once again, the other 31 drivers in the
field will take a back seat for the rest of the season to the media attention,
whether it’s TV, radio or print.
There is an argument to be made that those
who don’t perform well enough to make the Chase haven’t earned the right to
such exposure.
In general there is merit to that argument,
but it assumes a fact not in evidence: Race fans are fans of their particular
driver all season – all 38 points and non-points races – not just the first 26
races of the season.
In other words, fans of Carl Edwards and are
still looking to follow Edwards the same way in the final 10 races as they did in
the first 26 points races, regardless of whether he made the Chase.
This has always been struggle of the Chase
format.
Indeed, it creates multiple new storylines
at the end of the season, but those new storylines overshadow many of the ones
that typically covered when the Chase is not underway.
NASCAR veteran Mark Martin has been outspoken
in his career about how winning individual races was once held in far more
reference than it is today.
In large part that is because winning the
Chase – and the issues affecting its participants – become the focus of
attention in the final 10 races.
Martin, who is running a partial schedule
and not in the Chase, reiterated his stance again this week.
“We race for the same reasons that we raced
before the Chase started and that’s to win. The Chase does a lot of wonderful
things, but it isn't the only thing going on. The event is about winning,”
Martin said.
“Clint Bowyer won Richmond. That to me is
more important than points. The championship, the points and the Chase all do
add to what we do. I am not degrading it. But I also think in today’s age that
winning a race is underrated.”
You can’t say it better than that.
First off, it's difficult to read this article and not find an error in almost every paragraph, either grammatical, sentence structure or logic.
ReplyDeleteSecond, if you look at the chase like the playoffs in other sports, then the other 31 drivers are going to get more attention in the final 10 races than teams eliminated from the playoffs do in any other sport!
Perhaps they'd be happier if they weren't allowed to even start the final 10 races?
Personally, the only criticism I have at this point is I don't like the way the points are reset to begin the chase, by first setting all 10 to 5,000 points and then adding bonus points per win. That fails to respect the season long success of drivers who spend the year at the top of the points.
I would prefer to see the 10th place driver reset to 5,000 points, then add three points for each position ahead of him. Once this is done, then apply the 3 point bonus per win. In my scenario, the top 3 would be Biffle, Johnson & Earnhardt vs. Hamlin, Johnson & Stewart. This would reward BOTH Winning and consistency