NASCAR considers ditching decades-old points system

NASCAR considers ditching decades-old points system

A points system that has been in place since 1975 may be replaced by NASCAR with a simpler system that awards points depending on the finishing position, a source told the AP today.

NASCAR's new season starts next month and officials are considering some changes including the points scheme to be implemented then. The source told AP that there are ongoing meetings between race teams and NASCAR officials about the proposals.

The new points system will give 43 points to the winner of a race with each subsequent finishing position getting one point less until the 43rd-placer, who gets one point.

NASCAR is also backtracking on its earlier plans to make an overhaul of its Chase for the Sprint Cup race system. In July last year, NASCAR chairman Brian France suggested that the format be changed to introduce elimination races, adding more drivers and other tweaks that can help create a "Game 7" atmosphere to the race.

But now NASCAR has decided to limit the competition to the original 12-driver field. A slight change will be that the top ten drivers will qualify for the Chase but the last two slots will be awarded to the drivers who will have enough wins but did not qualify earlier for the ten-driver field.

"Right now every sports league, or almost every one, is looking at what they need to do to change their formats a little or a lot, depending on who they are, to make sure their playoffs or their championship runs are what they want them to be," said NASCAR chairman Brian France before the season ender.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Tuesday January 18 2011, 2:24 AM EDT. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0