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Tag: points

  • Business as usual for Keselowski at Martinsville

    Business as usual for Keselowski at Martinsville

    [media-credit id=100 align=”alignright” width=”224″][/media-credit]Since the end of Tums 500 qualifying session at Martinsville Speedway, media reports, social media and television have been buzzing about series points leader Brad Keselowski’s 32nd place starting spot. Making matters worse, Keselowski’s closest competitor, Jimmie Johnson, put his No.48 Lowes Chevy on the pole. Instantly there was a buzz through the garage area. Given Johnson’s amazing record at the flat half mile track, the question being asked is not whether he will takeover the points lead, but rather by how much.

    While Johnson’s record is phenomenal, six wins in 21 starts, Keselowski has five starts and just two top ten finishes. Keselowski, however, has ran extremely well this season and did finish a respectable ninth in the spring Martinsville event.

    Another interesting fact is that due to the poor qualifying effort, the team’s choice of pit spot is less than optimal. They did choose a spot immediately behind a team that was likely to be a start and park team. This morning however, the No.32 Ford of Ken Schrader had purchased a supply of tires from the Mike Bliss No.19 car that did not make the field, so it would now seem they are going to attempt to run the entire race. That makes one wonder who may have paid the bill on those tires.

    In garage area however, the team seemed relaxed and not bothered by the enormous amount of media hype. I spoke with a team representative and asked if there was a different strategy planned given the circumstances. He responded, “Just try to get some track position early, and once we get there stay out front as long as we can.” he also pointed out that they aren’t using anything different in chassis setup and, “It sorta simplifies things for us, we know we just have to go to the front.”

    Given the relaxed, business as usual attitude of the Penske team, they may leave Martinsville in the same position they arrived with, in the drivers seat of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship!

  • Lessons Learned in the Two Duels

    Lessons Learned in the Two Duels

    [media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”281″][/media-credit]The two Gatorade Duels are over. The 150-mile qualifying races saw the field go back to pack racing, the kind of racing preferred by the fans, and little “two car tango.” In fact, the drivers couldn’t do much pushing because their cars overheated. Elliott Sadler had overheating problems during his race and Jimmie Johnson was spewing water while pushing Greg baffle. In the end, NASCAR had it all figured out, and accomplished what they set out to do. We did, however, learn some things.

    First, the Fords are fast. Doug Yates, who supplies all the engines for Ford stockers, seems to have come up with the most horsepower at least at this restrictor plate track. But the car with the horsepower doesn’t always win, as we saw in the first duel. Marcos Ambrose and Carl Edwards should have had the brute force to win this one, but it was Hendrick powered Chevrolets that won and finished second. In fact, the Hendrick power plants put seven cars in the top 10 in both races and Ford had only five. Earnhardt-Childress put four cars in the top 10 and Toyota Racing Development only two, both in the second duel. Dodge scored only two top 10’s. And yet Kyle Busch showed power in winning the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night. To sum it up, don’t give the race to Ford drivers just yet. It’s anyone’s game.

    Second, there are going to be a lot of cautions on Sunday. With a smaller spoiler, downforce will be lacking and no human is skilled enough to bump draft and push another car without making the occasional mistake. We saw it in the Shootout and we saw it today. And remember, many drivers just did not go all out today while they will in the latter stages of the Great American Race.

    Third, Tony Stewart just seems to have the knack for getting to the front and staying there at Daytona, so I look for him to be a factor and maybe even is your winner on Sunday. He’d better pay attention to Marcos Ambrose, though. Ambrose has learned the formula at these restrictor plate tracks. After finishing a strong third in the Shootout, he also finished third in the first qualifying race today. The same could be said for Kevin Harvick, Regan Smith, and Jimmie Johnson. And that’s leaving out Polesitter Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, who dominated the second duel, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who is always good here. Want the truth? It’s anyone’s game.

    Finally, the overheating problem will continue unless NASCAR makes changes in the cooling systems before the race. I’ve been told that this is not likely to happen, but who knows? It is supposed to be a lot cooler on Sunday in Florida, but we may see a lot of overheated cars try to push the limit. The dominant theory is that in the last two laps, the drivers don’t worry about whether their engine gets hot and spews water. That could result in disaster if an overzealous driver goes too far and blows up at the front of the pack at 200 mph. Let’s hope “cooler heads” prevail.

    As I write this, we are only 61 hours away from the green flag of the Daytona 500. It was a long off-season, but from what we’ve seen, the competition is better and all looks well for a very enjoyable Daytona 500. My only hope is that we can go at least this race without the words points and Chase being used in a sentence by the voices and talking heads on the race broadcasts. After all, this is the Great American Race. The winner should not be known as the guy who is leading the points, but rather the guy who won the race.

  • The New Points System – Much Ado About Nothing

    The New Points System – Much Ado About Nothing

    So now we can officially announce the new point system. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignleft” width=”225″][/media-credit]NASCAR Chairman Brian France said the goal was to make the point system simpler. Mike Helton brought it down to the elementary level by saying, “now if you’re 10 points behind, you know you have to finish 11 points ahead of the guy in first to win the championship.”

    Is this really different? The winner of a race gets 43 points, with each position below that getting one point less. That means second place is worth 42 points and third is 41 points, and so on. If a driver leads the most laps and finishes second he could score 44 points and the winner would get 46. Different? Well, in a way it is.

    The devil is in the details. Drivers now get 3 points for winning a race, 1 point for leading the most laps, and 1 point for leading a lap. This means the most points any driver could achieve in a race would be 48 points. Ironically, that is the car number for current multi-championship driver Jimmie Johnson. Coincidence?

    The Chase will be assembled different. The top 10 in points after Richmond in September will automatically be seeded in the Chase with each driver getting 2,000 points and 3 points for each win during the regular season, but there’s more. The final two positions, what France called “wild cards” (stick and ball envy, perhaps?). Winning drivers from position 11-20 in points would be rewarded with a place in the Chase. They will not get bonus points for their wins, however.

    NASCAR President Mike Helton commented that the final two drivers would have their bonus by making the Chase. The best thing to call this is the Jamie McMurray rule. McMurray won the two biggest races last year, but failed to make the Chase, so now they’ve fixed that. I guess the powers that be thought it was worthwhile to once again change the system because of one driver.

    It happened in 2003 when Matt Kenseth won the Championship with only one win. The Chase was formed. Many say that it happened again when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. couldn’t make the Chase—they increased the field. Now they’re doing it again. Or so it seems.

    The real news was the change in qualifying. Qualifying order will now be based on practice speeds, with the slowest cars going first. I suppose this is supposed to create excitement in qualifying, but you and I know that the result will be the same. However, if qualifying is rained out, as happens so often, the starting field will be seeded based on those practice speeds. Go or go home teams will qualify separate from those in the top 35 (something they will never change. If practice is rained out, the field will be set on points as it has in the past.

    So, what do I think? It’s much ado about nothing. I don’t know who these fan groups they say they base their decisions on are, but they don’t even resemble the fans I know. Most of them could care less about points, and are more interested in who wins the weekly race and how good the racing is. Yes, there has to be a championship of some sort, but as I’ve said over and over these last few years where they have emphasized the championship from the first race to the last, fans have lost interest. In the days where the race was important and the points weren’t a constant worry, NASCAR flourished.

    One good thing came out of these changes. The problem with inclement weather on qualifying day has been addressed, and we should see fewer fields where the point leader starts on the pole (something fans gripe to me about all the time.

    And we finally got Brian and Mike to admit that brand identity was important. I guess that the boys in Daytona Beach are trying, even as they continue to manufacture excitement instead of letting the racing speak for itself. Tonight they presented a PR film on just how good the racing was last year to the press. I can’t imagine Major League Baseball or the No Fun League doing this. But those sports are in a period of growth. Maybe that’s the difference.