Fixing the Chase and Other Ways to Make NASCAR Better

A couple years back, I did a "special report" on ways to make NASCAR a better sport. I am revisiting the topic again today, but this time around, I am focusing more on the procedural aspects of the sport.

Back then, I talked about items such as driver pensions, cutting costs (for both teams and fans), and stop throwing so many damn needless debris cautions. So think about it for a minute: pretend you are Brian France, and have actually acquired a brain.

Or that you have attacked Daytona Beach and seized control of NASCAR (don't say you've never dreamed about it after the latest of their boneheaded moves). What would you do, procedures-wise? Eliminate the Lucky Dog? Bring back racing to the yellow? Others? Here are a few of my ideas.

Revamp the points system for Chase participants
Jimmie Johnson and the Lowe's team are obviously unbeatable, and barring an act of God or someone having the foresight to slip him a mickey 30 minutes before the green flag at one of the three remaining races, they will be the first back-to-back-to-back champs since Cale Yarborough in '78.

When a team such as the 48 has seemingly made a deal with the Devil and never has any bad races during the Chase, one bad event ruins it for everyone else and makes me keep the television on football for the most part. Since the points were reset, what was an 80 point stretch between 1st and 12th seven weeks ago is now 465.

One bad race should not decide who wins the championship and who does not. Revamp the Chase system so that the 12 title contenders receive points based on their finish relative to each other (i.e. the best Chase driver in the finishing order, whether he won the race or finished 10th, would receive 185 points, while the lowest finishing one would get 127).

In addition, in what may seem like a radical move that challenges the notion that consistency wins championships, drop the lowest finish for each team from their points total after Homestead. And if you wanted to make it really interesting, revert back to the normal points system at Homestead, where finishing 43rd would mean losing 156 points instead of 58.

Lock in only the top 20 teams
Locking in the top 35 may be a moot point next year if the economy continues to tank (and it will), and several teams do not line up sponsorships. But when the starting field is 43 cars, basically spoon feeding 80 percent of them a spot each week is going too far.

I know it gives sponsors a guarantee that they will see their car out there on Sunday each week, but it is basically a form of NASCAR welfare. And welfare is bad, children. Taking the top 20 and giving them a spot each week would lock in the big names, and create some interesting qualifying sessions when we see more than 43 cars showing up. I'm not sure how often that will be the case in 2009.

Bring back two-day qualifying
Friday qualifying has been canceled the past three weeks, essentially giving the 48 bunch the best pit stall and clean air at the start of the event. While NASCAR certainly cannot control Mother Nature, they can provide contingency plans to allow part-time teams trying to get experience for younger drivers (i.e. Joey Logano with JGR) a chance to get in the event in the case Friday is interrupted by the wet stuff.

When qualifying is rained out, use Saturday morning as a time when all of the teams outside of the top 20 (not locked in) can run two qualifying laps, and set the starting field from 21st on back. If it rains again, revert to the rulebook. As for days where Friday is dry, how about we go back to two qualifying sessions?

That would certainly make it more interesting for both the teams locked in to the field and those who are not. My earliest memories had NASCAR locking in the top 20 on Friday, before bumping that number up to the top 25 in the late 90s. Run everyone on Friday afternoon, and lock in the fastest 20, regardless of their status for the race.

Saturday morning would set the field for the remaining portion of the field, and give crew chiefs the difficult choice of standing on their lap or trying to go faster. And with the number of go-or-go-homers locked in on Friday being variable between zero and twenty, each week would feature a different number of spots available for the taking during Saturday qualifying.

If the go-or-go-homers collectively were weak on Friday, more spots would be on the line on Saturday. If they tear it up on Friday, very few spots would be left for teams not in the top 20 in the first session.

Eliminate the Lucky Dog/Free Pass
This is the dumbest rule not only in NASCAR, but in all of auto racing and potentially in any sport. If you aren't fast enough to: a. stay on the lead lap, or b. get your lap back the hard way, you don't deserve to be on the lead lap.

Now you may be wondering my thoughts on how things worked before racing to the caution was eliminated (where the leader often slowed down to allow a lapped car or two to pass him before getting back to the start/finish line). That was outright dangerous. It's a wonder Ernie Irvan didn't ever kill himself or someone else doing this.

Thankfully Greg Sacks wasn't injured when one of these attempts by Irvan blew up in his face at Texas in '97. The moral of the story: be fast or clever enough to get your lap back without help from Big Brother, or stay a lap down.

Stop allowing EVERY lap down car the opportunity to line up on the inside line during a restart
This basically forces the 10th place car to be starting 20th on restarts late in the race, and with clean air the important factor it is, it makes it impossible to make any kind of headway, regardless of the strength of one's car. I'd suggest allowing the top three or four cars one lap down (and one lap down only) the opportunity to line up on the inside of the leaders.

That way, they would at least be allowed the chance to get their lap back. For years, many pundits have suggested also moving the lapped cars to the outside line so the leaders get the preferred line on the restarts for a change. That would be an option under my plan as well.

Tougher minimum speed standards
With having 43 competitive cars each week looking like it may be a problem in 2009, the start-and-parkers will surely beging to infiltrate the Sprint Cup garage again. While 43 cars each week makes the big wigs happy and gives everyone the impression that the series is strong, I think it is a farce when five of them are behind the wall after 10 laps for bogus excuses.

If you want to pick up a paycheck that easily, I'm sure the government can help you out on that one. One way to keep the dreaded start-and-parkers away in tough economic times is to toughen minimum speed standards. A car has to go so fast in practice/qualifying (don't ask me the exact method for determining the minimum speed) to be allowed to start the race.

The full-time teams are essentially even anyways these days, and even at a track like Daytona, are within a second of each other. Proving you can run a lap within a second of the fastest car could be a good benchmark, and may scare away many of the teams looking for an easy pay day.

Eliminate the champion's provisional
This rule was put in after Richard Petty DNQ'ed at Richmond in '89, and has been abused ever since. I love Bill Elliott, and think he was one of the best drivers of his generation, doing it all as classy as possible. But if you aren't fast enough to make the field, you aren't fast enough.

I'm for going back to the "old days" of pre-1989 where there were no provisionals. 43 cars starting based on their starting times. Bringing back a second-day of qualifying would give teams another chance if something happened on Friday.

Scale down the fields at Bristol and Martinsville to 36 again
I know NASCAR originally bumped the field sizes at short tracks to ensure they didn't have a bunch of fully funded teams going home. But let's face it: having 43 cars on a tight half-mile track creates more problems than it fixes. If a driver starts in the back, he is often a half lap down at from the get-go.

After an early caution where basically everyone is still on the lead lap, and it is even worse. Keeping the field at 43 for Richmond and the one-milers would not be a problem in my opinion, and if there were the cars available to do so, increasing the starting field to 46 or so at the restrictor plate tracks could be doable.

I am sure there are more suggestions, but in my pre-bedtime state, I cannot think of any more off the top of my head. But I believe I hit all of the major points. And I didn't even get started on potential rule changes I'd like to see.

Just for the record in the rules department, some of my suggestions include suspensions for entire teams if caught with a serious infraction, more flexibility in adjusting the COT, finding ways to give more manufacturer identity to the cars again (aka getting away from common templates), and eventually finding a way to do away with restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega.