Hot off the press

[harvey lee]

It looks like Mr.France has some changes that are going to be made in the format for the Championship chase starting in 07.Not decided yet what the changes will be.I found this on Fox sports.

I would guess that maybe it might be a past chase provisional or a higher point limit to get in.They stated that two of the stars didnt make it last year.Gordon&Jr.

[eyepatrol]

They'll do a vote-in or something like that. That way, if Jr or Gordon doesn't make it, they'll be certainly voted in.

Just some light sarcasm there boys.

[harvey lee]

I believe that this year both of them will make the chase.But for following years maybe they want certain racers in.Sponsors and big money and names will decide some of this.

[lawdog]

My guess is it will be more of a schedule change, they NEED a better mix of tracks to test the drivers' OVERALL team and abilities. That means, short tracks, plate tracks, road courses, intermediates, every track in the 10 races should be UNIQUE! I also think it will be something with the points, not a vote in or past champions deal, that's too phony for any legitimacy of the championship (although ntohing but a true season championship is really legit to me, but that's the old racer in me that France certainly doesn't care about!)...

Should be interesting!!!!

[JohnMickish]

I can almost see a vote in but I really hope it dosen't come to that. What I do see is a schedule change (putting in a road coarse and either bristol or martinsville) and I think they will open it up to 12 teams or 600 points or something like that. The biggest change I see ( my crystal ball is really foggy on this though) is giving the drivers one mulligan during the chase. That will cheapen it even more but will make for a tighter finish which is what they want.

[LMITOUT]

With road courses being a very small part of the overall Cup schedule I don't think they should be included in final ten races.

If you want to represent the season as a whole in the last ten races to find out who is the best after racing the majority of the schedule on various oval configurations, a road course is the odd duck out and is really just a side show to the real schedule and just a specialty track. It's such a different breed of animal that it doesn't belong in the Chase.

There are guys who excel at road courses and those who like superspeedways. It's the guys who are competitive on the rest of the tracks in between that show who they really are overall by being consistant. These are the tracks that need to be in the last ten to bring the cream to the top. Not the niche ones.

[harvey lee]

I would include the road courses only because you will find out who the most well rounded driver really is.Let them race every type of track.That would be only my vote.

[JohnMickish]

But then shouldn't 9 of the ten races then be on a 1.5 mile D shaped oval? There is a plate race in the chase and they only run 4 plate races so does that belong there or should that be replaces with another cookie cutter track?

The chase is about rewarding the BEST driver and team so shouldn't all the tracks types be represented?

This a quote from France himself out of the article, France said. "Just various things that we think will build what we're hoping for, which are big moments and a bigger stage for the drivers. That's what the Chase has always been about. It's about showcasing their skills."

If your going to showcase your skills then dosen't it make sense to do it on all types of tracks?

[LMITOUT]

I address that in my last paragraph. I went back and added that so I'm not sure if you saw it or not. I think speedways have more reason to be in the chase than the road courses, but not by much. As I said, the road course is a completely different deal and the odd ball of the entire schedule. Not that there are just two, but that it's not even close to the type of racing the rest of the year is made of.

[LMITOUT]

You've only got a handful of guys that race consistantly well on the road courses, whereas the entire top 10 chasers can win on all the rest of the tracks on any given weekend. That makes it a little more balanced across the board for those last 10 races in the Chase to really see who's the best. Putting a road course in there is basically giving those couple road course guru's a gimmie.

[LMITOUT]

It irritates me when they bring up the fact that Gordon and Earnhardt didn't make the chase last year during conversations about changing the format. They weren't consistant during the other 26 races and didn't make the cut. They didn't deserve it. Period. Adjusting the rules to possibly overcome the biggest fan favorites missing the show in the future isn't right.

The old system rewarded consistancy and so does the current format but tightens it up a little to make it more interesting. I can live with that although I wasn't excited about the change in the beginning.

Maybe giving the ten chasers their own point system would work better.....i.e., the worst placing chaser at a race would lose the same amount of points to the first place finisher of the ten chasers whether they finished 10th or 43rd. That would throw out the whole "mulligan" thing. They've mentioned that idea before and I could live with that. It would keep all ten close the entire chase, or should anyway. This would also eliminate the need for chase teams to patch up wrecked cars to ride around hoping to grab any points than can get, possibly getting into another accident or causing one because they are damaged and not running at full speed but yet within the minimum. If they are the first chaser out, they pack it up and know they just lost 50 pts to the leader and not 100+.

[JohnMickish]

I think you have it there. I bet that they do get their own point system so that on the last race even the guy in 10th has a chance (mathematically) to still win it. If that is the case I'd rather see them all start out with the same points for one race, winner take all.

[harvey lee]

mnfishinguy -- I would agree with you.[again]

[lawdog]

lmitout, almost since the start there have been road courses in NASCAR, they are a part of what makes it an elite division, up until this chase, you couldn't afford to throw away two races and therefore the champion had to be good on all the types of tracks, and that is what makes them the best, beating the best at every type track. ABSOLUTELY they have a place in the chase, if you just have ten cookie cutter races for the chase, I'll spend a heck of a lot more time in the treestand!!! What a snoozefest of a finale...

My ten (in no particular order) would be:

Darlington

Bristol

Atlanta

Daytona

Phoenix

Pocono

Dover

Michigan

Homestead

Sears Point

That's ten UNIQUE tracks that would provide a GREAT test of drivers and teams.

[JohnMickish]

Could you imagine the ratings of that race? Say you qualify for the chase that starts with 10 races left. The first nine are used to figure out your starting position and the last race is for the championship. Talk about drama! Build one racetrack that was 3 miles long so you could have some big steep banks like Daytona, throw in some right hand turns (road coarse), some concrete (Dover), some asphalt (all the rest) and a 8 degree dog leg and a sharp flat turn and for sure the best driver would be champ, right?

[harvey lee]

Right again.To much agreeing might not be good.We will have to start debating again.You to Lawdog.We cant forget the old times.

[LMITOUT]

I completely disagree.

Other than the handful, small handful at that, of drivers that do well at the road courses, the rest appear to just race these two races with the mindset of "ok, lets just get this over with."

Watching the race last weekend was a joke. 95% of the field is throwing their car around, in the dirt, beating the living daylights out of each other for every inch they can get just to get out of there without losing too many points. I wonder how much time/money they devote to these two tracks compared to the rest of the circuit? I would bet very little. Sure, some of the drivers get some help from the ringers, but other than that they just want to get out of there with a few points and go on to the rest of the meaningful schedule. There is no big hoopla or anything else surrounding these races. They show up, drive to try to save face, and get outta there as fast as they can.

Just because they've had some road courses on the schedule for many years doesn't mean much. I think NASCAR does it just to try to show the diversity of the sport while it's evident most of them struggle to finish these races and they are indeed throw-away races for that 95% of the teams.

Your list is very close to what I'd like to see also and not even close to cookie-cutter. Throw out that Sears Point race and it's a good schedule that's the perfect representation of the previous 24 races (minus the two road tracks). Put 4-5 road races in the regular season schedule and I'm all for putting one in the chase. Until that happens (which I hope never will), they're just a side show.

A road race in the chase would only be determining who's the best of a very select few, and not the entire top 10. That's not a race that should be in the chase when the whole point is to put the top 10 to the test at every race. You can't do that at a road course at this time until more drivers start to be more proficient at these tracks.

[harvey lee]

I dont believe that when you race there is such a thing as a throw away race.We have raced for 14 years and I have never looked at any race as a throw away.We go to all races with the thought of winning.Any team that does think there is a throw away will never be a champion.

As far as your banging around and damage to cars,Bristol would also fall into the group and no one would think of getting rid of that race.

Not to argue,but I have been to many different tracks in 14 states and talked to alot of teams and drivers and have never heard anyone say that they had a throw away race.

[LMITOUT]

Well I do. You can just tell by the way the teams approach the race. Nobody is excited about it. Kind of like going to the dentist...lets get this over with.

When I say banging into each other, it's not by choice or "rubbing" but rather just pure out of control racing. They don't race this sort of track much and you can definitely tell by watching. It's sloppy and a mess. Most of these guys have gone in circles for 99% of their career and now they have to attempt a completely different style of driving and it shows.

They are aware it's only two races and hope to get out with as little loss of points as possible. Take the hit and move on. Obviously they aren't going to say it's a throwaway, but they also aren't going to invest a lot of time and money when it's such a specialized race. I do believe they know their strong points and weak points as a team and just accept the fact that it's a bump in the schedule and hope to minimize the bump.

[harvey lee]

They say the same thing about plate racing,Lets just get it over with as you say.They cannot drop all the tracks but the cookie cutters or it would be very boring.

Very few racers like the plate tracks because of the big one and say lets do it and get it over with.

There is a reason they also run flat and banked tracks as it takes a different set up for both as every track does.

I believe we will just have to agree to disagree.

[lawdog]

Quote:

---

Right again.To much agreeing might not be good.We will have to start debating again.You to Lawdog.We cant forget the old times.

---

Ok harv...Jr. stinks!! There how's that???

[LMITOUT]

I said that the speedways could be dropped from the chase also if you read above, although they do have a larger proportion of races during the season than the road tracks and it's not as specialized as a road course so they still have a slight edge in my book for their spot on the chase schedule.

Even if you dropped the speedways (Talladega) and left the road courses out, it's not a cookie cutter chase. Look at Lawdog's list. That's a mix of all ovals, long and short. I think maybe Las Vegas could be the replacement for that Sears Point track he has listed and it'd be solid....far from cookie cutter. Vegas is reconfiguring and may possibly be as good as Homestead or Atlanta. Only time will tell on that.

[harvey lee]

Lawdog

Now your talking,so does Gordo.He is all washed up and Jr is the man.enough said. Boy does that feel good.So much for trying to be a nice guy,it hurts.

[OUTDOORNUT]

I listened to the press conference on XM. Brian wouldn't divulge any of the "adjustments" that are going to be made, but then in the Q&A some of the reporters tried to get him to give some specifics. He said they are going to look at things like; more points for the winner and the top 10/400 point cut off. He did say that he DID NOT foresee changing the race schedule/tracks at this time.

If they go to a fan vote-in, I'm done with the Cup. If a "Big Star" doesn't make the chase there is a reason for it, why take away from the teams that beat them and earned a spot in the chase. How can the other drivers ever climb the ladder if NASCAR is going to force feed you their stars?? This isn't American Idol! I'll watch the boys in the trucks beat and bang and race their guts out instead and enjoy my free Sundays!

[eyepatrol]

Hey guys, I was just joking about the fan vote-in. Was just being facetious with that idea/comment.