NASCAR's Cup Chase is Running a Clear Second to Track Trash Talk

A Commentary by Valerie J. Wood

I am not a fan of the "Chase for the Cup" format that NASCAR adopted in 2004. It is still contrived, gimmicky, and prone to manipulation, particularly by multi-car teams. This year's 'Chase' has not really improved any. The attempt to parallel NASCAR's Championship with major league sports such as baseball, football, hockey, and basketball is laughable, particularly when you consider that in each of those sports, when a team is eliminated, it is ELIMINATED. If the format had been to run the last 10 races with only the competitors who were eligible for the Cup, it would have made some measure of sense. And, should a driver be mathematically eliminated by points by, for example, the 6th of those 10 races, then that driver would be eliminated from competing in the remaining 4 races.

The debacle at Charlotte was without a doubt the most pathetic, disgusting 'race' ever run under the NASCAR aegis. Particularly telling were the post-race comments (and I'm not referring to those by the competitors, although they were priceless, but rather the ones) by NASCAR officials. A statement was made that there was a 'consideration' to shorten the race--which didn't happen. It begs the question as to why wasn't the race shortened? Was it because a driver that NASCAR did not want to see win the race was leading at the time? What other reason could there be NOT to shorten it? It's rather like the Talladega race, when the caution came out on the last lap split seconds after Dale Jarrett passed Tony Stewart on track, and Jarret got the win. Speaking of Tony Stewart, let's muse about last weekend's blocking event at Martinsville.

The Martinsville race was so basically boring that we spent equal time checking on the NFL games. Martinsville boring? Yes. NFL on Fox and CBS was a much more interesting sports event. You could watch a series of downs, go back to the race on commercials, and easily catch up on what little you had missed. It's no secret that NBC has pulled out of the bidding for race coverage of NASCAR, citing that the money the France family wants is in excess of the value of the telecasts. But, what was that about Tony Stewart, you ask? Much ado was made in the media and on the broadcast about Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus (and, by the way, why do they pronounce the "K" in Knaus? You don't pronounce the "k" in knight, know, knowledge or knucklehead...it's a strange enunciation that's for sure) attempting to "get inside" Tony's head by making obnoxious comments on the team radio. Do you really want to get into Tony's head and get him fired up? Racers like Tony Stewart have a clear knack (there's that silent "k" again) for channeling energy, emotion and motivation into kicking performance up a notch. If Knaus is attempting to play psychologist, perhaps he should stick to being a crew chief. Don't quit your day job, Chad. Knaus has larger issues such as dealing with his own driver whose immature attitude and antics continue race after race. One would expect a driver with Johnson's experience to have more talent and finesse on the track. We're still waiting to see that. After all, Jimmie Johnson clearly wrecked Elliott Sadler at Talledega (then tried to foist the blame on Earnhardt, Jr.), and after the Martinsville race was whining because he couldn't hold his line on the track and Tony Stewart got around him. To quote Cuba Gooding, Jr. in Jerry Maguire, "Boo-#*%*-ing-Hoo." Drivers who live by the bump-and-run may very well, as they say, die by the bump-and-run.

Brian France is credited with devising the format for the "Chase for the Cup." A format which has blatantly disregarded racing history and which has, by the way, NOT been emulated by any other racing series to date. Major racing series such as  F1, IndyCars, the IRL, the NHRA, and minor series such as ARCA, Hooters Pro Cup, the IHRA, etc., have not seen fit (mercifully) to alter their formats. And, at least for this year, the Busch Series, Busch North, Winston West and Craftsman Truck Series have kept to their formats.

While racing is a team sport in the sense that it takes a team of mechanics and crew to put a car on the track, it is not, nor is likely to ever be a team sport in the sense that baseball, football, hockey and basketball are team sports. It is the skill of the participant--in this case the driver--which should be the focus of the sport. Racers like Smoke step up to the plate when it's time to score. The Championship should be awarded to the driver who gains the most points at the end of the season, not who gains the most points in the last 10 races. Ideally, it will be one and the same, but with NASCAR calling the shots, fans have a right to question the politics on, and off, the track.

For information on Valerie Wood's novel, Enforcer, visit http://www.enforcer.fcpages.com/ (Official Website for Enforcer) or http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/14441 (Publisher's Website/read an excerpt).

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