Carl Edwards Loses Championship But Wins "Mr. Consistent"

The NASCAR point system works like this: The first 26 races are considered the regular season. You are positioning yourself by winning as much as possible and being in the top 12 in points come Richmond.

After the "regular season," the points are reset to 5000 for the top 12 and then you receive 10 points for every win. So, even if you are leading the points going into Chase, it doesn't mean you will be leading the points as the green flag waves at the first race.

Last year, Jeff Gordon dominated the "regular season" only to enter the Chase tied with Jimmie Johnson for wins at Richmond International Speedway. We know the end result—while Gordon finished well within the top 10 week in and week out and collected wins himself, Jimmie Johnson won four races and left Gordon and his fans wondering "what if?"

This year, Jimmie Johnson was not the best driver all year long. Once again that goes to Carl Edwards, who, like Gordon in 2007, is wondering "what if?"

Not taking anything away from Johnson's amazing and historic feat this past weekend, but this writer is not going to lie, Jimmie won the 10-race shootout, while the most consistent driver settled for second again.

Now, Kyle Busch, who, like Gordon in 2007, dominated the regular season, only saw his domination quickly end early in the Chase, eliminating his chance to win the title. He might have dominated NASCAR this season, but he still doesn't win me over as the clear choice for this years jilted runner-up.

The point system sets us up for this. The one leading going into the Chase is not guaranteed a championship with the points reset. Making winning races key. Kyle Busch did just that, and he barley finished in the top 10.

I understand NASCAR's intent with the new system, making winning a priority, but then  you need to find a way to reward the points leader coming into the Chase, even if they are sitting without the most wins, which is what we saw last year, when Gordon and Johnson were tied for most wins. Yet Gordon led second place Tony Stewart by 317 points and Johnson was in sixth well over 400 points out.

Johnson's early season struggles were widely documented and many "experts" had said he didn't have a shot at winning this year. The team tested and quickly rebounded. I give them the "comeback of the year" award after their slow start.

Edwards was able to win on every type of track except road courses, where Busch dominated. Edwards won early in the year, in the middle and the end. Edwards was consistent enough to win under the old system, but not good enough under the new.

Maybe rotating races wouldn't be such a bad thing. Every two years or so, change up which tracks are featured. That way other venues get featured in the Chase and maybe draw more attention to the final 10 races.

Like the Super Bowl. If the big game was played every year at Soldier Field; fans wouldn't be as drawn or as interested as they are now with the current system.

When things don't change, you lose interest. The status quo is just not good enough for the fans and that is what the NASCAR Chase has become, and fans want change and want something different and sooner rather than later fans won't stick around to see the same driver win every year.

The Chase formats sets us up for the same story different page scenario. The Chase  says little about the competition and more about the point system rewarding the one driver who has the least amount of bad luck in the final 10, and this year that driver was Jimmie Johnson—again.