My friend Duane Cross is completely off-base with his latest recommendation to dump the Chase. Duane knows this sport, he knows the history and he’s got a passion for it. But tossing out the system is not the right move. Has Jimmie Johnson crushed the competition? Yep. Is the Chase over? Maybe. But should we turn the system upside down again? Of course not.
We are currently in year five of the Chase and we’ve had three different champions. Is the 48 team’s Chase performance a flaw in the system or is it just that it is perhaps one of the most dominant teams in NASCAR history? Safe to say the latter. Unless anyone can prove to me that there is something about the system that has led to Johnson’s success, then discussing changes to the system doesn’t seem to make sense.
From 1982 to 1997 the NFC won the Super Bowl 15 out of 16 years; The UCLA men’s basketball team won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years; The Chicago Bulls won six NBA titles between 1990 and 1998; Pete Sampras won 7 Wimbledon titles between 1993 and 2000; and, Muhammad Ali won 56 out of 61 fights. I’m sure there are plenty of other examples, but I’m tired of Googleing them – my point is, did anyone panic? No – each sport continued, no one threw out the system because a particular team or individual got hot.
What the media should be talking about (and many are), is Johnson’s historic run. After Kyle Busch’s dominant season leading up to the Chase, who could have predicted what Johnson has done? Going into September, the favorite to win the Chase was Busch, followed by Carl Edwards and Johnson.
Johnson and the 48 team are on the verge reconnecting 30 years of history to the last three-peat champion Cale Yarborough. In fact, Yarborough won his championships in convincing fashion. He won his first championship in 1976 with 195 point margin; his second by 386 points; and his third by a whopping 474 points!
Whether Johnson wins another championship remains to be seen. If he does, then he’ll be the first three-peat NASCAR Sprint Cup champion since Yarborough in 1978. That’s an accomplishment to be celebrated, not a time for hand wringing.
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(you must be a member of this group to comment)logan144
Nov 15 2008 15:50
don't need it !!
we don’t need more race different tracks yes.I’m not a big fan of J.Johnson or Hendricks for that matter ,but I do respect there skill.The #48 teams success has nothing to do with the chase.They adapt and fine tune and when the time comes stricks.like Lorn Wallace “There a 100 miles away son ready to strick!!” but a different track scene I can agree with not more races.That’s just people who think 1 or 2 more races and I could’ve….! could’ve what.Klye droped the.that’s racing get over it and leave the chase alone.
rivermikerat
Nov 09 2008 04:42
Let them have lives?
Ask em Kevin, racin is their lives! How about this, 5 more races, added to the chase, at tracks like Irwindale and Laguna Seca and 2 others, then have one similar to the Route 66 race or The Great Race, just not as long. Make it a two stage/2 day race. 1000 miles plus. More like “realistic” driving. THAT would draw crowds!. Imagine a shot from high above showing 1 MILLION screaming NASCAR fans lining a roadway in the heartland somewhere. Oh damn, it brings wood and tears to think about it. One of the main complaints I hear from non-fan friends is that it isn’t realistic driving like much of the Champ car series and some of the others like IMSA and SCCA. I agree. But I love it. I drove Amateur class in the 80’s at Seca and Sears(It’ll always be Sears Point to me).
Adding 10 races to the schedule is only 2 and half more months. Not a hell of a lot. 5 more means 1 and a quarter months. Most of the drivers maintain houses near the team headquarters, so it wouldn’t be a huge extra commitment, in my mind. Especially to expand the fan base by bringing races to more people.
JasonU2Fan
Nov 03 2008 18:29
Laguna Seca would be awesome!
Imagine 43 cars winding through the “corkscrew”. WOW!
209kevin1977
Nov 02 2008 20:17
10 more races?
Dude, let the drivers have lives too. If they take away the second race at places like California, Texas, Atlanta, Pocono, Michigan, Lowes, and Phoenix then they will have plenty of time for new tracks that they currently don’t race at. I agree with Laguna Seca, even Irwindale in Southern California would be good. You won’t get the crowd that you get at Bristol but it will be an exciting race. I am not a fan of the mile and a half to two mile tracks. To me they are the most boring races out there. Atlanta, Texas, and Lowes are practically the same race track except for a few bumps here and there in different locations. I like the road courses because it is different, and they can not make a road course identical. I love the short tracks because that is where NASCAR came from. I would like to also see the guys race on dirt. Mix it up, make it exciting, and make it unpredictable. Heck, they could even change the schedule every year to accomodate more venues that they don’t go to ie. Kentucky.
Is it just me, or was the race at Texas very bland. Except for the Montoya/Gilliland fight haha.
rivermikerat
Nov 02 2008 03:08
ohyeah
I forgot to add, we need at least 10 more races in the season, at more tracks. I vote for Laguna
Seca; it’s an awesome 2.238 mile road course that can handle higher speeds than Infineon or The Glen. And add 5 races to the Chase. Exit soapbox now.
rivermikerat
Nov 02 2008 03:05
Preseason or regular season?
NASCAR’s first 26 races of the season are more similar to any other sport’s REGULAR season, with the final 10 race Chase being more akin to an Olympic style round robin, with the added fun of the rest of the teams still competing. I’ve heard lots of people whine and moan about the format change and how terrible it is. for those whiners,, I have 3 letters for you:BCS. Everyone’s got to admit, NASCAR’s method of determining a champion is exponentially better than the BCS. At least nothing and nobody but driver skill and track luck/vagaries has anything to do with who gets what points/standings. Think about it, maybe we should just have Butch, Mike, Darrel, Jeff, and the other talking heads/announcers/higher officials, vote after each race to see who is in what place in the standings week to week, then at the end of the season, we open the voting to let’s say the first 100,000 on NASCAR.com. That’ll be fair, right?
The Chase, the standings and points has always been about consistency. Not who won the most races during a season. If it was number of wins, Driver X could go out and win 10 races through the season, place out of the top 20 for 10 races and get 16 DNF’s and still possibly win the Cup. That’s not right. I’d rather see the guy who CONSISTENTLY places top 10/top 5 week in, week out, maybe wins a race or two, takes a few poles, but gets zero DNF’s win the Cup. And the driver that can do that, will. Of course, I want to see a hard fought, bumpin and bangin, tradin paint race every week, just like everybody else. And we will. It should never be win or don’t bring the car home. No owner is Al Davis.
NASCAR gave JJ the Cup? When was this? so far, from I’ve watched and listened to, Jimmy and Chad have earned the cup, much more so than any other driver so far this season. Even Kyle. Flash in the pan with no nutrition just ain’t food. It may be entertaining and tasty, but there’s no substance. Hey rickielglenn, did NASCAR make some sort of announcement and the whole rest of the fan-base just fella asleep and missed it? I have yet to see or hear about a driver “taking the proverbial fall/dive” to ensure Jimmy’s points lead. You sound like me back in 2000 when baby Bush bought the election. Right now, Jimmy is one of the best drivers this series has seen, ever. I’d rank him top 20 at worst, maybe top 10. But so far, he’s a very solid top 15. Just because you’re feeling blue about Shrub’s self-destruct sequence in the past 8 races or so, doesn’t mean any foul play was involved. That’s just racin’ man!" Get over it.
sbx24
Nov 01 2008 16:33
209Kevin is right on!
Kevin is correct.
My argument with the Chase has nothing to do with Jimmie Johnson winning 3 in a row. I don’t care if Jimmie wins 10 or 20 in a row. My argument is: THE CHASE has watered down the Championship! 5 drivers started the CHASE with ZERO wins, they have had decent seasons, BUT Should they really be competeing for the TITLE??? They were anywhere from 521 – 766 points behind. R U KIDDING?NASCAR’s season is a 26 race preseason. When the Chase was first talked about a reporter asked RICHARD PETTY what he thought and his response was: ‘Why not just run the 10 races crown the Champion and call it a season’.
This is why the Chase bites the big one! YOU REALLY ONLY NEED TO RUN 10 RACES!
209kevin1977
Oct 31 2008 20:12
consistency
It doesn’t matter who wins the championship. If JJ is the best driver for that year then he deserves the championship. With the point system the way it is now the best driver is not winning the championship. What we end up having is a 26 race “preseason”. There is so much that NASCAR could do to make this a more exciting sport and it is a shame to me that they don’t try harder. I thought that the chase was a good idea at the start but it has kind of fizzled out. I hear the drivers saying “We had a good point day” more often than not. The one thing that has changed for the better is the Richmond race before the chase.
Smokefan14TS
Oct 31 2008 15:48
Jimmie Johsnon
Will never be Dale Sr since nobody likes him.
JasonU2Fan
Oct 31 2008 15:00
I can tell the IQ of some people around here...
With their spelling, their use of “foul language” (you know who you are) and their conspiracy theories.
You guys have it all figured out. Props to you. Yep, NASCAR IS giving the championship to Jimmie Johnson. In the drivers meetings before each race, Mike Helton tells the drivers not to try to beat Jimmie Johnson so they can just give him the championship.
It’s fans like you the sport doesn’t need.
And as far as “Big E” rolling in his grave, why didn’t anybody use “Anybody but Dale” stickers? After all, NASCAR “handed” him seven championships.
sarcasm