NASCAR’s Chase Format Just Missed The Mark
The race for the chase is almost over in NASCAR, and there are only four drivers left fighting for a Sprint Cup championship. Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick are left to duke it out, with Hamlin leading the pack. NASCAR changed their Chase for the Championship format for the 2014 season. The new format, which features four rounds, was put in place to make the chase more competitive and in turn hopefully sparking an interest in NASCAR.
The problem with the new Chase format is that the popular, fan-drawing drivers were eliminated a few rounds before.
The perennial Most Popular Driver of the Year award winner, Dale Earnhardt Jr, was eliminated after the Contender round was over. Earnhardt has won four races so far this season. Jimmie Johnson, who was also eliminated in the Contender round, also has four wins so far this season.
Other big names in NASCAR like Kurt and Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth were all eliminated after the first two rounds. Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon and NASCAR’s current king of controversy, Brad Keselowski, were eliminated in the Eliminator round.
The four drivers who are left to race for the chase have 10 wins combined, Logano leading in number of wins with five, and Newman is at the tail end of the four with no wins this season. At this point, the most deserving driver should win the championship and that would be Logano with his five wins, but he currently sits in the second spot behind Hamlin, who only has one win this season.
It would be appalling if Newman came out of the 2014 season with a championship trophy having no wins this season, but he currently sits in the third spot amongst the four drivers still in contention.
The competitiveness in the new format was definitely right on the mark, but when the most popular drivers get eliminated in the early rounds, their fans lose interest knowing that no matter how many more wins they collect, they still can’t win the championship. Two of the most popular drivers in Johnson and Earnhardt both won races after they were eliminated. Though a win is a good thing and in Earnhardt’s case, a win at Martinsville is big, the wins won’t lead them to a trophy.
The only thing the eliminated drivers can do is shuffle amongst the rest of the drivers out of contention. Changing the Chase format was actually smart for NASCAR to get their drivers to truly compete but for fans of the sport, but the change was not only confusing, but disappointing when the fan magnets were eliminated.
Hopefully NASCAR can tweak the format so that drivers with the most wins can stay in contention for a championship — it’s only fair to let the drivers who fought hard for the first 26 races to get wins.
Terri Washington is a Los Angeles Clippers writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow her on Twitter @Terri7589, “Like” her on Facebook or add her to your network on Google.
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