"Fixing" the NASCAR Points System

Recently there has been some buzz in the news that NASCAR is planning on tweaking their points system. Here's MY suggestion to Mike Helton on how to not only shake up the points system, but reward winning, eliminate "points racing," and generally make Cup racing more competitive.

Points Per Race Formula:

Win - 199 points
2nd - 149 points
3rd - 99 points
4th - 89 points
5th - 79 points
6th - 75 points
7th - 73 points
8th thru 43rd - 71 points thru 1 point, with a 2-point increment for each position.

Why a 50-point increment between first and second, and between second and third? To eliminate the thinking by "points racers" that going for second or third, rather than going for the win, is going to be good enough to get them into the Chase. There have been several races over the past few years when I've felt that the second- or third-place drivers have "settled" for a position, rather than giving 110% and going for the win. This would pretty much ensure that such a situation won't happen.

Why a 2-point increment from 6th on back? So NASCAR can award 1 point for leading a GREEN-FLAG lap [and GREEN-FLAG LAPS ONLY--NO POINTS FOR LEADING UNDER YELLOW!], without advancing a driver's points beyond his ACTUAL finishing position. For example, if 8th place receives 71 points and doesn't lead a lap, while the 9th place finisher who theoretically leads a lap would receive 70 points, then a 9th place finish would still have less point value than an 8th place finish...which is AS IT SHOULD BE. To me, it has ALWAYS semed wrong to reward a driver more points than the driver finishing ahead of him. This solution would fix that inequity.

So a win would be 200 points [199 + 1 for leading a lap/laps]; 2nd would be worth a maximum of 150; 3rd, a max of 100; 4th, 90 points; and 5th, 76 points...providing 2nd thru 5th place finishers each lead at least one lap.

Then, when the Chase comes around, race winners will already have their bonus points in place, and NO artificial "Chase-only" scoring methodology would be necessary to designate race winners. THEN the next change would be to turn the Chase into an elimination format, beginning at the finish of the THIRD Chase race...eliminating ONE Chase qualifier at the end of each race...until only the top FIVE are left to, theoretically, compete for the title in the final race. This wouldn't necessarily FIX the Chase, but it'd be a step in the right direction.

Then trash the "automatic" qualifying position for the top 35 in points. If sponsors object, phase it in over 5 years...say, top 30 only in 2012, top 25 in 2013, top 20 in 2014, and top 10 in 2015. After that, qualifying should be on a "go fast or go home" basis.

Theoretically, if a driver dominated the win column as Kyle Busch did a few years back, the points race might be "over" before the Chase begins...but I think that the elimination of "points racing," and the return of "racing for the win"--with the practical elimination of "start and park" cars--would be worth the risk. And elimination of the top-35 automatic qualifying MIGHT get teams thinking about becoming competitive, rather than becoming satisfied with being sufficiently mediocre to race each week.

Now, I'm not saying my proposed solution would be a panacea; I'm merely saying that it would be a vast improvement over what's in place now.