Chase-free points system ?

Indeed. That's the Chase free system. Obviously the old system had its problems with run away margins, but I still prefer it to the gimmick known as The Chase. Honestly, how hard is it to come up with a point system that remains relatively close and still includes the entire season? The open-wheelers seem to have no trouble with this concept.

Open-wheelers have half as many races in a season.

With the number of competitive teams that could win a race each week, that wouldn't matter for the Cup series.

And the NASCAR truck series most popular driver is :-

Narain Karthikeyan

that's awesome. what a goofy looking dude, but very likeable. I hope to see him competing more in the future, he's decent when he doesn't get wrecked.

The question of the Chase and Johnson is an interesting one. IIRC this is now the 3rd time that he has not won the old way but has won the Chase.

I'll throw out 2009 since it was a tiny gap to Edwards and likely he would have run less conservatively at Homestead if he had needed to.

However, that leaves this year and 2007, where the deficit was a whopping 350 to Gordon. I realize teams race the system, but those are big gaps, and as several drivers have said over the years 'we try to finish as high as possible every weekend.

A 3 or 4 time champ is obviously still an outstanding accomplishment, but without the historical significance of 5 and ongoing.

Gordon has lost 2 regular season titles to Chases - it's what separates him from being a 6 time champ and knocking on the door of Petty and Earnhardt.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/n...tory?id=5843855

Big time shake up at Hendrick Motorspots.

In summary:

Mark Martin's crew chief is now Lance Mcgrew (formerly with Dale Jr)

Dale Jr's crew chief is now Steve Letarte (formerly with Jeff Gordon)

Jeff Gordon's crew chief is now Alan Gustafson (formerly with Mark Martin).

Also, the 88 and 24 are switching shops. The 5/24 will now be in one shop with the 88/48 sharing the other. And it is my understanding that Chad Knaus, while still working with the 48, will be serving as a mentor in shop for Jr's 88. Basically, this is the last ditch effort to make Dale Earnhardt Jr relevant again.


On the plus side, I'm happy to see Gordon get Alan G. I think he's a much better CC than Letarte, who I felt cost Gordon some races over the last couple of years with questionable moves.

Well, trying to fix Junior already ****ed up the 5 team. Mark went from being a world beater to showing his age in the space of one year. Hopefully the same won't happen to the 24 team now.

This moving crew chiefs sucks.... Mark should have been left paired will Alan G!

This is an attempt to fix Dale Jr..... the dirty little secret is he is a mediocre driver at best.

Ditto

I don't really understand Jr. It's not like he hasn't won and finished in the top 5 consistently in the past when he's had good engines and a good car, and he has the best now. He's not a top 10 talented driver, but he certainly should be doing better than he did this year.

Sucks for Lance McGrew though, he pretty much was just made expendable because surely Kasey will bring Kenny Francis with him in 2012

I'd say he has the natural talent to be a top ten, he's just always had everything handed to him on a silver platter for the last ten years.
Regardless of what he does on the track, he's got it all. A top of the heap car, a jet, his own race shop, a palatial home, all the babes and a fan base that worships the ground he walks on.
If there was ever a textbook case for having it all for no discernable reason, Li'l E is the living example.
It's a shame really, because I do believe he has enough talent to be a contender.

It's another notch for Johnson and Knaus that they won the title in a down year for Hendrick where three other high profile drivers went winless.

Hendrick always seems to have one team that can't get it together - remember when the 25 always struggled and they had Ray Evernham and others who had success act as 'advisors.' Not really sure if it will really do much at this point as Jr. has for the most part been off of it since the end of 2004. Is his contract up this year? I wonder if he'd be best served at a small team like his old one with little pressure. To rub it in, Hendrick has seen Kyle Busch reel off 20+ wins yearly in the various series since letting him go.

One team that was down but has looked better is Roush. Edwards finished strong, Biffle had a decent year until the Chase fade, and Kenseth got to a quiet 5th in points. I wonder what the window will be for Ragan to do something.

That blew me away when hey let him go.
While he's not my fave personality, he's a helluva racer, especially when you take in to account that Hendrick has Martin clearly on the downhill slope and never gonna be Li'l E.

It basically boils down to something Teresa Earnhardt said a few years ago (and it drives Jr Nation nuts because they unfairly despise her). She said (paraphrasing) "He needs to decide if he wants to be a rock star or a race car driver".

She's exactly right. Jr's problem is Jr. He won't put in the time and effort to be a top talent driver. Now he has been struggling to find a feel for the car since they changed to the COT. That's not entirely his fault, but in a way, it is. He wants a certain feel for the car but he can't communicate what he wants to anyone. Instead of being calm and working it out, he usually just gets mad and essentially shuts down mentally. You pick up on that behavior pretty easy if you listen to his radio transmissions and his post-race interviews. Until he gets his mind right, he won't be successful.

I'm skeptical on Knaus' relationship as a "mentor" though. Knaus doesn't put up with any BS. Heck, not even 24 hrs after JJ won his 5th title, Knaus told JJ to be ready for a long off-season of testing. Knaus is all business, all the time. I don't see it working out in that shop when Jr gets frustrated and checks out. Knaus will just isolate him and let him fail (I don't blame him either).


Also, I'm pretty sure Francis will be going to HMS with Kahne. That's sort of the main reason McGrew/Martin are together since Martin looks to be replaced by Kahne.