I'll admit I'm not yet fully versed in the details of Monday's announcement. But a few initial thoughts.
As with other radical changes made in recent years, it is again a shame it's come to this. Yes, as a long-time fan, I'd rather just see the races play out naturally. Some are instant classics with photo finishes. Others are boring runaways like Kyle Petty at Rockingham in the 90s or Cale Yarborough at Nashville and Bristol in the 70s.
But ... I'm becoming part of the past vs the future. Many have said NASCAR is trying to push away long time fans. I don't think they're doing that. Why would they? They need cash from ALL age groups. Many fans may CHOOSE to quit following, but I don't think the beach suits are deliberately trying to oust their increasingly aging fan base.
I believe a lot of the noise surrounding this change is exactly that - noise. Yes, the new points formula is more complicated. But face it, who in stands or at home was tracking points during a race either with a pre-Latford system, the Latford era, or the multiple post-Latford systems. You read the box score afterwards, you listen to the pundits, you do your own ciphering, whatever re: possible scenarios that may help your fave driver. But I've never really fretted one way or other about the 43's points "as they run now".
Bottom line, the premise of the last 3 years hasn't changed. Right? Win and advance? Apparently "The Chase" is no longer a thing & has been replaced by "playoffs". One, I'm glad I get my tainted name back! And two, I AM humored that the suits now embrace the word that they glared at the media for using just a few short years ago. But that IS the system they have now, and nothing changed significantly about it Monday.
To Bobby's point, I think Monster had little to do with this. The sense I get is this has been underway for some time & was driven more by TV networks. NBC and FOX are in a world of hurt. They're locked into 8 more years of so of an inflated contract and have to be pushing NASCAR for an urgent fix moreso than a brand new title sponsor who isn't paying much more than a sponsor for a top-end single car.
The one element that DOES bug me is the plan to award points in the Daytona twins. The races are not official events as they were in the pre-Winston era - yet points will be awarded for them. To me, this is a band-aid on a flesh wound. The twins were once relevant & impacted some teams making the 500. In an era of plate racing and guaranteed charters, the starting field for the 500 is all but set. This has resulted in boring 150s. I suppose NASCAR is trying to make them relevant again. But the elephant in the room for me is that the twins ARE OBSOLETE. Rather than award points, they should simply eliminate them. No way will that happen. But IMO, the twins, Clash and All Star Race are no longer needed - and haven't been for a number of years.
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 01/24/17 11:48:37AM