Winning is the goal for any competitive athlete or sports team, and while the same is true in NASCAR, it’s also a sport where winning hasn’t necessarily always been the goal.

‘Big Picture’ racing is something practiced by many drivers and teams. During a race, sometimes fewer chances are taken in order to finish well enough to protect points in the overall season championship standings.

There was a time not too long ago when ‘Big Picture’ racing was the norm nearly every week.  With NASCAR’s Chase the Championship, the season-ending ten-race playoff, getting into the top-10 and then later the top-12 has been the goal all season and ‘Big Picture’ racing was part of that strategy. But NASCAR threw teams a curve ball of sorts last year when they began awarding bonus points for wins and seeding drivers based on victories.

Once the Chase begins, drivers are seeded according to the number of wins earned in the first 26 races, which pretty much eliminates ‘Big Picture’ racing.

Kyle Busch and Mark Martin are in the driver’s seat headed into Sunday’s LENOX Industrial Tools 301. Both lead the series with three wins apiece in 2009, which means 30 bonus points for each.MORE-->>