[DeTomaso] NPC: NASCAR turns series into lottery.

Thu Jan 30 16:35:46 EST 2014

I could not agree more.  This is degrading to all of NASCAR.  They are
turning themselves into a joke.

On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 3:18 PM, Sean Korb <spkorb at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>
>>    -
>>    -
>>    -
>>    -
>>    -
>>
>> [image: Under the new system Brad Keselowski would have made the NASCAR
>> Sprint Cup Chase last season.]
>> 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.
>> 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 | AutoweekUSA on Facebook
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 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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-- 
Don
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