So the season is in the record books. For the record, for the fifth time Jimmie Johnson is NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion.
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I really wanted that 5th Championship for Jimmie. I’m thrilled that he won.
I wanted Denny to learn what it is really like to lose a championship. He thought he knew – now he knows. I absolutely DID NOT want Happy to back into the championship which is what it appeared he was doing. I have been complaining for a few years about his constantly stealing a win or backing into one. I believe he’s talented, but he always seems to want to ‘trick’ his way into a win and seemed to be content to let Denny take Jimmie out then slide into the winner’s spot. The show of cowardice/deceit was highly offensive to me. I admit. I didn’t want anyone to win but Jimmie, but if it had to be someone else, I wanted it to be someone who proved – ON THE TRACK – that he was a better driver than Jimmie Johnson and that his team was better than the 48 team. Denny’s war of words, Happy’s sleight-of-hand manuevers, and NASCAR’s random decisions (why were there so few green/white/checkered finishes and so few late-race-cautions at the end of the season, compared to earlier in the season?) combined to make the Chase less exciting, less legitimate from a driving standpoint.
I was going to put pages up for each of the races, since I seemed to have simply abandoned my blog posting record of the season, but there are lots of sites with results, so I’ll throw up a couple links below and call it a day with that!
The new season is almost upon us. There was a practice in January in Daytona along with lots of interviews and media tours of all the shops. They media was a bit insane. Changes were announced for the upcoming season – supposedly further examples of NASCAR listening to the fans. The fans seem to all want the same thing, someone besides Jimmie as the Sprint Cup Champion and/or Dale Jr as Champion. Is this where this is headed? An all out attempt to dethrone the reigning champ? The media’s position was … silly at best: media members frothing at the mouth over the lack of disclosure during practice (preceding the official state of the sport address). Then the big announcement:
- The Chase continues with modifications, spots 11 & 12 are determined by number of wins in the regular season.
- Qualifying position is determined by practice speeds.
- Inclement weather starting grid is determined by practice speeds unless practice is rained out then we go back to owner’s points.
- Drivers have to pick a championship to run for – no more double/triple dipping for championship points.
- The points system has been revamped “to simplify it for the fans” (apparently Brian France believes NASCAR fans are a bunch of dumb rednecks too) – now the winner gets 43 points plus 3 points for the win plus a point for leading a lap, a point for leading the most laps. So to the amusement of the media 48 is the maximum number of points a winner can get. Each position gets one point less until 1 point for last place. Supposedly now people can look at the track and figure out how many cars the drivers need to pass to gain points. I’m not sure how many statisticians there are in the stands and in the television audience, but I can’t imagine there are enough to provide a huge jump in ratings.
- Teams get one less set of tires for practice.
- A new fuelling system that cuts out the catch-can man.
- New noses for the cars and with a redesigned splitter.
So, there are changes. The best they get from me is a yawn of boredom or a scowl from being insulted. I never had trouble figuring out he points system previously. I’m a relatively recent convert to the ranks of NASCAR fandom, but the points system had nothing to do with my watching or not watching – my loving the sport or not loving the sport. It makes me sad to see a bunch of catch-can men out of work, just because. Fewer tires, okay, from a fan perspective, who cares? The change in qualifying – it was cute when the truck series did it last year, but it felt like a lower series move – more for fun than something you’d see in “the big leagues” of serious racing – the top of the sport. For me its the equivalent of copying the rules from college or high-school football in the NFL. I liked that they were doing things to give the three series’ unique characteristics. So now, instead of continuing that trend, they instead seem to continually try to make them homogenous which will eventually feel like an interchangeable commodity, making the Sprint Cup series much less important in the grand scheme of things. If they all have the same rules, and the vehicles look the same, just different drivers, why should I watch more than one? It feels like the death knell for the Sprint Cup series. The Truck drivers are hungry for wins – they don’t get paid much and need the money. The Nationwide Series drivers get paid more, but they are hungry to move up in the series or to remain relevant in racing when they can no longer compete in the top series. The ARCA series seems to be the true learning series along with the K&N series. Both seem to give people the opportunity to race, to learn to race, and to get seen. The guys (and girls) in those series seem to love racing. That kind of enthusiasm makes for an entertaining spectacle overall. With all of those folks on the tracks running hard for seemingly the right reasons, they put on a better show. The racing seems more real. Sprint Cup drivers have so much to consider when the get into their cars, owners, sponsors, teammates, NASCAR politics, merchandising, out-of-sport opportunities, its amazing they have time to drive the cars. Scott Speed mentioned that his season was not as good as it could’ve been because of the chassis choices of the guys in the suits is a glaring example of how remote Sprint Cup racing is steadily becoming. Believing the crew chief/car chief/engineer makes the decisions about the chassis and everything else that goes on the track on race day is part of believing in this team sport. To find out that NASCAR is more like the corporate world in which sales and marketing drive the company without regard for the product demands, customer needs, employee requirements, and in general what’s best for anything BUT the bottom-line. All of these changes feel like marketing tricks. I didn’t fall in love with the brand, or with marketing tricks. I fell in love with drivers putting it out there in an action-packed festival of horsepower and massive skill. That needs no manipulation. ‘Boys Have At It’ seemed a step in that direction. It also didn’t feel like a marketing tool. I watched that horrifying display of single-file driving at Talladega. I saw the reticence in the drivers to do what came naturally. It would be nice to think these guys are all gentlemen, or nice guys, but they are professional athletes with all the bad decisions, bad behaviour and bad attitudes that go along with being a professional athlete in this day and age. I expect them to behave like they’ve overdosed on testosterone – they have – it goes with the territory. Professional athletes – in general – have to be overly aggressive, self-serving, opportunistic macho morons. There can be exceptions to that rule, but typically they’re just missing one of characteristics in the extreme.