I'm jonesin'. Hoping for a productive season for Hamlin.

My wife says I go into a mourning type state during the off season, oh well. :-)

It would make it interesting watching the cars slide off the banks. :-)

NASCAR’s new Chase proposal just another gimmick
Bob Pockrass Sporting News

NASCAR wants to radically change its championship format. Again.

The NASCAR spin will try to convince everyone that a sport that stands still, that doesn’t change, is a sport that falls behind. The reality is that a sport that changes its fabric so often — beyond adding a team or two, the most successful sports rarely change their formats — is a desperate sport, an insecure sport trying to manufacture a recipe for excitement instead of organically relying on its natural flavor.

NASCAR officials are getting feedback from others in the industry as they seriously consider changing the format for the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup. They are not refuting a Charlotte Observer report that the proposal would include a 16-driver Chase with four drivers being eliminated after the first three races, four more after the sixth Chase race, and four more after the ninth Chase race. Points would be reset after the ninth race. That would leave one final race with four drivers racing for the Cup championship.

Please let this just be one of those ideas that NASCAR floats for a couple of weeks before it makes a decision that in the end has no resemblance to the original proposal. Please, NASCAR fans, make your voices heard and hopefully NASCAR’s ability to track fan sentiment on social media will convince it that this idea would move NASCAR from professional sport to professional gimmickry.

The 10-race Chase currently features 12 drivers — the top 10 in points at the end of the 26-race regular season, plus two wild cards based on wins. NASCAR made an unprecedented move last year, however, adding Jeff Gordon as a 13th driver to the field after determining that Michael Waltrip Racing and possibly other teams tried to manipulate the final regular-season race to get its drivers into the Chase.

Talk about a proposal that would cheapen the sport’s championship. It would render totally worthless any comparison to previous championship races and formats. It would make the championship much like the Daytona 500 — a crapshoot. Maybe the winning driver isn’t great but that driver had a great day and things fell his or her way.

NASCAR already has its big one-race day, and now it wants to create a system that gives the stink eye to everything that makes NASCAR competition special. NASCAR is about performing on a variety of racetracks. It is about not just being strong for one or two weeks but for several. Part of what makes racing great, what makes racing different, is that the field isn’t always the same.

Apparently NASCAR isn’t satisfied with its current format because NASCAR Nation hasn’t embraced Jimmie Johnson’s six championships in the past eight years. ESPN saw a slight increase in TV ratings in the Chase last year, from 2.7 to 2.8, but apparently that’s not enough for NASCAR.

Few would argue that Johnson didn’t earn his championships. Granted, they say that the 10 tracks in the Chase are Johnson’s best, but that still is more than 40 percent of all the tracks where NASCAR runs. Johnson finished ninth at Homestead last year to clinch his sixth Cup title with an astounding 5.1 average finish in the 10 Chase races. He had a classic Chase, an incredible Chase, and NASCAR wants to throw all that away to put drivers in a situation where finishing ninth can’t be good enough to win the title.

NASCAR would probably try to use Dale Earnhardt Jr. as an example of why the proposed system would be better than the current one. He had an engine failure in the opening Chase race at Chicagoland Speedway but finished sixth and second in the next two races and likely would have made the cut after four races. Instead of never really getting back into the mix last year, under the new proposal, all of a sudden he’d be back in it with the points reset.

The thing is that Earnhardt could have been in the mix despite the engine failure if NASCAR would just award 15 or 20 points more for winning a race. He would have that win-and-get-back-in mentality much more throughout the Chase. That tweak would generate more excitement because typically three or four drivers still are in contention in the season finale. There would be someone who could capture it all with a win — just as Tony Stewart won the 2011 Chase by beating Carl Edwards to win the season finale.

The Stewart-Edwards battle proved just how exciting the season finale can be in this system. And, to be fair, the Nationwide Series championship, which has no Chase, came down to the final race last year with just eight points separating the two contenders.

This new system would just celebrate mediocrity even more while trying to manufacture an exciting finale. A driver could make the Chase with a win (the proposed way to get to 16 drivers), just be very good in the three three-race segments by finishing 12th, eighth and fourth in the standings, and then have one great day to win the championship.

Last year the championship was worth $5.27 million. Fourth place was worth $1.41 million. It’s ridiculous that $4 million and the glory of a championship could come down to one race where one engine failure or getting caught up in someone else’s wreck could determine the championship.

If NASCAR thinks it had a manipulation scandal at Richmond, just wait and see what would happen if this proposal becomes reality. The monkeying around in the pits and on restarts — not to mention in technical inspection — would be at an all-time high with four drivers in a winner-take-all race with $4 million on the line.

Maybe that’s what NASCAR wants. Maybe that’s NASCAR’s idea in its never-ending quest to be just like the NFL, where every playoff is sudden death.

The problem is that NASCAR is not football. Never will be. Football is a great game with hometown allegiances and great personalities and a feeder system that breeds new, fresh talent that allows for parity.

NASCAR’s problem isn’t the Chase. It’s an economic model that requires teams to hire not the best talent, but the best sponsored talent, with limited vendors for equipment that stunts competition, coupled with the inability to create an exciting game thanks to a mechanical exercise in the hands of engineers instead of drivers.

Those problems are harder to tackle. Instead, it’s easier to think up gimmicks. Congratulations, NASCAR, on doing so.

NASCAR qualifying changes to enhance fan experience, broadcast and digital content

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- In a move aimed toward enhancing the fan experience watching at the track and at home, NASCAR has announced a new group qualifying format for its three national series that is more compelling, more closely emulates actual on-track competition and underlines the sport's on-going commitment to innovation.

At tracks measuring 1.25 miles in length or larger, qualifying for the Coors Light Pole Award will consist of three rounds:

• The first qualifying elimination round will be 25 minutes in duration and includes all cars/trucks. The 24 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap from the first qualifying round will advance to the second round.

• The remaining cars/trucks will be sorted based on their times posted in the first round of qualifying in descending order.

• The second qualifying elimination round will be 10 minutes in duration and the 12 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap time will advance to the third and final round. The fastest remaining cars/trucks earn positions 13th through 24th based on their times posted in qualifying in descending order.


• The third and final qualifying round will be five minutes in duration and the fastest single lap time will determine positions 1st through 12th in descending order.

• There will be a five-minute break between each qualifying round.

At tracks measuring less than 1.25 miles, qualifying for the Coors Light Pole Award will consist of two rounds:

• The first qualifying elimination round will be 30 minutes in duration and includes all cars/trucks. The 12 cars/trucks that post the fastest single lap time from the first qualifying round will advance to the second and final round.

• The remaining cars/trucks will be sorted based on their times posted in the first round of qualifying in descending order.

• There will be a 10-minute break between the two qualifying rounds.

• The second and final qualifying round will be 10 minutes in duration and the fastest single lap time posted will determine positions 1st through 12th in descending order.

The new qualifying format does not apply to the Daytona 500, which will preserve its historic and unique qualifying format. Additionally, it does not apply to non-points NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events or the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Eldora Speedway.

NASCAR previewed the concept of group qualifying with its national series teams late last fall and expects the new format will be a well-received improvement by its fans, competitors, tracks, sponsors and media partners.

"We believe the timing is right for a new qualifying format across our three national series," said Robin Pemberton, vice president for competition and racing development. "This style of group qualifying has all the makings of being highly competitive and more engaging to our fans in the stands and those watching on television and online. For the drivers and teams, we believe this new qualifying will fuel even greater competition leading into the events. Additionally, it provides our tracks, broadcasters and other key partners with a greater opportunity to develop more entertaining content for our race weekends."


For more details on the new qualifying formal, please visit NASCAR.com. Please note that the official title of the award in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is the Keystone Light Pole Award.

Interesting if anything. :-)

I was on it last night, same crap.
The trolls are bitching about the Texas Motor Speedway again.

And the wild asphalt circus too. :-)

Denny Hamlin wins 2014 Sprint Unlimited
All 3 segments :-)

I wish I could. :-)

But I have a ton of pellets for the stove, and a generator just in case. ;-)

I'll be honest with you Lucky with all the changes in "Cup" this year I'm not up to speed on it and as you know the NASCAR web site is all but useless.

Is Brian Scott running for points in this series? If not he would get any.