Was the chase for the cup, that came out in 2004 a good idea

Question

do you think the chase was a good idea

it proved bad for me the first year, in 2004 if they had used the previous points system, my driver jeff gordon would have won.

the same thing happened in 07 when jeff had the best year anyones had in awhile including posting 30 top 10s which hasnt been done since the 70s.

but now instead of only being one championship away from winning seven the way good old richard petty and dale sr did, jeff is stuck with 4 for now.

does anyone else think the chase was not such a good idea.

Answer 1

Bad idea, and it's hard to compare someone who wins now to someone who won in the old days

Answer 2

I think the chase sucks. In 2003 Kenseth won the championship with only 1 win, meanwhile Ryan Newman with 8 wins came in 6th. The media makes a big deal about it and Nascar's knee jerk reaction was to create a chase. Kenseth won it because he and his team were consistent all year and they deserved it.

If a driver and team is consistent all year than they deserve the win, to set the points again with only ten races left to go I think is unfair and basically almost punishes a team for being better than everyone else.

One or two bad runs during the chase and all the hard work a team put in all year is basically flushed down the toilet.

I think nascar should get rid of the chase for sure. My 2 cents.

Answer 3

like most things, it has its advantages and its disadvantages. it's biggest disadvantage, in my not-so-humble opinion, is that jeff gordon fans who don't fully understand the concept of trying to compare apples and oranges, keep saying he was robbed of two championships because of it. that involves so many assumptions that it's hard to believe that people actually continue to state it as though it were an undisputable fact.

in short, gordon fans love to go on about how he would have won if the old format was in place in certain years. what they overlook is the fact that because it wasn't the old format, people raced differently. thus, if it had been the old format, there's no guarantee (and it would be extremely unlikely) that everyone would have raced and finished exactly as they did under the new format. race strategies changed as did season-long strategies, so in the end, it is impossible to compare how anyone did in the the "pre-chase" format to how they did in the "post-chase" format and say anything with any certainty at all.

other than having to explain that over and over again, i sorta like the new format. i especially like the fact that because of it the end of the season, especially the last few races, remain relevant. kenseth's lead in 2003 made the last couple of races completely irrelevant, at least in terms of the championship. i like that during the chase there are actually numerous "races" going on at the same time. there's the race for the championship; there's the race to finish in the top ten (as the eleventh and twelfth place finishers aren't recognized at the banquet); there's the race for the $1 million that 13th place wins; and then there's the race to be in the top 35. add that to the "race to the chase" which makes these next few races extremely important (and exciting) - to see who is in and who isn't - and i think it adds a lot.

Answer 4

Bad  Drivers do not race to win now but just to finish as high as possible so they can collect part of the big bucks.  It's taken a lot of the thrill from the sport

Answer 5

I thought it was a bad idea until this year. I hate that Jeff missed his championships in 04 and 07, but he will have a chance for one this year. Under the old format, he would be out of it. I guess the chase can be good or bad.

Answer 6

they did that so no one would win 7 or more championships so the king and dale would be the only two! i think it sucks!

Answer 7

Sometimes it's a good idea and sometimes it's not.  They are trying to make it fair to the drivers and interesting to the fans.  

Answer 8

I've NEVER been a fan of the chase, didn't think it was broke, not sure who thought it needed fixing..

Answer 9

I too am a Jeff Gordon fan & would have loved to see him win 2 more Championships but as we both know, the Chase format did him in.

(sigh)

Despite that however I do think that the Chase was a good idea. What would have otherwise been a runaway that most wouldn't have wanted to see, instead made the Championship undecided until the last corner, the last lap of the last race. But I think Jeff still could win a Championship under the Chase format.