So which do you like better — the old way NASCAR used to determine its Cup champion or the current Chase for the Championship playoff?
I was discussing the merits of both with a friend of mine recently. He’s in the playoff camp, and I’m still in favor of the old-fashioned approach. Of course I see the appeal of the 10-race Chase and don’t see it going anywhere, so arguing about is pointless.
Still, it’s fun to do.
My buddy points to the NCAA Basketball Tournament as the reason to have a playoff. While the “best” team might not always win the national championship, the title is determined on the court. The team that wins the crown truly does “win” the crown.
Good point.
I counter with the fact that each race is a playoff in itself. And unlike basketball, you face all the opposition at one time. Seems to me if you face all the opposition at one time — and do it 36 times — that determines a champion in the most equitable way possible.
Put four-time series champ Jeff Gordon in the old-school camp. He’s not whining about the playoff format at all, he simply thinks the old way was better suited for his style.
“Well, if I could take ten races from the schedule and put my best ten races together, I would throw out a couple of the ones that are in the Chase,” Gordon explained. “I feel like you ask (three-time defending champion) Jimmie Johnson that question, he will say that those are pretty much, other than maybe Talladega, those are ten of his or nine of his best tracks. You know, I think that certainly plays a role. You have to be good at all of the tracks to win the championship. The timing of it, you know, you can have a great year, you can win as many races as you want, but you’ve got to have everything going your way in those final ten.”
Johnson was victorious at Dover last Sunday, helping him close the gap with leader Mark Martin, who started the Chase in the No. 1 spot and stayed there thanks to a victory at New Hampshire.
Currently Gordon is 122 points off the pace, while Johnson trails Martin by 10 points entering this Sunday’s event.
“I still think it comes down to the best team, overall team, that’s going to win the championship,” Gordon said. “So I’m not against it. I love the format. I just think that it has not suited my style as much as the old one, because the old one, it’s about being consistent over 36 races, not just being able to knock it out of the park or be consistent over ten races.”
But Gordon, like the rest of NASCAR’s competitors, must deal with the hand he has been dealt. And since the governing body has found the Chase to be so successful and lucrative, the old way of doing things is gone forever.
Now the idea is to be good enough to get in the field over the first 26 races, and great enough to win it all over the last 10.
All of Gordon’s titles came before NASCAR had a playoff.
He’d like nothing better than to earn a trophy the “modern” way.
“I want to win the Sprint Cup Championship under this format, and I would be so proud and honored to do it, because I know just how tough and challenging this has been on us,” Gordon said.
Contact Scott Adamson of the Anderson Independent-Mail in Anderson, S.C., at adamsonl(at)independentmail.com.
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