Will there ever be another "King"

Richard Petty is known as 'The King'. He's got records that will never be broken. He holds SEVEN championships, matched only by Dale Earnhardt. He's won 200 races in his career, winning the Daytona 500 seven times. He's won 27 races in one season; a record # of poles (127) & 700 top ten finishes. All in 1,185 starts.

But these records were set in a different era of NASCAR when the good 'ol boys backed each other up, or threw each other around to resolve differences. And that was how it was.

I don't see the breaking of Petty's records for the mere reason that NASCAR is always on the ball, answering to sponsors and making sure that parity is part of the process, making competition fair to all, and taking action to make sure that the integrity of the sport is maintained.

When drivers try to resolve issues amongst themselves (At least on TV), they get fined and put on probation. When the lug nut bolts are found to be hollow to give a slight weight advantage, the teams (driver, crew chief, car owner), are docked points or fined or if severe enough, (and usualy the severe incidents are warranted), suspended from competition.

But the biggest change made was the bringing about of the "Chase for the Cup". This was already in the pipeline when, to point to one incident, Matt Kenseth won his championship in 2003. He won that season on consistency, not wins. He only won one race that year. NASCAR has tried to eliminate consistency as a chance contender and instigated the "Chase". Additionally, they've modified the allotted points for winning this year too, to emphasize winning.

The Chase for the Cup is designed to give the top 'x' contenders, (Originally it was 10, but this year, it's 12, or 27.9% of the field) the opportunity to compete against themselves as their points are reset to such a degree that only the top 12 contenders have a chance to win the Championship. It answers the need for more exciting television to some degree.

Old school fans are being left behind as some old tracks aren't cutting it in attendance and new formats and coverage are coming on strong to capitalize on new demographics.

NASCAR is a victim of it's own growth, propagating the need for all the penalties to appease the big time sponsors they are attracting. It's the price of growth and we can either adapt to it, or find ourselves disappointed in skewed expectations.

In the end, I don't think we will ever see another Richard Petty dominate the scene like he did.