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Welcome to the Cup Scene Daily for
Vol. III,No.VIXII FINAL EDITION
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2004 Quotes: “Well, Ryan (Newman) and Jimmie (Johnson) are getting married, so that should handicap them a little bit,”- Kevin Harvick when asked to handicap the 2004 Nextel Cup championship race 7 DAY ARCHIVE SundayMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: ESPN doing Earnhardt movie without widow's blessing Blaney at Daytona, testing with Davis team Fanfest:Fanflop Waltrip leads testing again Sponsorship woes may hinder Elliott's schedule Park going to truck series Stewart's teams have new faces Kahne in Dodge as beginning of NASCAR season nears Gibbs Sees Big Challenge in Redskins Job NASCAR's substance abuse policy quietly working Dale's perfect place: Earnhardt's burial site remains a secret Update your Thesaurus Opinion/My Word Letters to the Editor Readers Message Board(NOW OPEN!) Race Shop RACE Tickets Fantasy Garage NEW!
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Happy Birthday: Mark Martin,Briggs Pemberton,Bob Rahilly The long running rumors concerning a change the the NASCAR point system were confirmed yesterday and like it or not there will be a "playoff" system in 2004. Jim Hunter, the sanctioning body's vice president for corporate communications, confirmed Thursday the organization will drastically change the way its champion has been decided since 1975.
The details of the playoff format are still being worked out, but Hunter said one change that already has been agreed upon is rewarding more points to the winner of a race. NASCAR has been toying with changing its points system, in effect for its top series since 1975. The sanctioning body has been leaning toward a playoff system that would freeze the field of competitors after the 26th race of the season. The slate would then be wiped clean for the top 10 drivers, who would compete for the championship over the final 10 races. Hunter insists the change is not a reaction to Kenseth running away with last year's championship with only one win. The goal, he said, is to raise NASCAR's place on the sports landscape during the fall. NASCAR believes a playoff season could reverse a trend of declining attendance late in the season and help TV ratings. The ratings for November's finale at Homestead, run the week after Kenseth clinched the title, were down 13 percent. During the first six months of the season, however, NASCAR continues to experience growth. ``We go from the front of the Sports section to maybe the back between Labor Day and the end of the year,'' he said. ``We go from one of the lead stories on TV news to [mention] of who won the race. This could change that.'' One holdup to finalizing the plan, Hunter said, is how NASCAR will handle drivers outside the top 10 who are still mathematically eligible to win the championship. The sanctioning body is considering provisionals to allow those teams to compete for the title. "We are still looking at ways for a driver to race his way into the top 10," Hunter said. "We're looking at some ways not to automatically lock out someone who could race his way back into the top 10 at the end of the season." The playoff system would be for the Nextel Cup series only, although the Busch and Truck series also would adopt the change awarding additional points to race winners. Matt Kenseth's Roush Racing team was consistent all season, racking up a series-high 25 top-10 finishes while winning just once. Ryan Newman won a series-best eight races but finished sixth in the points. Kenseth's lead in the standings was overwhelming by mid-July, eliminating any drama over the second half of the season. "When people starting writing or talking about mathematical chances to win a championship it doesn't create much excitement," Hunter said. Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who wound up third in the standings, don't like the changes. "I'm not trying to boast or anything, but odds are I'd be in the top 10 if we had an average year, and I still don't like it," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said this week. "I think the change is a little aggressive. "There are a lot of things I'd love to change about the sport. The point system isn't at the top of the list." Kenseth said he doesn't like the system because the final 10 races don't include a wide range of tracks that would test each driver's skills. The final 10 races are scheduled for New Hampshire, Dover, Talladega, Kansas, Charlotte, Martinsville, Atlanta, Phoenix, Darlington and Homestead. "If you start it at zero with 10 races to go, I don't like that idea at all, because in the last 10 races there are no Daytonas, there are no Bristols, there are no Poconos and there are no road courses," Kenseth said. "I don't think a champion should be rewarded off of how good they are at 1 1/2-mile tracks. I think it should have to be rewarded on how good you are at all the tracks like it always has been." "You can call me a traditionalist or whatever, but I'm not for the change," said Dale Jarrett, who captured the championship in 1999.
"Do we need to be like the NFL, like Major League Baseball and the NBA, to where we bring more teams in and the best team doesn't always win the Super Bowl or the World Series or the NBA Championship?" Jarrett voiced his concern about team sponsors, which is the lifeblood of stock car racing. He said his team could face sponsorship problems if they failed to make the playoff cut. "I'm fortunate to have a very good sponsor in UPS that spends a lot of money in this sport -- not only on our race car, but in marketing UPS, the race team and NASCAR racing," Jarrett said. "You're gonna tell UPS, who spends millions of dollars, that the best their car can finish this season is 11th? I'm not sure how long they'll be around. I'm not putting words in their mouth, I just know of conversations I've had with them. "I think we're taking a big chance with sponsors." "I thought they were going to make 30th-43rd the same so if someone broke or got in a wreck they didn't have to go back out." said 2003 Rookie of the Year Jamie McMurray. "A lot of time when guys are running around with no front end, they're in the way. They're doing what they shouldn't have to. I did it last year three times. The drivers don't want to do it. I think that would close the points up a little bit too. I think maybe rewarding the winner with more points was good. I wasn't in favor of starting over after Richmond." "This series has always been about 36 weeks or 34, not about 26 and start over and do 10 more. Part of the reason I'm not in favor of it, I feel like I'll be one of those guys around 10th. You might get to start over and that would be great, but I might be 11th and not have a shot at going to New York." "I'm not in favor of it. " "I don't think you'd ever go out and see who you had to race for 10th and intentionally go out and wreck someone, but I think you'd be more aggressive at that time of the year to make sure you could be in the top 10. I think everybody will be that way. I haven't heard anybody that's in favor of it yet. You're going to have to do whatever you've got to do at that time to get in the top 10 and race for the championship." Dodge driver Jeremy Mayfield added: "You've got to make changes sometimes to keep the sport growing. I'm sure they're (NASCAR) listening to all of it." Bill France, vice-chair of the NASCAR board, said Thursday he had "very little input on that (points change)." "We've got to try to run things the way we think is best," "We have good, qualified people who can work that up," France said. "We've had different systems over time. The world keeps on moving. "It's not like what we're doing, we can't ever change it. If things need changing, NASCAR is famous for correcting our mistakes."
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