Outside the Chase the Season Goes On!
By: Drew Hierwarter
Well now all the hype is over, the pressure is off, and the field is set for the “Chase for the Championship”. Okay, so maybe the real hype and pressure is just beginning. Now the focus is on the 12 drivers who are the only ones with a chance at the 2009 season title, almost to the complete exclusion of everyone else. The TV cameras will be focusing on the top 12, the talking heads up in the booth will be talking about the top 12, and the writers and bloggers will be writing about the top 12.
Here’s a news flash; there are still going to be 31 other cars on the track each week. Thirty one other teams who still care about where they finish in the points. Thirty one other teams who still want to finish the year with a win, or just one more top ten. Thirty one other drivers who still have something to prove, or something to say, or who just want to race!
Ever since NASCAR instituted the chase format sports writers have been trying to compare it to the “playoffs” in other sports. The comparison makes no sense. There are only two teams competing in baseball’s “World Series”. Only two teams play in the “Super Bowl”. In no other sport does the entire league play in the championship rounds.
On any given weekend, almost any one of those 31 other teams could steal the thunder from one or all of the chase contenders. The sad part is that no matter how well they may run over the last races of the year, none of them can finish any higher than 13th in the standings. Kyle Busch could conceivably win three or four races before the end of the season and not advance beyond his current 13th in the points. Just as easily, (though highly unlikely) Mark Martin and his team could suffer a complete meltdown over the next ten races and they still can’t finish any worse than 12th.
There are still plenty of things to watch for other than the teams that will be in the chase spotlight each week. David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose have been steadily improving all season. For Ambrose, a win on an oval would make his season as would a win for Reutimann that didn’t involve rain. Kevin Harvick has had a dismal year but the team has shown some improvement over the last few weeks. A win would redeem their season. And let’s not forget drivers like David Stremme and Reed Sorenson who will be looking for a new ride at the end of the year. A solid performance by either of them over the next ten races would only help that job search.
So, as you watch the final ten races of the Sprint Cup season, try to block out some of the hype and look beyond the top 12 drivers who are in “The Chase”. There are still plenty of stories in those thirty one other teams. There will be plenty of action and drama, and lots of good hard racing.
September 14th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
This ridiculous excuse for a playoff gets to be more of a joke every year!!! In no oyher sport is winning not the only way in. Brians folly has four non winners and one four time winner not eligible.Brilliant! This comment is not from a Kyle fan, just a Nascar fan of old,and an old drag racer.My favorite has never been “in”,so most of the year I’ve no idea where he is on the track. But the all powerful media loves it.Pitiful….
October 6th, 2009 at 9:04 am
banzaibonnie, you said; “In no other sport is winning not the only way in”. The key there is “In no other sport. . .” The point being that racing is NOT like any other sport. In most stick-and-ball sports, every game has one winner and one loser. Therefore the team that wins the most must be the best, right?
Well, in racing every “game” has 43 teams. There’s only one “winner” but there are 42 teams that have a varying degree of “losing”. It’s not just one or the other. So we have a points system that rewards a team based on how high up in the running order they “lose”.
Several years ago Ryan Newman won more races in the season than anybody else but did not win the championship. That was because he also finished 20th or worse more times than anybody else that year. And that certainly is NOT a championship performance.
If you look at the stats, the team that wins the championship most years has completed 97% or more of the laps and has consistently higher overall finishes than any other team. That’s what makes a championship.
Look at the 48 team. In the entire 6 year history of the chase, the 48 is the ONLY team with an average finish in Chase races higher than tenth. That means they consistently finish higher than all of the other teams. And THAT’s why they win championships.