Changes to the NASCAR point system
The NASCAR Winston Cup decided its champion based on the amount points each driver had at the end of the season. Each place was worth x amount of points and there were built in bonus points to the system. If you lead a lap you received 5 bonus points, if you lead the most laps in the race you received 5 bonus and so on.
As the season ran down to the end it was easy to determine who would be the winner based on calculating the total points available in the race and deciding how much a person will have. It is actually something really easy to do if you watch the races and the last several winners have had a sizeable lead and had to do nothing more then qualify to win.
According to Chairman Brian France, this causes the later races to not have as much fan support and cause the ratings to drop. (Note since NASCAR has exploded recently in growth in fan base and large television contracts. NBC and Fox split the season and share the Daytona 500.) This season, along with the name changing to the Nextel Cup, there will be a change in how the points are counted.
The last 10 races of the season, with the final being at Homestead as usual, would be the only ones that count for points. This would then cause the ratings for the last 10 races to be higher. At least that is the goal.
None of the drivers are happy with this change. The racers feel that nothing needs to be done and the system works as is. Jeff Gordon has stated the system makes it an enterntainment system and not a true point system. France states in response "We are in the entertainment business.Hopefully, our events entertain people." 1 Nascar already haves a hard time being defined as a sport, this may add fuel to that discussion.
In an interview with France 2, he states that this new change might not effect the last 10 races, but will affect the top 10 players, thus leaving the bottom racers with no hope of winning a championship with a great drive at the end. As more comes out, in fact on Tuesday the 20th of January an offical announcement is made, we will see both what happens and what the fans and drivers think about it.
1. http://tinyurl.com/3yr98
2. http://tinyurl.com/3yr98
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