Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004 | 9:20 a.m.
After listening to NASCAR chairman Brian France and president Mike Helton spell out the specifics of the new scoring system that will determine the Nextel Cup Series champion, Las Vegas Motor Speedway general manager Chris Powell had only one complaint.
"The only thing I don't like about this is that I didn't come up with it -- I just think it's that good an idea," Powell said Tuesday.
Under the new format, all drivers in the top 10 in points and any other drivers within 400 points of the leaders after 26 races will be eligible to win the championship.
Those drivers who qualify for what NASCAR is calling "The Chase for the Championship" would have their points totals adjusted heading into the final 10 races of the season. The first-place driver will begin the final 10 races with 5,050 points, with incremental drops of five points for all those involved in the championship.
Although LVMS will host one of the 26 "regular-season" Nextel Cup races -- the March 7 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 -- and not one of the final 10 "Chase for the Championship" events, Powell said he does not believe his race would lose any of its luster.
"I would say that there is now more pressure on the first 26 events to get into that (top) 10," Powell said. "If anything, this puts even more emphasis on the first 26 races. I see no reason to believe that there is less emphasis on our event now than there was before -- that's one reason I like this new format; it puts more emphasis on the last 10 but it also puts more emphasis on the first 26.
"I think what some people are saying is that the last 10 races have been given such elevated status, doesn't that make the first 26 less important? I say no. It makes the first 26 more important than they were under the old format."
Powell said he had no interest in trying to get NASCAR to switch his track's Nextel Cup date in order to become one of the final "Chase for the Championship" races. Last year's sixth annual UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 attracted a record crowd estimated at 140,000 and drew the highest television ratings of any NASCAR race last season other than the Daytona 500.
NASCAR officials have conceded that they made the change, in part, to help bolster the sport's television ratings in the fall, which have fallen steadily the past few years as NASCAR loses viewers to the NFL. Powell said he envisions the new championship format as a way of creating interest late in the season.
"I think it's the breath of fresh air that the sport can use right now," Powell said. "This gives (NASCAR), just like most other sports, some type of so-called regular season and some type of playoff system -- even though I heard (Brian France) very clearly say this isn't a playoff."
While some auto racing websites have conducted polls that show NASCAR fans were overwhelmingly opposed to such a radical change in the sport's scoring system, Powell said he believes most fans will embrace the new format because it gives every driver in the top 10 after 26 races a chance to win the championship.
"Let's say you had another case like this year where (Matt) Kenseth was 350 points ahead with 10 races to go and now all of a sudden (under the new format) he's only five points ahead," Powell said.
"It's very similar to what happens on the racetrack when they throw a caution; you can be almost a full lap ahead and they throw a caution and then they throw the green flag a few laps later and you've only got a one car-length lead. It bunches the field. For the same reason that fans like cautions, I think they should like this new format."
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