I've been wanting to touch on this topic for a couple weeks, and with the Daytona 500 right around the corner, now seems as good a time as any to talk about the changes NASCAR officials instituted during the offseason. There are two major changes. One is to the points system. The other involves Sprint Cup drivers in Nationwide Series races. My reaction to both changes is exactly the same: It's about time. They'll both make NASCAR a better, more fan-friendly sport.
The new Nationwide Series rule is something NASCAR has needed for a long time. The Nationwide Series was started in 1982 as a training ground for younger drivers, many of whom would eventually make their way into the Cup Series. In other words, it's NASCAR's Triple-A. Most of the time, the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races are held on the same weekend at the same track. As a result, almost from the start, regular Cup drivers regularly entered Nationwide races. Eventually, there were more and more Cup guys in Nationwide races. Once upon a time, these guys were called "Buschwhackers," but they've been without a name since Budweiser stopped sponsoring the series in 2007.
Now, Buschwhackers have been a problem for a long time. Not only do Cup drivers win Nationwide races regularly, they collect the prize money and points that go with those victories. At the expense of the guys who only drive in the Nationwide Series. Basically, NASCAR would let the New York Yankees take on the Durham Bulls one day, then the Boston Red Sox the next. It was the only sport where you could compete in the majors and the minors at the same time. The last FIVE! Nationwide Series champions have been Sprint Cup regulars. Pretty much as a direct result, there's not a single rookie with a full-time ride in the Sprint Cup Series this season.
NASCAR has finally realized this is a problem. Starting this season, drivers will only be able to compete for ONE championship. Sprint Cup drivers can still enter Nationwide races, but now can only go for wins. The Nationwide Series has gone back to what it's supposed to be: a training ground for younger drivers.
The other offseason change involves the scoring system. It makes sense now! There are 43 cars in a race. If you finish first, you get 43 points. If you finish last, you get one point. Under the old system, nobody knew how many points you got for anything. If you came into a race trailing another driver by 20 points, it was impossible to do the math and figure out the points during the race. The increments between places was sometimes five points, sometimes four, sometimes three. Nobody really knew where they changed, though. And they arbitrarily gave out bonus points for stupid reasons like leading a lap. (How many times did a driver stay out when everyone else pitted only to get the lap led bonus points?)
Not only is the new scoring system a hell of a lot easier to follow, one bad day doesn't kill you. In the past, the gap between first place and last place was so great, that you could lose up to 100 points (or sometimes more) on another driver in one race. There were way too many situations I can remember where somebody would get into an early accident, spend two hours in the garage, then come back out to complete a few laps and pass other guys who'd been knocked out of the race in the interim, only to salvage as many points as he could. Now the most ground you can lose in one race is 42 points. The difference between 36th place and 40th place isn't that great. Is it worth it to bring a junkyard car that has no business being on the track back out there only to gain four points? Probably not.
Apparently somebody also told NASCAR officials that wins matter, so they also modified the Chase format. Instead of the top 12 drivers in points after the first 26 races qualifying for the Chase, now only the top 10 qualify automatically. The other two spots are wild cards that will be filled by the two drivers in the top 20 with the most wins that aren't already in. If you win five of the first 26 races, but also have 10 DNFs and are 17th in points, you actually get rewarded for those five wins. What a concept!
I give them credit for finally figuring these things out. I think they will only improve NASCAR. I'm as sick as anybody else of Jimmie Johnson winning the championship every year, but he doesn't really get annoying until about August. It's only February, and the Daytona 500's tomorrow. Let's just enjoy it. And for the record, I'm taking Kyle Busch in the race.
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