“Chase for the Championship” not that Bad of an Idea
By: Andy Kondratick
The worst thing that I can see in the new changes is the fact that my favorite driver could be 250 points ahead of his closest threats in the points only to loose it at week 26 and only be five points ahead along with five or six other guys who otherwise wouldn’t have normally had a shot at the Championship. The rest of the proposal by NASCAR is a healthy change. I am not one for change at all but the fact that helped me the most was they aren’t going to change how they score the points. They are going to stay with the same format except for the five extra points to the race winner. All the reports were wrong and the hype that was made into a fan-angry frenzy (including myself) was unwarranted. I am going to embrace this change. If NASCAR was going to do anything, I believe this was they way to go.
I am not happy however about the way NASCAR went about the change. They stated during the press conference that this decision wasn’t made because of TV money or ratings at all. Only to contradict themselves later in the press conference by saying they made the change to help make the end of the season be more exciting in order to compete with the other sports that are on television late in the season. The mention of the World Series and NFL Football came up along with some others. It just seemed sneaky to me. It was as if they were trying to pull the infamous “Jedi Mind Trick” on us. They tell the fan one thing, and make us believe it, and then secretly have a different agenda. They just need to put it out there in plain English and be done with it. Other than that I am very comfortable with the change.
It is my opinion that this will make those last ten races more exciting. It will be nice to have a different way to look at NASCAR racing. Lets face it; the way they were going was boring. I am an old time race fan but I really believe this will make racing even more interesting than it all ready is. It has even helped the excitement in the JNFL Fantasy League. That is a NASCAR fantasy-racing league that I am a team owner in. I don’t want to reveal what makes our league the best there is but I will say this, we run our league just as if we were NASCAR competitors. We have the same rules for points to give us our top ten winners every year. It’s pretty simple but yet complex at the same time. Either way, the current changes will help make our league just as exciting but there are still going to be some really ticked off team owners come week 26. The NEXTEL Cup drivers and team owners will no doubt have the same feeling come the week after race 26.
So it is written and so shall it be done. Whether you like it or not, it’s going to happen. I for one was thinking about boycotting just like many others but I feel this will be good. Change is always inevitable but hardly ever excepted. I for one can’t wait till the season gets started and I look forward to a good steady reign by Brian France and Mike Helton. They have proven to me that they are the guys to get the job done.
This has been one racefan’s opinion…
Rogue Reporter Andy
January 22, 2004 -
It is not hard to believe that after all these years NASCAR is looking to do something different. It is also not hard to believe that everyone was totally against the changes that were talked about before the official press conference on Tuesday morning. I for one was totally opposed to NASCAR making any changes, but after hearing the official explanation by Mike Helton and Brian France, my mind was put at ease somewhat. I don’t think what they are proposing is all that bad of an idea.