Raybestos Rookie of the Year or New Survivor Episode?

By: Andy Kondratick
August 19, 2002 - Ryan Newman is one of three drivers competing for the Raybestos Rookie of the year title in Winston Cup for the 2002 season and was leading that point’s chase before Michigan. Jimmy Johnson and Shawna Robinson are the two other Winston Cup rookie of the year contenders and I think Carl Long is in there but no conformation of that from NASCAR. This weekend I was asked a question on how it was possible for Newman to be ahead of Jimmy Johnson in the rookie chase when Johnson is ahead of Newman in the Winston Cup points? Well it is because of the fact that the rookie point system is different than the main point system for NASCAR. Here is how it works...

Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidates earn points based on their best 17 finishes of the season. Points are earned through entry points, competition points based on finish, top 10 bonus points, bonus points based on three segments of the season and a panel of voters at the completion of the season. Confusing? Darn right it is. Jimmy Johnson has two wins, five top five's, 14 top ten, and three poles so far and is currently third in the Winston Cup standings. Ryan Newman on the other hand has no wins, 10 top five's and 13 top ten finishes along with two poles and is currently eleventh in the standings. So are you still confused? How is it that Newman was leading the rookie points? It would take two trees from the forest to produce enough paper for me to write all this down in an explanation so I will try and make this as simple as possible for all of you to take in.

First here is how NASCAR explains the system. The first point you must swallow is that only a rookie driver’s best 17 races count towards his rookie points position. Next, the highest finishing rookie registered to run for Rookie of the Year honors gets ten rookie points. The second best finishing rookie gets nine points and so on. There are bonus rookie points that are added to the total if a rookie manages a top 10 finish. A rookie who wins a race gets ten bonus points. A rookie who finishes second gets nine rookie points, a third place is worth eight points to a rookie and so on down to tenth place which earns a rookie one bonus point. He also gets one point for just trying to make the race even if he’d failed to qualify. Then there’s the quarterly bonus rookie points. Whichever rookie is highest in the Winston Cup standings at the end of each quarter gets ten rookie bonus points. The second highest rookie in the Winston Cup points gets nine rookie bonus points and so on and so on... I don't know about you but it seems to me that NASCAR makes this game hard to play at home. So that is how we finally come up with the Rookie of the Year. (Did you read the whole paragraph above or did you just skim through it?)

Ooops... just when you thought it was safe to say who the winner is, NASCAR throws one more wrench into the factoring and that is the final vote. Is this auto racing or a new show put out by Fox? After the season ends a committee composed of five members also gets a say in who is Rookie of the Year. The five-some is made up of the NASCAR President, the Manager of Communications for NASCAR, Winston Cup Series Director, the Director of Operations for NASCAR and the reigning Winston Cup champion who as we all know is Jeff Gordon. Hmmmm. Wonder who he is voting for? The five-some vote on subjective categories that include driver conduct with NASCAR officials in the garage area and pits, driver’s actions on the track and courtesy towards veteran drivers, and conduct towards the media and fans at appearances. The driver judged best in each category gets ten points, the second best in each category gets nine points and so on again. Whew! Did you get all that? That is NASCAR's explanation of how a rookie driver in this series goes about making him or herself a Winston Cup Raybestos Rookie of the Year. When your head stops spinning and you gather all the facts accordingly move on to the next paragraph.

Now here is my version of the explanation. First, race your ass off and make sure you finish well for at least 17 races. Second, show up to qualify. You don't even need to make the race and you get a rookie point. A reward for just finding the track. Third, make sure to kiss the asses of NASCAR and said judges to gain more points and popularity so you don't get voted off the NASCAR Island and you will probably win even if your performance on the track stinks. So says the NASCAR Counsel so say we all. I picture Mike Helton and all the gang at NASCAR Headquarters sitting around in tribal robes and tee-kees burning rubber from the tracks and talking about who they want to vote off of the “Rookie of the Year Island”. Shawna would be my first guess, due to the fact we haven't heard to much from her this year. But if they vote on the popular side she just might win. How about this... The rookie who finishes highest in the regular points system wins the darn thing. I would like to send out a big KISS to NASCAR. Keep It Simple Stupid. This has been just one man's opinion.