NASCAR Considers Changing CHASE, Again

Nothing says lack of confidence in a process than changing the process multiple times since its inception in 2004.

RUMORS HAVE IT THAT...

As it stands, the organization is looking to include almost half the field into the chase... SIXTEEN teams up from the twelve that they had upped it to a few years ago.

On top of the potential of having sixteen teams, those sixteen spots can be earned by merely having a win in the regular points season of the year.

If more than 16 teams get wins, priority will be given to those with more wins, and those teams that are full time.  (So much for the little guy!)

If there aren't 16 drivers with wins, then the field would be settled via points.

And once in the Chase, NASCAR is considering an elimination round every three races.

Wait... they're going to add cars to the CHASE field, then eliminate those extra cars in the process of the CHASE???  I'm confused.

Sigh.

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I get trying to make the sport more exciting.  The season when Stewart took the title from Edwards by sheer force of wins, was an incredible season.  But it was a fluke.

Yet NASCAR, as I can appreciate it, wants these tight points situations to keep occurring so that each season is as nerve-wracking and drama filled as possible.

But there is only so much one can do with a field that will be dominated by certain personalities every season.  There's only so much you can do when math is involved.

And on top of this, they are trying to push the "wins" envelope, as they want to keep tweaking the system to reward the risk-takers.

They want the field to race harder.

But unless you very heavily weight wins with points, no matter how you spin it, with wins are 10 points or 100 points or what have you, the results will almost always be the same.  The top performer should take the trophy when the season is done.  If not, it's a scandalous premise where the overall top performer is not rewarded for their work.

Double sigh.

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Racing is literally, like chess.  You start out slow (sending the pawns), move to the mid-game with some good moves (with the bishop, knight, rook, etc) and you finish it off with key moves you've been holding back until the last second. 

But if you charge out with all your high value pieces first (race hard), you'll have nothing left but pawns that can only do so much (unless they make it all the way across the board).

But then if one team "races hard," and the other team doesn't, it does not matter how many pawns you have, their rook and queen will eat them alive in the closing chapter.

If they want hard racing, they need to look at shortening races.


We've seen TV ratings for most anything start out good at the beginning of an event and dwindle in the mid-game, then surge back near the end.  Viewers don't want to see the same old thing lap in and lap out.

I love the Nationwide series because it's truly no more than a two hour window.  Like a quick movie.  You're in, you're out, and you have the rest of the day to spend with family and friends.

If they truly want to make things exciting, I think NASCAR has to consider dropping the endurance aspect of the sport.

DON'T GET ME WRONG, I appreciate it.  But the general TV viewers, the folks they're truly trying to capture, (ad monies speak with heavy hand!), don't have the patience.  Period.  They want to see the action, the excitement and the dramatic moments.

But all this chess move racing dulls their senses.

I've had way too many conversation with the general TV fan and not be satisfied with them.

I get car weight and tire balances, adjustments to keep the car on top, and the driver and crew endurance, wear and tear.  I totally appreciate the work and effort that goes into a race, before and during it.

But if you've ever chatted up folks in a sports bar, you hear some pretty disappointing perspectives.  The accidents, the stuff the networks push on viewers in ads and pre-race shows... the footage is in there because they work.

I've seen an entire bar cluster around the one TV with a "good" accident being reviewed.  But no one cared who was winning or losing.

And TV ratings (and advertisers with the bucks) flourish because of THOSE fans.

It's like smart televisions shows.  They always fade, in favor of the reality TV crap.  So to, is our favored sport, subject to TV ratings and the mindset that gets wrapped around the tube.

But I digress.
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Hence, I can see where NASCAR is desperately trying to balance the tradition of the endurance of man and machine against the needs of keeping the TV sport alive.

But there will come a time when elimination rounds will probably work. Yet for now, to me, they seem moot.

Drivers get eliminated as they perform poorly, or as bad luck sets in.  And if you're eliminating the field through the CHASE, you eliminate those potential, mathematical wild cards.

And if you're adding cars to the field, and then adding an elimination process, that seems like a total waste of effort on everyone's part.

But changing the system tends to dissuade the long time fans.  Change is change.  But some folks won't take nicely to it.  But I presume NASCAR and their TV partners are hoping they balance them out by making this sport sound more and more like a stick and ball sport.  We'll see.

(source of rumor: Charlotte Observer)

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