NASCAR makes another break with tradition, this time dropping the 'Latford' championship points system in favor of something new

Posted Jan 27th, 2011

NASCAR CEO Brian France: new points system will accentuate winning...but DNFs could hurt even more (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

By Mike Mulhern
mikemulhern.net

   CHARLOTTE
   Now we have to wait for the inevitable 'unintended consequences.'
   New NASCAR championship rules for 2011? Yep, Brian France announced Wednesday night, at the sport's newest Hall of Fame, in downtown Charlotte, that opened with a lavish, upbeat presentation about the upcoming season.
   The biggest change is two of the 12 playoff spots would go to wild cards – men with the most wins who wouldn't otherwise make the chase. The if – they would have to be top-20 in points.

   Call it the Jamie McMurray rule, since McMurray, last year's Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner, didn't score enough points to make the chase.
   France also pointed out that the previous season Kyle Busch would also have made the chase under the new rules, based on wins.
   While the argument might be made that since this past season three men, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin, all had a shot at the championship going into the final event, there was no pressing need to make any points changes.
   Nevertheless this fall's playoffs will feature the new rules when the chase kicks off at Chicagoland Speedway in mid-September.
   All three stock car series will use the same points system: 47 to the winner, 42 to second, down to one for last place. The driver leading the most laps gets a one-point bonus, so the winner could get 48 points.
   48 points? The symbolism was not lost....with Johnson, number 48, going for a sixth straight championship.
   France, the sport's CEO, says the new system, which replaces the Bob Latford system used since 1975, will give the race winner a slightly bigger advantage than the Latford system.
This past season the winner got 190 points, plus a possible five-point bonus for leading the most laps; second place got 170 points, plus a five-point bonus if leading a lap, and another five-point bonus if leading the most laps.
   NASCAR officials told teams last week that this would indeed be the new system. The reaction was generally muted.
   The biggest impact of the new points would appear to be that, one, Jamie McMurray, with three big wins in 2010 but not making the chase, would have made the playoffs, and that, two, the penalty for a DNF or a bad day would be more severe.
   Another possible issue: Could the wild card spots lead teammates to roll over and let a teammate win a race if that's what it would take for him to make the playoffs?
   Last year, under the new rules, Johnson would have still won the title.
   One thing noticeably missing in this – no extra bonus points, or even a trophy, for the guy winning the regular season. Kevin Harvick won the regular season by a wide margin last season, but he wasn't even the points leader for the first race of the chase, he was only third.
   Perhaps a bigger point made here during the presentation -- Daytona's Joie Chitwood says ticket sales for the Daytona 500 are up 30 percent, which has him hoping NASCAR will run pre-season testing again next January.
   A footnote change: qualifying order will be set by practice speeds rather than the traditional draw.

This just seems like another

Submitted by on Thu 01/27/2011 - 01:54.

This just seems like another attempt to throw in manufactured drama to the sports. Great idea I mean the chase play off system did the same thing and that helped the sport so much. OK really when will Brian France and the elite get a clue and stop messing with the sport? The points system could have used some tweaks but not an out right over hall like this. I hate the idea and what I could gather from the comments being made by other fans in the nascar.com chat room while the live feed of the press conference was being stream the vast majority of the core fan base does to. When will Brian France step down his father and grand father must be rolling in their graves when they see what he is doing to the sport.

Okay, let's look at the good

Submitted by Mike on Thu 01/27/2011 - 02:02.

Okay, let's look at the good side: Brian is willing to make changes when he thinks they need to be made. that's a big plus. now the changes themselves might be, well, not quite right, but my issues here are the poor TV presentation (yet another weak press conference? nascar needs better PR prep) and the 'we're making this change because we want to,' and not because fans are pushing for something. fans have a lot of ideas, some good, some so-so, and i'm thinking bruton smith is right, that the chase has run its course and we need something new -- but we should have some time to talk over possible changes and tweak things, and get driver feedback, and all that. the problem is we cant believe much if anything of what the drivers may say about all this, because we know now they might get fined $50,000 if they say something nascar doesnt like.

The part that worries me the

Submitted by on Thu 01/27/2011 - 07:49.

The part that worries me the most is "the penalty for a DNF or a bad day would be more severe." Will this mean that drivers will be even more cautious and unwilling to take a risky move to win the race, or even move up?
Even now, points racing had dictated that cars are designed with engines that are almost bulletproof. No risks are being made to get a horsepower advantage, if it might mean that points will be lost due to a blown engine. Because of this, cars are very similar and unable to pass each other.
Years ago, drivers had to take care of their cars, because they couldn't run full bore for the whole race. You still hear some announcers mistakenly using that throwback language to describe a cautious racer today. Today's cars can run wide open for the whole race. The racer is just driving cautiously because it is safer to avoid wrecks and earn more points.
One point for leading the most laps is designed encourage hard racing. However, we need more than that. The relationship of the first 3 hours of a race as a predictor of the winner have almost become like the regular season is to the NASCAR championship: almost irrelevant.

Mike, NASCAR should stop

Submitted by on Thu 01/27/2011 - 08:11.

Mike, NASCAR should stop worrying about the points, (most fans don't care) and consentrate on better racing, That is what fans want. Netter racing will take cars of the points.

Harold

I like the changes except for

Submitted by fireballroberts on Thu 01/27/2011 - 12:40.

I like the changes except for one, the one that really matters. Now when you have a DNF it's going to hit you 15% harder than it did under the old points system. Now if you win some races during the regular season, you can offset that and still get into the Chase, which is good. Where it's going to kill you is when you are actually in the Chase. The percentage of points given for winning over 2nd place only increased by 6%. So what NASCAR has just told everybody is they really would rather have consistency out of a driver than for him to try to get lots of wins. That just goes against the whole point of racing. Nobody lined up at the stoplight or on your bicycle as a kid to see if you could get "a good points day". The running joke about the Latford system was that it was designed on a napkin in a bar. Though that point system took little thought into it's design, this one was done by a 5th grader and with little thought going into it.

Consistancy wins out again

Submitted by on Thu 01/27/2011 - 14:36.

Consistancy wins out again over winning. Once again you will have superstars lecturing other drivers about racing them too hard and distrupting their good points day. Thats what I want to watch, 36 races of good points days (boring), not guys driving out of their skins for a win.
The funny part about this is the wild card nonsence. What is this football now? Why do we have such an complex about trying to be like the other sports (game 7 moments, playoffs, wildcard, etc) instead of being proud about what makes our sport different. Im going to laugh my ass off when Marcus Ambros gets in for winning the two road courses and knocks Joey or Junior out of the chase. Lets see how quick Nascar changes it again. At least Matt K can breath again knowing he can still win the championchip by driving around in 8th all day!

I agree with the 1st post.

Submitted by on Thu 01/27/2011 - 14:44.

I agree with the 1st post. Brian France really needs to take a page out of Bill Ford Jr.'s playbook and realize that he is not good at running the family business, step down and find a very capable person to perform the job. ISC/NASCAR and the France family are so out of touch with the fans. I really wish Bill Jr. was alive to slap his son upside the head for all of his stupid ideas. Since 2003 what has been implemented by Brian France that actually worked? Safety aspect of COT, double file restarts....anything else?

Mike: Doesn't this seem like

Submitted by on Thu 01/27/2011 - 16:19.

Mike:
Doesn't this seem like Brian is doing Sprint's bidding because they're the title sponsor? Sprint, more than any NASCAR stakeholder, wants the emphasize maintained on the season series rather than on week-to-week wins. Sprint does not want recognition to fall on the "regular season" champion. Sprint HATED the notion that Jamie McMurray had a better year than a backmarking Chase participant. Sprint wants to emphasize consistency over wins in hopes that it will keep the field closer and generate more attention for the Chase. All well and good for Sprint. But NASCAR's other stakeholders--namely networks and track owners--got a raw deal yesterday because there will be no more interest in a June race at Pocono or an April race in Martinsville than there ever was. RJR's season sponsorship was a great thing for NASCAR, but now it feels like the title sponsor is hurting the sport rather than helping it.
Thanks,
Mike

Brian France is really

Submitted by on Sat 03/12/2011 - 15:04.

Brian France is really annoying me. NASCAR shouldn't change their system. Why is it that bad? I have been watching for years and like these rules the best!
I hope NASCAR doesn't go the way of the NFL. I can't believe there might not be a 2011 football season! If you ask me, they are all greedy and selfish and don't care about the fans. We put up our hard earned dollar so they can do what they love, but they don't really care about us. They are all just as bad as the music industry with their weekly top 40s and their top 100 songs charts. They all do it so they can get more promotion and the fans don't really care about it.
Just do what you are paid to do!!!

i'm thinking too many of

Submitted by Mike on Sun 03/13/2011 - 04:24.

i'm thinking too many of these pro athletes - drivers, baseball players, football players, basketball players --- are getting way overpaid. i remember when drivers and crews and reporters all rode together to and from the track, whether it was out to riverside or up to michigan or down to talladega....
didnt i just see where someone recommended the nfl limit players to $250,000 a year.
gosh, i'd love to be making $250,000 a year, wouldn't you.
there is a growing disconnect between the drivers and fans in their views of life.
but, man, consider carl edwards lately -- he's certainly been earning his money. these guys dont have a real life, so i guess they deserve something for it. nascar eats your life up, if you're not careful.
but the people i really want to rag on are the ripoff hotels and ripoff airlines....they're the ones killing sports....(i wont bother getting

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