Backseat Blonde - Championship Race Exposes Chase Flaws

November 22, 2004 - Updated (Note: I apologize for misreporting Busch's wins in the original
column. He had one win in the Chase, not zero. The season total was correct. Additionally, when
referring to the "top four", I was initially referring to the top four in season-long points under the old
system, but have now clarified.

Championship Race Exposes Chase Flaws
By Allison Wagda

I don’t want to take anything away from Kurt Busch. He
had a great NASCAR Nextel Cup season, regularly
fighting back from adversity for strong finishes, and even
posted a few wins. He deserves this championship, truly.

Does it surprise you I would say that? Well, it’s true…
because he figured out how to play the NASCAR Nextel
Cup Chase for the Championship to his advantage.

For that, I offer sincere congrats to Busch and the entire 97 team for getting the job
done when it counted the most.

It’s just too bad, for both him and the fans, that this format, no matter how exciting, no
matter how dramatic, is a farce. It was a farce at the beginning of the season, it was
a farce ten races ago, and it remains a farce today.

I hate to beat a dead horse, but with the mainstream media overwhelmingly gushing
over the new format (with a few notable exceptions), someone has to speak for the
fans - the majority of fans, not (as NASCAR would have you believe) some fringe
group of racing purists.

The sense of being screwed by the Chase might seem heightened at the moment to
some fans since Busch isn’t the most popular driver on the track. But in reality, the
name of the driver on the trophy is neither here nor there. It isn’t about Busch or his
malapropisms or his cocky demeanor. In actuality, after this weekend I discovered I
might, might someday be convinced to find those things charming It's the system
that is messed up, for several reasons.

Adjusting the points for the top ten drivers with ten races left penalizes those who
performed throughout the year and gives those who were mired in mediocrity a
second chance to play catch up without having earned it.

Yes, that does offer more exciting racing over the final stretch. But you can adjust the
championship format in any sport to make things close at the end. That doesn’t
make it fair.

We don’t watch racing because we want close finishes, we watch racing because
we want to see people who are much braver and tougher and more motivated than
the rest of us strive to be the best of the best. If that means close races, then so
much the better. But they can’t be staged. What fun is fake drama?

Maybe for the masses, it’s enough. But from the polls around the ‘Net asking fans if
they like the Chase, most still say no.

Some will say over the coming days that Busch won because he was consistent, like
last year’s champion Matt Kenseth. But Kenseth was consistent in a dominating
fashion. He competed against the best throughout the entire season, without a
single gift of points from NASCAR, and was undoubtedly deserving of a Cup title. If
not for the Chase, is Busch?

You decide. Out of the four of the top 5 drivers (Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale
Earnhardt Jr., and Busch - Mark Martin's stats are less), he had the fewest wins - in
the regular season two, in the Chase one. He ranked last among the group in top
five finishes (10) and was tied for second in top ten finishes (21) among that group
for the season.

He was simply the most consistent over an encapsulated segment of the season.
And not even overwhelmingly so.

This may not always be apparent, but I’m far from married to the old points system.
I’m certainly open to change. Anything that improves competition and offers drivers
an added incentive to race harder every week and not be happy being the runner-up
not only increases the credibility of the sport, it makes it more entertaining.

Here in the San Francisco area, if I dare mention I am a NASCAR fan, let alone that I
spend spare time writing about the sport, I face almost rabid ridicule and derision by
other young professionals. Quite often I have to defend the entire sport to folks who
believe it is merely reality TV run by a bunch of rednecks.

If NASCAR could legitimize the series as a sport, I might have a fighting chance at
converting some fans. With the advent of the Chase, I find myself fighting even more
of an uphill battle. The made-for-TV playoff system has further eroded the image of
NASCAR as a sport here in the West.

So do we want racing, or are we really okay with NASCAR being the adult equivalent
of Sunday morning cartoons?

Last week, I suggested that a better point bonus for race winners would increase the
credibility of the Chase. That remains true. I also believe that heading into any sort of
post season those who lead should be able to retain at least some significant part of
their advantage. It is patently unfair to erase months of hard work for the sake of
more exciting racing.

Fellow fans…we must speak up now if we hope to reinstate some semblance of
normalcy to stock car racing. I suspect many of the drivers would, but their livelihood
depends on those who created this format. The only thing that resonates with the
powers that be is our spending power.

So use it. Some fans are talking about boycotting Daytona – either forgoing attending
the race or turning off the TV. Or keep your pocketbook closed this holiday season
and refuse to spend your hard-earned dollars on NASCAR merchandise or on
NASCAR corporate sponsor products. (Although NASCAR takes a cut of driver
merchandise, we don’t want to penalize individual race teams or their primary
sponsors...they are the lifeblood of the sport.)

Or if you aren't quite that upset, send a note off to NASCAR. Another to Nextel. NBC
and FOX too. Tell them what you think. Tell them that winning should be of
paramount importance. One voice may not make a difference, but a chorus will.

I know we just watched a fairytale race with the championship undecided until the
final green-white-checkers, but we cannot let the smoke and mirrors of a contrived
finish fool us into thinking this might be a good thing.

After all, a cubic zirconium may look like a diamond. It might be seem brilliant, more
interesting and more modern.

But it still ain’t worth much.

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