NEXTEL CUP Love it or hate it, the chase begins now

Jeff Gordon, one of the format's critics, is the early favorite to win it.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Jeff Gordon thinks there are flaws in NASCAR's new championship format and Ryan Newman still loathes the entire system.
Too bad for both of them.
The final 10-race chase begins this weekend at New Hampshire, and the champion at the end will need a decent strategy, experience and a whole lot of luck.
NASCAR's first Chase for the Nextel Cup starts as a dead-heat, with just 45 points separating first-place Gordon from 10th-place Newman. The standings can be jumbled in a single race.
"Everybody is in the same boat now. It's just who gets to be a survivor," Newman said. Any little thing can take you out -- any person, a little debris, bad luck. I don't think it's right."
Newman has consistently been NASCAR's biggest critic of the system, which was adopted this season after almost 25 years of a format that rewarded consistency.
Under the new structure, one bad race, broken part or accident can instantly eliminate a driver from contention.
That's what Gordon doesn't like.
Concerns
Because the 10 eligible drivers will compete against the entire 43-car field, under the same scoring system used for every race, Gordon is concerned about how other drivers can affect the chase.
For example, Jimmy Spencer caused a wreck last weekend that heavily damaged Jimmie Johnson's car. Spencer is not a contender; Johnson is, and he ended up finishing 36th in the race and earning just 60 points for the event.
Should that happen in the chase, he'll almost certainly be eliminated from title contention.
"I could go from leading the points right now and very easily finish 10th in these standings," Gordon said, "and I don't know if anybody in that position would think that's really fair.
"I wish we were on our own point system ... where it didn't matter where you finished as long as you finished behind guys that you were racing in the points, then you basically got the points right behind them."
But there's no changing it now, and the race is wide open.
Aside from Gordon and Newman, the rest of the field includes Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Elliott Sadler, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin and Jeremy Mayfield.
The Las Vegas oddsmakers list Gordon as the 9-5 favorite. With four series titles already, Gordon has the most experience in racing for a championship.
He leads the series this year in poles (6) and wins (5) and is a streaky driver. When he gets hot, he's capable of putting together a series of wins.
Behind him is Johnson, who was the most dominant driver for much of the season. With a huge lead in the points in August, his team began to experiment a little bit and it backfired: Johnson had three DNFs in August that raised questions about his durability.
Plus, he likely won't be able to turn to Gordon for help over the next two months. His friend, mentor and teammate will likely be keeping his secrets to himself, leaving Johnson to figure out how to win a championship on his own.
Johnson is more concerned with staying out of trouble.
"I think we have a great chance, but with this new format, I think Lady Luck is going to have to be on your side to do it," he said. "I think one DNF and you're out of luck."
Chasing the title
Earnhardt starts in third, chasing his first series championship. His father won seven titles under the old format, but Junior is a long way away from that level.
His Dale Earnhardt Inc. team lags behind the rest of the competition in many areas, particularly engineering, and went through a slump this season where they had a difficult time correcting problems. Occasional team infighting makes NASCAR's most popular driver an iffy bet to win the title.
But Earnhardt has snapped his slump and feels confident about his chances.
"If you look back over the last three or four years, we finish better at the end of the season," he said. "'I feel pretty good about it. I think we're going to a couple of tracks we run good at."
Stewart, the 2002 series champion, also runs well at the end of the year and has victories on seven of the final 10 tracks. Two more wins might be enough for the title.
Kenseth, who bored everyone last year en route to his first championship, could use the same consistent strategy to win in the new system. His tendency to score top 10 finishes, not pushing too hard for the victory and avoiding trouble that costs him valuable points, could give him a string of solid finishes that would give him the title.
Sadler is the darkhorse behind a much-improved Robert Yates racing team. He hasn't been out of the top 10 in the standings all year and has two victories.
Racing in the best equipment of his career and with an experienced crew chief in Todd Parrott, he's capable of stunning everyone and sneaking away with the title.