pandr
01-22-2011, 04:09 AM
NASCAR execs defer to France on points change
By Brant James - Special to ThatsRacin.com and the Observer
Friday, Jan. 21, 2011
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR officials stopped short on Friday of confirming that they were about to overhaul the 35-year-old system used to determined driver points. But they came awfully close.
President Mike Helton said officials are currently still sharing ideas on a proposed new system with stakeholders with the desire to “create a points system that is easy to understand, easy to explain, easy to be talked about, but also be credible at the end of the season.”
Helton said that process would continue into next week, when chairman Brian France is scheduled to deliver his annual pre-season address at the R&D Center in Concord, N.C.
The often-repeated goal is simplicity. That line has been parroted by drivers and officials throughout the pre-season test that concludes Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
At least one high-profile NASCAR fan was apparently confused by the current system last season, said Kevin Harvick, who finished third in points last season, 41 points behind Jimmie Johnson.
“I got done with the season last year, and I got a text from (Yankees manager) Joe Girardi,” Harvick recalled. “He says, ‘Hey, man, great year, good job. I don't understand how you can have the best year and not win. I don't understand your points system.'
“I think if you look at the new point system, I think it's easy to understand. And those are the people that need to understand it are the people who aren't here every week, live it, breathe it, and really understand how the sport works. It's the casual fan that we need to recapture and make it exciting and easily understandable.”
The Girardi anecdote required a certain contortion of perspective on point systems and playoff formats – Harvick would have won the title under the pre-Chase for the Championship format last year but fallen a point short of Johnson under the “43-to-1” plan – but the point was made.
Helton said NASCAR is also studying “a couple” of Chase for the Championship models.
The possible plan most widely discussed by drivers and crew chiefs involves awarding 43 points for a victory with points decreasing in increments of one throughout the field.
That fits the simplicity mandate. NASCAR could stoke a “high appetite for winning races,” in other ways, Helton suggested.
“The points models start off with a simple system,” he said, “but we can accomplish the attention to winning with bonus points and other pieces.”
Jeff Gordon, who won all four of his Cup titles before the Chase was instituted, said “the points and the money and whatever benefits can come from it are just sort of the icing on the cake, as long as we continue to see a point system that rewards that as well as create some consistency in there, too.”
“I think that the points should pay the same from about 30th on back,” Gordon said. “First through 25th, maybe even 30th, and so if you crash or something, to have to go back out there to gain a few extra points I think is silly.”
C/P Thats Racin
Read more: http://www.thatsracin.com/2011/01/21/54109/nascar-execs-still-coy-with-points.html#ixzz1BjXpqLok
By Brant James - Special to ThatsRacin.com and the Observer
Friday, Jan. 21, 2011
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR officials stopped short on Friday of confirming that they were about to overhaul the 35-year-old system used to determined driver points. But they came awfully close.
President Mike Helton said officials are currently still sharing ideas on a proposed new system with stakeholders with the desire to “create a points system that is easy to understand, easy to explain, easy to be talked about, but also be credible at the end of the season.”
Helton said that process would continue into next week, when chairman Brian France is scheduled to deliver his annual pre-season address at the R&D Center in Concord, N.C.
The often-repeated goal is simplicity. That line has been parroted by drivers and officials throughout the pre-season test that concludes Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
At least one high-profile NASCAR fan was apparently confused by the current system last season, said Kevin Harvick, who finished third in points last season, 41 points behind Jimmie Johnson.
“I got done with the season last year, and I got a text from (Yankees manager) Joe Girardi,” Harvick recalled. “He says, ‘Hey, man, great year, good job. I don't understand how you can have the best year and not win. I don't understand your points system.'
“I think if you look at the new point system, I think it's easy to understand. And those are the people that need to understand it are the people who aren't here every week, live it, breathe it, and really understand how the sport works. It's the casual fan that we need to recapture and make it exciting and easily understandable.”
The Girardi anecdote required a certain contortion of perspective on point systems and playoff formats – Harvick would have won the title under the pre-Chase for the Championship format last year but fallen a point short of Johnson under the “43-to-1” plan – but the point was made.
Helton said NASCAR is also studying “a couple” of Chase for the Championship models.
The possible plan most widely discussed by drivers and crew chiefs involves awarding 43 points for a victory with points decreasing in increments of one throughout the field.
That fits the simplicity mandate. NASCAR could stoke a “high appetite for winning races,” in other ways, Helton suggested.
“The points models start off with a simple system,” he said, “but we can accomplish the attention to winning with bonus points and other pieces.”
Jeff Gordon, who won all four of his Cup titles before the Chase was instituted, said “the points and the money and whatever benefits can come from it are just sort of the icing on the cake, as long as we continue to see a point system that rewards that as well as create some consistency in there, too.”
“I think that the points should pay the same from about 30th on back,” Gordon said. “First through 25th, maybe even 30th, and so if you crash or something, to have to go back out there to gain a few extra points I think is silly.”
C/P Thats Racin
Read more: http://www.thatsracin.com/2011/01/21/54109/nascar-execs-still-coy-with-points.html#ixzz1BjXpqLok