Chase brings playoff drama to NASCAR

MARTIN

NASCAR’s Chase for the Championship, which got underway Sunday at New Hampshire Speedway, has done what boss Brian France hoped it would do — and more.

It injects playoff-type excitement and drama into the season’s autumn stretch run, a time when NASCAR has to compete with the NFL and college football for fan attention.

The Chase was put in place after the 2003 season, a year in which Matt Kenseth built an insurmountable points lead with “consistency” (a euphemism for “boring”). Kenseth coasted through the final races, winning the championship amid a thunder of snores.

Young France, displaying the vision of his grandfather and father who built what Sports Illustrated once termed “America’s hottest sport,” realized something had to be done. So he did it.

France set the sport on its ear with the Chase, and even though some traditionalists continue to complain, it has been a runaway success.

The top 12 drivers after the first 26 races compete for the title in a virtual reset of the point standings. Once the Chase begins it’s a whole new season. Just as any NFL team that makes the playoffs has a shot at the Super Bowl, any of the 12 Chase racers has a chance at the Sprint Cup championship.

Critics gripe that if their favorite driver isn’t in the Chase they won’t watch.

They forget that under the former system, if their favorite driver wasn’t in at least the top 10 with 10 races to go, he had no chance. No driver ever rallied from that far back. The Chase doesn’t eliminate a single contender.

That non-Chasers get overlooked is another complaint, and it’s true — just as NFL teams that don’t make the playoffs get overlooked. The difference is that in NASCAR the non-Chasers continue to race and should have oodles of incentive. In some cases, jobs are on the line.

A non-Chase driver can still get attention the old-fashioned way — win the race.

Some claim the Chase makes the first 26 races irrelevant. Just the opposite — starting with the Daytona 500, every race takes on added importance. Each point and each position is critical as drivers jockey for the coveted Top 12.

Under the former system, this season would be about over because Tony Stewart would have a virtually insurmountable points lead. But now in the Chase, Stewart is just one of 12 drivers who have a title shot.

Stewart in fact is not even the top seed — that distinction goes to Mark Martin based on number of wins. Under the old points system Martin would be virtually out of contention; now he and 11 of his fastest friends are locked in a tense title fight as the excitement, pressure and drama builds race-by-race.

Nobody — on the track or in the stands — will be caught napping.