[DeTomaso] NPC: NASCAR turns series into lottery.

Thu Jan 30 16:18:12 EST 2014

I had this image of a hundred cars put in a giant plexiglass ball with the
wind tossing them around for a few minutes until one came out of the
hopper.  Occasionally they would set one of the drivers on fire and push
him off a cliff to keep viewership.

I wasn't far off.

sean

On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 3:57 PM, michael at michaelshortt.com <
michael at michaelshortt.com> wrote:

> What a load of crap.
>
> NASCAR confirms overhaul of Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship format
> *The format has undergone many changes since its introduction 10 years ago*
> By: Al Pearce on January 30, 2014
>
>    -
>    <http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140130/NASCAR/140139985&template=XSendMail>
>    -
>    -
>    -
>    - <http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.autoweek.com%2Farticle%2F20140130%2FNASCAR%2F140139985&media=&guid=2_PMCJQU_hVT-0&description=NASCAR%20confirms%20overhaul%20of%20Sprint%20Cup%20Chase%20for%20the%20Championship%20format%20-%20Autoweek>
>
> [image: Under the new system Brad Keselowski would have made the NASCAR
> Sprint Cup Chase last season.]<http://www.autoweek.com/storyimage/CW/20140130/NASCAR/140139985/AR/0/Keselowski-NASCAR-Chase-Sprint.jpg>
> LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC - Under the new system Brad Keselowski would have made
> the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup last season.
>
> NASCAR has confirmed what many in the stock-car industry have strongly
> suspected for about 10 days: A new format will whittle a 16-driver Chase
> for the Championship field to four contenders at the season-ending race at
> Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 16. The best finisher among those four is
> your 2014 Sprint Cup champion.
>
> "Our new championship format puts a greater emphasis on winning. It's
> simpler to understand, and it expands the number of drivers who can run for
> the championship," NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said during a
> Thursday press conference in Charlotte. "This appeals to everybody and
> checks all the boxes. It makes winning the most important thing, the thing
> everybody will be focused on, because nobody likes points racing."
>
> "We're extremely pleased that NASCAR has chosen to implement this format<http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140130/NASCAR/edit.autoweek.com/article/20140130/NASCAR01/140139983>.
> We have long felt that there was a greater opportunity within the Chase and
> are in favor of an elimination format, which has been most effective in
> American sports. We look forward to bringing the Chase to NASCAR fans this
> fall," said Julie Sobieski, ESPN vice president of league sports
> programming.
>
> The new format was leaked -- intentionally, almost everyone agrees - in
> the middle of this month. When France and NASCAR president Mike Helton
> unveiled the new system and discussed them in their annual "State of the
> Sport" message, the changes were virtually identical to the leaked version.
>
> It works like this:
>
> -- Sixteen drivers start the 10-race playoff. The field is set after the
> Sept. 6 race at Richmond, and drivers must have won a race to qualify. If
> 16 drivers haven't won by then (very likely), the highest-ranked winless
> drivers also advance. A driver must have run all 26 regular-season races to
> qualify for the Chase.
>
> -- The lowest-ranked four Chase drivers after Chicagoland, Loudon and
> Dover (the Challenger Round) are eliminated. The lowest-ranked four after
> Kansas City, Charlotte and Talladega (the Contender Round) also are
> eliminated. Four more are eliminated after Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix
> (the Elimination Round), leaving four contenders for the Championship Round
> at Homestead. Points are reset equally for the advancing drivers after each
> three-race round.
>
> -- In something of a surprise, a Chase driver winning during any
> three-race round automatically advances to the next round, regardless of
> his points position. If he doesn't win in that subsequent round, he must
> fall back on his standings to advance to the next round. A win assures
> advancement into the next round only, not the remainder of the Chase.
>
> -- The Fast Final Four start the Ford 400 at Homestead with equal points,
> with no lap-leader bonus points for them -- not that it matters. What
> matters is this: The driver who beats his three rivals is the Sprint Cup
> champion. NASCAR did that because it's possible for a lower-finishing
> driver with lap-leader bonus points to outpoint a higher-finishing driver
> with no bonus points.
>
> France said he and his staff spent three years working on a championship
> plan that put more importance on winning and eliminated drivers as the
> playoffs progressed. "We worked with [series sponsor] Sprint, the three
> manufacturers and our business partners," he said. "The vast majority of
> the people we talked with really love this idea. They like and understand
> the winner-take-all aspect of the final race.
>
> "We had many options, one of which was do nothing at all. We like
> consistency, but we also like risk-taking. With winning so important, and
> so much on the line, teams will have to take more risks. They'll gamble
> more and do different strategies and take more chances. And if it's late in
> a race and you've got the faster car, expect some contact. Sure, this might
> bring more contact."
>
> Thursday's announcement was the latest in a series of changes NASCAR has
> made to its championship-deciding format in 10 years.
>
> -- The 2004-2006 Chases featured the 10 highest-ranked drivers after
> Richmond, plus anyone within 400 points of the leader. The Chase drivers'
> points were readjusted to bring them closer together for the playoff and
> separate them further from the non-Chase drivers.
>
> -- After several big-name drivers missed some Chases, NASCAR expanded the
> 2007-2010 playoffs to include the top 12 drivers (the 400-point provision
> was dropped). Points were again readjusted to make them closer for the
> final 10 races.
>
> -- The 2011-2012 Chases featured the top 10 in "regular-season" points,
> plus the two winningest "wild-card" drivers between 11th and 20th in
> points. As always, points were readjusted to bring the field closer
> together.
>
> -- Last year's Chase featured an unprecedented 13 drivers, but only after
> NASCAR took into account the shenanigans of Michael Waltrip Racing and its
> finish-fixing scandal at Richmond. MWR driver Martin Truex Jr. was kicked
> out of the Chase, and Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon were added.
>
> France was asked whether the Chase changes might be confusing to fans who
> were just getting accustomed to one system only to have another come along.
> Or, it went without saying, old-time fans who liked the full-season system
> that crowned a champion based on the 36 scheduled races without any
> gimmicks.
>
> "I don't think so, but things evolve," he said. "I think, if you look at
> the other leagues, you look at how the [college football] Bowl Championship
> Series has evolved. They'll be having their own championship format this
> year. So these kinds of things probably shouldn't go from one place to the
> next.
>
> "They should evolve. Because evolving means you're getting the best ideas
> at the moment, and if they're not good enough to make a change, then you
> don't. It's not surprising that something this important has evolved versus
> us just getting to the right place. The greatest risk for us was to not do
> anything at all."
>
>
> Read more:
> http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140130/nascar/140139985#ixzz2ruw88F1E
> Follow us: @AutoweekUSA on Twitter<http://ec.tynt.com/b/rw?id=crYS7cwFer3QPQacn9QLBk&u=AutoweekUSA>
>  | AutoweekUSA on Facebook<http://ec.tynt.com/b/rf?id=crYS7cwFer3QPQacn9QLBk&u=AutoweekUSA>
>
> --
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Michael L. Shortt
> Savannah, Georgia
> www.michaelshortt.com
> michael at michaelshortt.com
> 912-232-9390
>
>
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-- 
Sean Korb spkorb at spkorb.org http://www.spkorb.org
'65,'68 Mustangs,'68 Cougar,'78 R100/7,'60 Metro,'59 A35,'71 Pantera #1382
"The more you drive, the less intelligent you get" --Miller
"Computers are useless.  They can only give you answers." -P. Picasso
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