Chairman Brian France wants the paying public to know this isn’t your daddy’s NASCAR. Or his daddy’s. Or his daddy’s daddy’s. This–the 2004 Nextel series 10-race playoff system–is all daddy’s boy’s idea.
Grandaddy must be rolling in his grave.
NASCAR dropped the lug wrench two weeks ago when it said there would be a major change in the points race. Of course, if it doesn’t work, “we can always tweak it,” they maintain. And that’s the rub: NASCAR does too much rules tweaking. Why doesn’t NASCAR drive by a set of rules from can till can’t?
Why trade in the series when all it needed was a tuneup ans have had it up to the engine-oil filler neck with the mess NASCAR is dressing up as big-league racing. What’s next, Vince McMahon calling for drivers to start their engines while Lita bumps and grinds the green flag?
NASCAR is racing–not wrestling, the NFL or baseball–and racing is about getting to the checkered flag before the next guy. So instead of “tweaking” the points system, Brian Freedom Fries concocted something so bizarre that 72 percent of the season is cast aside so an arbitrary number of drivers can go fast and turn left in 10 races at tracks that average 1.365 miles.
If NASCAR wants to “tweak” its system, it should reduce the size of the race field, shorten the season, award a bonus for taking the pole, grant more points to the winner and fewer points for back-of-the-pack finishers.
