Which driver has the highest level of success? Well, if the point of racing is to finish first, then the answer comes easy. Last Sunday, Dale Earnhardt Jr was the most successful driver in the Daytona 500. There is no argument.

So, who is the best over the course of an entire season and how should that be measured? NASCAR figures a 16-driver, 10 race, four round elimination system is the way to go. I propose giving 69-70 points per win (up from 47-48) and eliminating the Chase could be another. However, what if NASCAR had decided to award their championship to the driver with the most wins during the season, those with the most successful races, using points as a tie-breaker?

At present, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt lead the way with seven titles, with Jimmie Johnson at six, and Jeff Gordon with four. Five more drivers have each claimed three crowns, all either present or future Hall of Famers in Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, and Tony Stewart. However, if wins trumped points per season, the landscape would change, and I dare say a lot of NASCAR fans would not like it.

Leading the way as the sport’s greatest driver would be Jeff Gordon. Six times between 1995 and 2001, including five straight, he was the season’s most successful driver. Richard Petty did it five times, with David Pearson and Darrell Waltrip one behind. Our three time “winners” would have included Cale Yarborough, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, and Jimmie Johnson. As for Dale Earnhardt, he had the most wins in a season just twice, in 1987 and 1990. I told you some might not like that statistic.

Why rewrite history, why reinvent the wheel? So, to determine the most successful driver all I did was eliminate the Chase and give added weight to victories.  As we go through the season, I’ll leave it to you to determine if this succeeds in doing so.

Our hottest 20 drivers coming out of Daytona are…

My grandfather might have fought on the front lines in World War I from the time he was 18 until he turned 22, but he did not invent NASCAR. My father might have turned limited educational opportunities in World War II Saskatchewan into a career in public works, but he never ran NASCAR. My cousin Michelle might currently be vacationing in France, but we still are no relations to a certain family. Thus, I have no championship to bestow to any driver. What I do have is an idea to allow us to determine just who is the best driver of 2014, even if they fail to win the “championship” in Miami.

One need not try to re-invent the wheel. In fact, NASCAR almost came up with the best solution all on their lonesome. The current points system is right on the money, but still fails to fully reward victories. After all, winning is everything and second is just the first loser. So, I would make only two changes. First, increase the victor’s spoils from 47 to 48 points up to 69 or 70 points. That would give the winner a gap of between 22 and 25 points up on the runner up. Second, I would toss the Chase.

The champion over the past three seasons would still be the champion, while back in 2003 eight race winner Ryan Newman would have taken the crown from single race winner Matt Kenseth. Still, Kenseth would have had a shot of taking it heading into Homestead, and isn’t that all what we should really ask for? Okay, other than to have a champion declared we all might agree is actually the true king of the season.

Still, after more than 30 years with the same system, Kenseth was indeed the legitimate king that season. Even with the ten race Chase, and a field cluttered with non-contenders, enough events were run that we could grudgingly accept that the leader after Homestead should have his name engraved on the trophy. A single race with four survivors surrounded by 39 also-rans, the best among the four getting the prize, might be a bridge too far.

So, for those of us who want to keep our eye on who was the most dominant over the course of the season, we abandon the Chase and reward each race winner with 22 additional points. I submit that this might be a more legitimate, less contrived way, of deciding who, if not the champion, was the best over the course of the season. That season begins on Sunday.

I guess it was written in stone, after all. NASCAR has gone ahead and, starting this season, will award the season crown to the best finisher amongst just four drivers at the year’s finale in Homestead. I doubt more than a handful would consider such a champion as legitimate, at least among true fans. As for the rest of us, we can either find some other sport to watch, or decide amongst ourselves who really was the best on the season.

In 1967, Richard Petty won 27 races and the title. No surprise there, but if this new way of doing things had been in place, Petty would not have won the title. Last year, Jimmie Johnson averaged a 5.1 finish over the course of the Chase, but he would not have won the title, either. In fact, had Dale Earnhardt Jr finished second, ahead of Matt Kenseth at Homestead, he would have won the crown under this format. He would have done so without winning a single race all season. Now, that would have been ironic.

I understand what NASCAR boss Brian France is attempting, but those “game seven” moments just happen. They are not contrived. The Yankees did not fold by design in 2004 to allow the Red Sox to storm back to enter sports history. Even the Super Bowl does not always provide a game seven moment. While the 2013 game was tight, who can forget the 49’ers 55-10 drubbing of the Broncos back in 1990? Even Denver fans can’t get that one out of their heads.

Once again, we turn to the Fiddler on the Roof and its lesson on tradition. You win titles by consistency, so you need a system that forces championship contenders to run well in order to keep their hopes bright. You need wins, the most cherished statistic, Top Fives and Top Tens in order to succeed.

If Brian France can put forward his idea, let me provide one of my own. Wins are important, so let us make them worth 17 points more than they currently are. That way, a maximum of 65 points might be realized. Add 11 points to those finishing second through fifth, or a minimum of 50 points for a Top Five. Finish outside the Top Ten, you are an also ran, so let us give those who finish 6th through 10th an additional 6 points, or worth between 40 and 44 points, not including bonus points for leading. Finish 11th, you still receive 33 points, and on down to one for finishing dead last. Maybe, just maybe, we can also dispense with the Chase while we are at it.

What about the game seven finale? Well, you do not always get that, so just maybe NASCAR should promote, feature, honor, and salute its best of the best. Coronations can be fun, too, if one has a clue about promotion. Maybe recognize those who came close, podium style, like the other racing series. Finishing second or third over the season, indeed at any individual race, is a fine accomplishment. Does NASCAR honor those drivers? Hell, no. Still, it is bewildering that Jimmie Johnson is not marketed as a living legend, or Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart, for that matter. Instead of cherishing their best, they seem almost embarrassed by them. It is like the MLB trying to play down the Yankees while hoping to some how get the Miami Marlins or the Houston Astros a shot at the World Series.

Will fans buy into this nonsense? Some probably will, tossing tradition into the scrap heap. Some never will. No one will beat Petty and Earnhardt’s string of titles in their minds. Why? Because no other champion will be legitimate, unless they also happen to have been the best over the course of the entire season…Chase be damned.

Using my proposed system, here is a look at the Hot 20 drivers over the 2013 season, those who proved themselves to be among the best, no gimmicks needed.

Points awarded as they presently are, with the exception of Wins worth 63 points (for a maximum of 65), Top Fives are worth from 50 – 53 points, and Top Tens are worth from 40- 44 points.