FONTANA - NASCAR fans who never warmed up to the Chase still have the Nationwide Series.
The second-tier circuit calculates its championship points in a pre-2004 fashion, which has resulted in the runaway driver's points race Brad Keselowski finds himself in today.
Keselowski leads second-place Carl Edwards by 374 points heading into the CampingWorld.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway.
"It's a great position to be in," said Keselowski, who finished third in 2009, his last season as a Nationwide-only driver. "Every week the smile on my face gets a little bigger when looking at that points leaderboard."
Anticlimactic finishes like this, of course, were a main impetus for the Chase. Not even the second-place driver has reason to smile, having all but conceded the series title with six races to go.
"We just have to go out there and learn the most we can, take the most risk we can to try to win races," Edwards said. "Really, it's about building for next year."
The consensus around the garage is next year will be interesting.
There's not any talk of instilling a playoff, at least not yet. However, there have been closed-door discussions of making just the Nationwide-only drivers eligible for the championship.
If that was the case this season, Justin Allgaier (currently in fourth place) would be leading the series, 511 points ahead of Steve Wallace (seventh).
Where that would leave drivers like Edwards and Keselowski and others who compete in the Cup and Nationwide series hasn't been decided.
In fact, nothing has been decided.
"I know they're looking at it from all different angles," Edwards said. "I'm glad they're looking at doing that, they're not making a rash choice and hopefully they come up with the right decision. I don't know what it is yet."
If NASCAR considers the drivers' input - it often does - Edwards and Keselowski would recommend not changing a thing. Even if he isn't eligible for the championship, Edwards said he's running a full Nationwide schedule next season.
Not only would Edwards drive, he would calculate his own championship points after each race.
"I think we all would," Keselowski said. "I don't think that's good for the series."
Added Edwards, "To eliminate the ability of a guy like myself to run for a championship, I don't think that changes the face of the average Nationwide race. Kyle Busch has won 11 races this year and he's not racing for the championship. There's nothing that will keep him from doing the same thing next year, or our team from wining 11 races next year whether or not I was racing for the championship."
There's more than just competition at stake, though.
"The only thing it does hurt is a team's ability like ours to go out and get sponsorship to run for the championship," Edwards said. "That's an important thing for Copart and Fastenal, for us to be able to do that."
Keep that in mind as Keselowski drives toward his inevitable championship.
Still feuding
Five days after being wrecked by David Reutimann at Kansas Speedway, Kyle Busch still was a little hot under the collar about the incident. He acknowledged he hadn't spoken with Reutimann or NASCAR but had talked to Toyota. Both drivers are in Camrys.
Busch spun Reutimann out early in the race and Reutimann retaliated 100 laps later, when he caused major damage to Busch's car. Would an apology after the first incident have averted the second?
"I don't think it would have changed the situation any," Busch said.
"Obviously, he said what he said about how we feel about each other, which is all (negative) words out of his mouth. Why would I apologize to a guy that races me like a (jerk) every week?"
Busch finished 21st at Kansas and dropped from third to seventh in the Chase. Busch said he'll be more aggressive in the remaining six Chase races.
