NASCAR 10-race 'title chase' introduced

NASCAR hopes its new format emphasizes winning over consistency.
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- NASCAR is going to have a 10-race showdown for this year's Nextel Cup championship in a bid to emphasize winning and add excitement.
Just don't call it a playoff.
"It's not a playoff," NASCAR chairman Brian France emphasized Tuesday after the announcement that the top 10 drivers and any others within 400 points of the leader following the first 26 races will be included in its new "Chase for the Championship."
"It's not a single elimination, a lose and you're out or a best three-out-of-five," France explained. "It still has consistency, 10 tracks and 2 1/2 months to compete, so we think we've got something that's better than a playoff."
Earnhardt's view
Dale Earnhardt Jr., the son of a seven-time Winston Cup champion, isn't so sure that's true.
"The only thing, personally, that is important to me is, if and when I win a championship, how is it going to be compared to championships that my father won?" Earnhardt said. "Will it be the same, better, not as good?"
The change is a bid by NASCAR to put more emphasis on winning, and energize the stock car sport that has seen too many championships decided early in recent years.
NASCAR has been criticized for using a points system that rewarded consistency more than winning.
Matt Kenseth led the standings most of the season, built a huge lead and ran away with the 2003 championship despite finishing first in just one race. Ryan Newman was sixth in the standings despite winning a series-high eight races.
It's hoped that the changes to the system, in place since 1975, increase attendance and TV ratings that usually drop in the fall because of competition from the World Series, college football and the NFL.
Point totals
The drivers involved in the championship showdown will have their point totals adjusted. The first-place driver will begin the final 10 races with 5,050 points, the second driver 5,045 and so on, with incremental drops of five points for all those involved in the championship showdown.
If that system had been used in 2003, Jimmie Johnson would have won the championship by 55 points over Jeff Gordon, while Kenseth would have finished sixth.
Of course, things might have played out quite differently.
"This is going to force you to change the way you win championships, your strategies," said Earnhardt, who finished third in the 2003 standings and would have been fourth under the new format.
Another change announced Tuesday is an additional five points for the winning driver at each race, beginning with the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 15.
NASCAR president Mike Helton pointed out that no driver has come from outside the top 10 to win the championship, and that only twice in the past 10 years have as many as 11 drivers been within 400 points of the lead at that juncture.
Expected changes
Polls conducted by several media outlets before Tuesday's announcement indicated many NASCAR fans were unhappy with the expected changes to the points system. Several drivers and car owners had also voiced concerns that the changes were too big.
"We think when our fans and drivers and everybody else, when it all shakes out, when all the details are understood, they're going to love it because more drivers are going to have an opportunity to compete for a championship late in the year," NASCAR chairman Brian France said.
Earnhardt said he won't be very happy with the new format if he has a 200-point lead wiped out after the 26th race.
"But it does give everybody new hope with 10 races to go, particularly the guys who might be a couple of hundred points behind," Earnhardt said.
Down the stretch
Jamie McMurray, last year's top rookie, expects the last three or four races before the championship showdown to be "pretty wild."
"If you get to go to the playoffs, or whatever they want to call it, that's fine," McMurray said. "If you're the first guy that's hung out, then no, it won't be a good thing."
Under the new format, the champion will be guaranteed a minimum of $5 million, while each of the other drivers who finish in the top 10 will earn $1 million. The 11th-place finisher will get a $250,000 bonus.