CHASE FOR THE CUP Points race validates move

NASCAR has as much right to stimulate late-season interest as other pro sports.
By ED HINTON
THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
NASCAR's next giant leap in public interest -- the biggest since the popularity boom began a decade ago -- may be at hand.
The new playoffs, at first roundly maligned by purists but now looking better and better, are near. And they could bring NASCAR even closer to the NFL in fall TV ratings.
With four races left in the de facto regular season, just the scramble for a wild-card berth alone is vindication of NASCAR chairman Brian France's controversial idea.
When the restructuring was announced in January, the major criticism was that some undeserving driver might slip through the cracks and win the championship on a fluke. But consider the top four combatants for the wild-card spot, or 10th place in points.
Who would call rookie Kasey Kahne undeserving, with his four second-place finishes, his six top-fives, his near misses of deserved wins, his spots of awful luck this season?
Or Ryan Newman, who won eight races last year, most on the tour, but didn't stand a chance for the championship under the old structure?
Or Mark Martin, the long-suffering bridesmaid of many a championship season?
Or Dale Jarrett, the 1999 champion whose team had fallen so far behind in reason years, but who at age 47 has driven himself back into contention on recent Sundays?
Second tier
Those are the drivers who occupy positions 11-14 in the standings, with good shots at the top 10.
France doesn't like the term "playoffs" because no one will be eliminated in a single event. Everybody, even non-contenders for the title, will keep on racing through the year-ender at Homestead, as always.
Under the new format, the top 10 drivers in points after 26 races qualify for the "Chase to the Nextel Cup." Heading into the final 10 races, the de facto playoffs, they'll be mathematically bunched up so that only 50 points separate positions 1-10 in five-point increments.
The end of regular season, the 26th race, comes Sept. 11 at Richmond, Va. The playoffs -- there is nothing bad about a term that has worked extremely well for the NFL, NBA, NHL and baseball -- begin Sept. 19 at New Hampshire.
Points gap
Going into Sunday's GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Jeremy Mayfield clings to 10th in the standings, with Kahne 24 points back, Newman 29, Martin 72, Jarrett 87 and Jamie McMurray (maybe not as deserving as the other four, but he still wouldn't qualify as a fluke champion) 99 behind.
As many as 156 points can swing in a given race.
Now look at the top nine, those pretty secure for playoff spots. Under the old system, at this point, you'd have a four-way championship fight at best. Jimmie Johnson and his mentor/teammate, Jeff Gordon, pretty much would be in control at the top. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart would be in the hunt but with tough roads.
Johnson and Gordon already might have gone into conservative modes. Earnhardt and Stewart might not have crept to within 128 and 192 points, respectively, of leader Johnson because Johnson's and Gordon's Hendrick Motorsports team might not have dared experiment, this late in the season, with such things as the new gearboxes that failed them so terribly at Watkins Glen last Sunday.