Sunday, July 25, 2010

NASCAR's Flawed Point System

As I perused the NASCAR.com website and looked at the latest standings after Jamie McMurray's victory in the Brickyard 400 earlier today, I noticed some things that seemed a little off... "Jamie Mac" also won the Daytona 500 earlier this year, and is amongst only six drivers with two or more wins on the circuit in 2010. Similarly, McMurray is amongst the six drivers with six or more top five finishes this year. You would think that with all of this success, he would be a cinch to make the top 12 and be in the NASCAR chase this year. Sadly, that would be a bad assumption. As I write this, Jamie McMurray sits in 16th place, 151 points behind Clint Bowyer for the 12th and final spot in the season ending NASCAR chase, where the top 12 drivers during the first 26 races vie for the season championship.

The three drivers in the 10th, 11th and 12th positions in the NASCAR standings are currently Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer. Not only do none of these three drivers have a win this year, but they have a COMBINED eight top 5 finishes amongst them, none having more than three...

Who leads NASCAR in winnings with $4,687,502 this year? Well, it's that guy who is 16th in the Chase... yes, Jamie McMurray AGAIN!

Does anyone other than me see something VERY WRONG with this picture? NASCAR's scoring system is VERY antiquated and outdated... it's time for an overhaul... wins and top five finishes need to be rewarded more, and mediocrity needs to be rewarded A LOT less! A top 10 or top 20 finish is often much more the product of luck and attrition than anything else. It's high time that NASCAR started adding an extra premium to top five finishes and an even bigger premium to wins... after all, winning is what it is ALL about in this sport! Given all of the success Jamie McMurray has had this year, it would be a crime for him NOT to be in the chase!

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