NASCAR Open To Rewarding Regular Season Champ, Changing Point System
NASCAR’s current point system is by no means flawless but it has produced some exciting action over the last few seasons. Recent comments by NASCAR suggest that future changes might be coming.
The current NASCAR point’s system breaks the season into two parts; the regular season (26 races) and the NASCAR Chase (10 races). The last driver standing after the NASCAR Chase is of course the NASCAR champion but what about the driver on top of the standings after the first 26 races?
NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Office Steve O’Donnell spoke Monday on Sirius/XM NASCAR Radio about NASCAR looking into changing the current system to reward the regular season champion.
One of the things we’re looking at is (in) the first 26 races, are there some additional things we could do for the winner of the regular season. I think that’s certainly fair for us to look at — and we are.
I’d say very serious consideration (in regards to changing the format in the future) and it’s not just snapping your fingers. There’s a lot of things that need to go into it but a lot of those things have already happened with conversations. Not there yet. Not ready to announce anything but certainly taking a strong look at that for all three series for next year as well.
Heading into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase and the NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase Kevin Harvick and Elliott Sadler were the regular season champions of their respective series. Harvick had a 46-point lead over second place and Sadler had a 59-point lead. When the Chase began for them they both saw those leads go away and that’s been a difficult part of the new format for both drivers and fans.
The current format does reward drivers for winning in the regular season. Wins not only help secure spots in the Chase but it also gives drivers bonus points per win when the Chase begins. This is something that Brad Keselowski benefitted from having led the series in wins through the first 26 races. Harvick also won in the regular season but he began the Chase trailing Keselowski despite out-pointing him during the first 26 races.
Adding something for the regular season champion could benefit the sport as it will give drivers who win early in the season something to keep racing for. One of the biggest complaints of the current Chase format is that drivers win early in the season and coast for 20 races until the Chase begins. Putting something on the line at the end of the regular season could give drivers extra motivation and result in some better racing.
Then again, depending on what that something is drivers could also not care. Hopefully NASCAR comes up with something that positively impacts everyone involved and hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.
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