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The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Sep. 16, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CLXIV
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Sam Hornish, Jr. Gains Chicagoland Sponsors
Mason Mingus to Make XFINITY Series Debut at Chicagoland
David Gilliland, Love's Travel Stops To Host Special Guest at Chicagoland
For David Gilliland and Front Row Motorsports, Chicagoland Speedway is a big weekend, and not just because the Chase is here. Sponsor Love's Travel Stops is partnering with the Children's Miracle Network for the weekend and the team will host seven-year-old Jack Benjamin as an official guest. Read more
NHRA Top Fuel Championship Contending Team Ceases Operation
Today's Featured Commentary
For the most part, I'm a nice guy.
I like happy endings. I enjoy romantic comedies. I want to see good things happen to good people. I feel it's acceptable when good ideas bring good results.
Except for NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
When it comes to NASCAR's elimination-driven postseason of ten races, I dream of a public relations nightmare. Not in the fire-and-death-from-above context; my dreams follow a more subdued form of evil.
I dream of having a non-winner take the 2015 Sprint Cup title.
Ever since Brian France linked winning races to earning a place in the Chase and an opportunity to win the points championship I've fantasized about seeing this logical strategy turned onto its head. We came perilously close last year when Ryan Newman made it into the "Final Four" at Homestead and finished second in the Cup standings to Kevin Harvick.
Newman got to Homestead with zero wins and five top-5 finishes. Kevin Harvick got there with five wins and 14 top-5 performances. The firesuit-wearing elephant in the room was their respective average finishes for the year. While Harvick took the Cup title with an average finish of 12.9 for the 2014 season, Newman slightly bettered that number with a more consistent average run of 12.7 after Homestead.
And all these accomplishments came after "Rocketman" navigated the newly-instituted elimination system that dropped big winners like Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jimmie Johnson, and Kyle Busch out of the title picture.
Sadly, Newman's winless 2014 championship was not to be. So now I'm setting my pessimistic sights on this weekend at Chicagoland….
Maybe my pessimism stems from growing up with NASCAR during the years of the "old" system when a driver like the late Benny Parsons could win the championship after scoring just one victory. Same for Matt Kenseth when he took the Cup title back in 2003.
Consistency has always been the key to winning championships, regardless of the sport. Nowhere has this case been more prevalent than in NASCAR, especially during the decades when every race allowed every driver to take their best shot at winning the big prize. Granted, the competition back then was often limited; there were some years when only three or four teams had a legitimate chance to win races on any given weekend. At least there was an opportunity to stay relevant in the point standings without needing to win races and without the top-16 cutoff that we have today.
To me, the new championship format circa 2004 seemed to be more of the same: a handful of teams racing for the title based on the depth of their organizations and the depth of their pockets. And that was during the "old" Chase, before the win-and-in method was introduced a decade later.
Sure, the emphasis on needing a win has upped the ante for Cup teams. No one knows this reality better than Aric Almirola. The Richard Petty Motorsports driver used his red-flag win at Daytona in July of 2014 to make the top-16 in points and qualify for last year's Chase. Almirola is the same RPM driver who finished fourth last weekend at Richmond, wound up 17th in points, and missed this year's edition of the Chase for the Championship.
All the more reason that I want to see a non-winner take the title at Homestead.
Not that there's a healthy roster of potential spoilers. Ryan Newman is again in the mix but so are first-timers like Jamie McMurray and Paul Menard. Jeff Gordon made the Chase without a win in 2015, so might he be the first to show-up NASCAR at its own game?
What a way for Gordon to end his storied driving career: to win his fifth title without ever visiting Victory Lane during his final season. If Gordon could win by finishing second to race-winner Tony Stewart at Homestead, the finale would put a unique spin on NASCAR's need to have a "Game Seven" moment in November.
Achieving such an accomplishment, however, will be difficult. Might this year be the one when we see the "Final Four" coming from one owner (as in Joe Gibbs)? Could this year be the one when a driver who's missed eleven races waives off adversity and takes the title? Could Jimmie Johnson win his record-tying seventh? Might Junior win his first?
If we can dream about the above scenarios, why not consider the one rattling around in my head since last November? Gordon even mentioned that the Chase format gives consistent top-5 teams hope for the championship. As long as a team survives elimination between rounds they have a shot at winning it all.
I recognize that last year's Chase for the Championship had its fair share of exciting moments. The post-race shoving matches and angry sound bites put NASCAR Nation squarely on America's Monday morning sports pages, and that's ultimately good for the sport; even negative publicity counts as publicity.
To me, there was also something exciting about having a driver like Ryan Newman battling for the title despite having a golden goose egg in his win column. Call me pessimistic, but I'd like to see such a finale again this season, only with a winless driver outrunning his three closest rivals for the title. Consistency over 36 races should count for something.
To me, a winless champion would make for a happy ending.
Dr. Mark Howell is a contributor for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at mark.howell@frontstretch.com.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0
Drivers who worked their way in or out of the Chase at Richmond for the second consecutive year.
1
Year in NASCAR's playoff history in which Roush Fenway Racing has failed to make the Chase with any of its entries: 2015.
2
The number of cautions for wrecks in the last two Richmond regular season NASCAR finales -- combined.
3
Wins for Matt Kenseth in the last six races (including Saturday night). He's led a NASCAR high 502 laps during that stretch.
4
Cars to make the Chase from Joe Gibbs Racing, one-quarter of the 16-driver field. JGR is the only team to get its entire four-car organization in the postseason this year.
5
Straight top-7 finishes for Joey Logano to end the Sprint Cup regular season. Logano was third Saturday night.
6
Cautions for 47 laps at Richmond. Four of them were for debris.
8
Different teams to make this year's Chase. They are: Joe Gibbs Racing (4 entries), Hendrick Motorsports (3), Team Penske (2), Richard Childress Racing (2), Stewart-Haas Racing (2), Furniture Row Racing (1), Chip Ganassi Racing (1) and Michael Waltrip Racing (1).
9.7
Average number of lead changes in the last three Sprint Cup events held at Richmond.
17
Points Aric Almirola finished behind Paul Menard for the final Chase spot.
20
Points Almirola lost to Menard at the three NASCAR restrictor plate races this season: Daytona and Talladega.
33
Laps led by Jeff Gordon this season outside of Daytona & Talladega. He failed to lead a lap at Richmond despite finishing seventh.
199
Points three-time champion Tony Stewart finished behind Paul Menard for the final Chase spot.
$88,840
Money won by Carl Edwards at Richmond by finishing 11th.
$102,835
Money won by Martin Truex, Jr. at Richmond after smacking the wall and limping home 32nd.
TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
Tweet N Greet: Tony Stewart, John Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Busch, Plus More!
Did You Notice?... When To Move On As NASCAR Enters Playoff Stretch
Tuesday's Answer:
Q: The inaugural visit for the XFINITY Series to Chicagoland Speedway back in 2001 is notable because Jimmie Johnson earned his first career NASCAR victory. Bobby Hamilton, Jr. started fifth and could have rained on that party. However, he was put out early through no fault of his own. What happened?
COMING TOMORROW
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