NASCAR NEXTEL CUP (DRIVERS)
Rank                     Points LW
1 Matt Kenseth              252  1
2 Kevin Harvick             216  2
3 Tony Stewart              214  3
4 Jimmie Johnson            213  4
5 Jeff Gordon               207  6
6 Kasey Kahne               199  5
7 Kyle Busch                179  7
8 Carl Edwards              162 10
9 Jeff Burton               159 12
10 Dale Earnhardt Jr.       155  8
11 Greg Biffle              152 11
12 Denny Hamlin             151  9
13 Kurt Busch               125 14
14 Mark Martin              122 13
15 Ryan Newman               75 15

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP (TEAMS)
Rank                     Points
1 Hendrick Motorsports      428
2 Roush Racing              398
3 Richard Childress Racing  326
4 Joe Gibbs Racing          299
5 Evernham Motorsports      209
6 Penske Racing South       175
7 Dale Earnhardt Inc.       170
8 Chip Ganassi Racing        85
9 Robert Yates Racing        59
10 Petty Enterprises         43

NASCAR BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL SERIES
Rank                     Points LW
1 Kevin Harvick             370  1
2 Carl Edwards              240  2
3 Denny Hamlin              222  3
4 Matt Kenseth              192  4
5 Greg Biffle               180  5
6 Clint Bowyer              176  7
7 J.J. Yeley                163  6
8 Jeff Burton               121  8
9 Paul Menard               118  9
10 Kurt Busch               106 10
10 Kyle Busch               106 11

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES
Rank                     Points LW
1 Todd Bodine               193  1
2 Johnny Benson             192  2
3 Ted Musgrave              149  4
4 Mark Martin               147  3
5 Ron Hornaday              131  5
6 David Reutimann           122  7
7 Mike Skinner              117 10
8 Jack Sprague              115  6
9 Rick Crawford             111  8
10 Mike Bliss               105 11 

And just for the heck of it, here's what my proposed separate points system for the Chasers would look like:

2006                ST  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  TOTAL
Matt Kenseth        10   4   5                                     19
Kevin Harvick        7  10   1                                     18
Denny Hamlin         5   6   6                                     17
Jeff Gordon          1   8   8                                     17
Jeff Burton          2   5  10                                     17
Jimmie Johnson       8   0   4                                     12
Mark Martin          3   3   3                                      9
Dale Earnhardt Jr.   4   2   2                                      8
Kyle Busch           6   0   0                                      6
Kasey Kahne          0   1   0                                      1

If you didn't read the previous post, I'm going to look how a theoretical spearate points system for the Chasers would've affected the 2004 and 2005 seasons.  Scroll down to the bottom of the previous post to see the breakdown.

2004                ST  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  TOTAL
Jimmie Johnson       8   3   1   0   0  10  10  10   5  10  10     67
Jeff Gordon         10   5   6   2   4   8   4   2   6   6   8     61
Kurt Busch           3  10   5   8   6   5   6   0   3   5   5     56
Dale Earnhardt Jr.   7   6   2  10   5   6   0   3  10   4   2     55
Mark Martin          2   2   8   4   1   1   3   8   2   8   4     43
Tony Stewart         6   0   4   6   3   3   2   6   4   3   6     43
Ryan Newman          0   1  10   3   0   0   8   5   8   0   1     36
Matt Kenseth         5   8   0   5   2   2   1   0   0   1   3     27
Elliott Sadler       4   4   0   1  10   4   0   1   0   0   0     24
Jeremy Mayfield      1   0   3   0   8   0   5   4   1   2   0     24

Can we all agree that the point system royally screwed JJ here?  Not only did he win four races, he all of the other Chasers another time (when he finished second to Biffle at Homestead), and he beat Kurt Busch head-to-head in the last six races.  He finished 2004 with eight wins (Dale Jr. had six) and 20 top-5s (Dale Jr. and Gordon had 16 each).  Bummer for JJ.  Four guys would've gone into the last race with a chance to get the title.

2005                ST  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  TOTAL
Tony Stewart        10   8   1  10   5   0  10   4   4   8   1     61
Greg Biffle          8   5   2   1   8   6   2   5   2  10  10     59
Mark Martin          4   3   6   0  10   5   0   8   8   3   8     55
Jimmie Johnson       6   2  10   0   3  10   8   3   5   5   0     52
Carl Edwards         1.5 0   3   5   6   3   1  10  10   6   5     50.5
Matt Kenseth         1.5 6   0   8   4   0   4   6   6   0   6     41.5
Ryan Newman          0  10   5   6   0   4   5   2   0   4   4     40
Rusty Wallace        7   4   8   2   2   1   3   0   1   1   2     31
Kurt Busch           5   0   0   4   1   8   6   1   3   0   0     28
Jeremy Mayfield      3   1   4   3   0   2   0   0   0   2   3     18

There's a lot more parity here, with Stewart holding off Biffle by the two points he got for winning the Race to the Chase.  Biffle made up serious ground in the last two races but wasn't mathematically eligible to get the title in the last race.  In fact, JJ would've been the only guy who could've caught Tony, and he would've if since Tony finished 8th among the Chasers at Homestead.  Too bad JJ finished ninth out of nine.  With two races to go there were five guys with a realistic shot, including Edwards coming off two straight wins.  Biffle actually beat Tony six times head-to-head, but two of those were pretty bad drubbings.

2006                ST  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  TOTAL
Kevin Harvick        7  10                                         17
Matt Kenseth        10   4                                         14
Denny Hamlin         5   6                                         11
Jeff Gordon          1   8                                          9
Jimmie Johnson       8   0                                          8
Jeff Burton          2   5                                          7
Kyle Busch           6   0                                          6
Dale Earnhardt Jr.   4   2                                          6
Mark Martin          3   3                                          6
Kasey Kahne          0   1                                          1

Dave Moody analyzes some comments from Tony Stwart and Jeff Gordon here. Now, I'm not saying that Tony and Jeff might know have more valid opinions about how the Chase should be set up. After all, they only drive the cars that are racing. Stewart And Gordon Miss The Mark With Chase Comments Two former series champions said yesterday that the system for awarding the NASCAR Nextel Cup is flawed, and should be changed. Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon made their comments at New Hampshire International Speedway, in the aftermath of a race that saw Jimmie Johnson finish 39th, and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Busch 38th, seriously compromising their chances to win the Nextel Cup. Johnson, it should ne noted, was struggling all day with engine troubles but was really done in by an altercation with Sterling Marlin, who is currently 32nd in points. Luckily NINETEEN endrick crew members worked tirelessly on his car so he could ride around enough to pass two cars and gain six points. Busch got tangled up with Jeff Green, who is currently 30th in points AND got parked the week before for messing with...Jimmie Johnson. Stewart, the defending series champion, said yesterday that a day like the one Johnson and Busch suffered through yesterday should not doom their title hopes, saying, 'If you've got 10 guys that are racing with each other (for the championship), they should have their own deal. There should be a second points format, in my opinion." Stewart suggested running a 200-lap race for drivers outside the Top-10 each week, followed by a separate race for the Chase drivers. "That way, you don't have teams that made the playoffs playing against teams that didn't make the playoffs," he said. "Right now, it's kind of a weird situation." "The Chase is exciting," admitted Stewart. "There's nothing wrong with it, but it puts some of us in awkward positions. It's like me getting between Kevin and Jeff (today). Jeff was the second Chase guy, and he should get second-place points. You race these guys all year, and you're friends, and you know you're costing them points. The 33 guys that didn't make the Chase shouldn't have to feel that way if they have a good day and are able to pass guys." Tony Stewart just admitted that he raced differently because he didn't want to wreck a Chase-guy. I suppose he could've had a similar thought before he wrecked Kenseth back at Daytona or Bowyer and Edwards at Pocono, but I digress. Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon agreed that a different system is needed, saying, "You have a 10-race shootout, and yet you have a points system that is all about consistency. You have one bad day, and it takes you out of it. If they had a structure of points just for the top 10, that would be good." Or, if they structured it so that the guy who performed the best over ten races won the Cup, that would be good. Both Stewart and Gordon mean well. Unfortunately, they are also dead wrong. Separate point systems for Chasers and non-Chasers - not to mention separate races - would be confusing, needlessly complicated Well, given the fact that there is ALREADY A SEPARATE POINT SYSTEM, I think that's a silly statement to make, unless we're just overlooking the fact that the top ten guys are reset in points. And changing the point system would be "needlessly complicated?" You mean, because the current point system is so easy to follow? I'm not saying that NASCAR's system is complicated like the PGA Tour rankings or anything like that, but I'm pretty sure the points are already "needlessly complicated." I'm also pretty sure people could understand the concept of "these ten guys are in a separate race because they qualified and the other guys aren't because they didn't." Not that I think they *should* split the guys up, but I only think that a ten-guy 100-lap feature at a place like Loudon (100-laps because you'd need a pit stop in there, right?) would be potentially dreadfully boring. I think it would be a bad idea because of the loss of entertainment value, but it is absolutely not "confusing: or "needlessly complicated". , and run contrary to the spirit of the sport. What? Seriously, WHAAAT?! I thought the "spirit of the sport" is "the first guy to the finish wins", not "the guy with the most pretty good lap times wins, even if he actually finishes eighth". As a lifelong fan of the Boston Red Sox, I understand better than most how frustrating it is to have a season's worth of high hopes come crashing down in a single day. The Red Sox never got eliminated from the playoffs because they had to win a game against the Devil Rays in the middle of a series against the Yankees. But while Stewart and Gordon complain about NASCAR's overly harsh playoff system, there are plenty of other examples of the "all or nothing" approach in motorsports. Both Gordon and Stewart came up through the Sprint Car ranks, where huge qualifying fields are commonplace, and top drivers routinely get sent home for being too slow in time trails. Steve Kinser has won 20 World of Outlaws championships, but he still has to run the E-Feature if he's not fast enough in qualifying. Those are the facts of life in racing, and nobody expects "King Kinser" to be treated any differently than the rest. He wouldn't have to run the E-Feature if he was in the top-35 in owners' points, if the WoO did things NASCAR's way. In NASCAR circles, teams spend months preparing for the Daytona 500; tweaking and adjusting their cars in an all-out effort to win the season's biggest race. And yet, one bad lap - in qualifying or the race itself -- can spoil their chances of winning. I have yet to hear Gordon, Stewart, or anyone else propose changes to the Daytona 500, allowing drivers who crash out early to be "graded on the curve" as if they hadn't. One final example, if you will. A few years ago, Stewart himself suffered a blown engine on the opening lap of the `500,' finishing in 43rd place and putting his championship hopes squarely behind the eight ball. Nobody lobbied for him to be spared the consequences of that failure. People understood that it was up to him and his team to grab their shovels and dig themselves out of the hole. Um, Scott Riggs missed the 500. The world went on. Tony Stewart did finish 43rd in the 500 in 2002. He also finished first, fourth, fifth in the next three races, but he was still behind Mark Martin in points at the time. Mark had finished third, sixth, eighth, and 21st. Racing is a tough sport, and sometimes inflicts unjust verdicts on undeserving teams. I can live with that fact, and Tony and Jeff should be able to, as well. They aren't trying to eliminate that fact, they are just saying if you're going to separate the ten guys, then really SEPARATE them somehow. Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch are long shots to win the 2006 Nextel Cup, but they are certainly not out of the running. In 2004, Johnson recorded a pair of back-of-the-pack finishes early in the Chase; a 37th at Talladega and a 32nd at Kansas. He trailed Kurt Busch by 247 points with six weeks to go, but staged a tremendous comeback, winning four of those final six races to finish just eight points behind champion Busch at season's end. It's going to be equally tough for him to win this year's championship. But don't we want the pinnacle of our sport to be difficult to achieve? The fact that one bad day (out of 10) can dash a team's championship dream makes it infinitely sweeter when that dream comes true. In 2004, Jimmie Johnson undoubtedly had the better Chase than Kurt Busch, OK? He had those two bad finishes, yes, but in addition to the four WINS (Busch had one in the Chase) he finished second, sixth, tenth, and eleventh. Not only that, he actually BEAT Kurt Busch head-to-head in six of those races. The Chase To The Nextel Cup is not supposed to be easy. In my opinion, the fact that Stewart, Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., have each failed to qualify for the Chase in recent seasons validates the entire process. I don't think it validates the process, because it's silly to have a guy pote ntially be able to dominate the last ten races and not have a chance at the title, but it DOES validate their decision to make their arbitrary cut-off at the top ten guys, so they really shouldn't change it. This is not the National Hockey League, where losing teams routinely qualify for the playoffs, and are watched by virtually no-one outside their own families. At least in the NHL the teams that aren't in the playoffs can't ruin the Stanley Cup run of the teams in the playoffs. This is NASCAR, where you'd better be damned close to perfect if you want to grab the brass ring. It's not about beating 10 guys for 200 laps, it's about beating all 43 of them for 500 miles, 10 weeks in a row. Or, if you're Kurt Busch in 2004, four out of ten weeks in a row. Anything else is a cop-out. Right. I imagine this same guy hating the Chase idea when they announced it and writing the exact same column, only substituting Brian France for Tony and Jeff. EDIT: Oh, snap. I forgot what I was thinking when I titled this. Now we can't live in a fantasy world where the guys are split into different races, but we can give them their own point system for the final ten races. I'm going to come up with one, I think. EDIT 2: How about this, off the top of my head? Start the Chasers with 10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0. The extra point seems fair for winning the Race to the Chase. Use the F1-points system of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for 1st through 8th, with zero points for 9th and 10th. That would mean that a win and a 10th would equal a 2nd and a 7th, or a 4th and a sixth. Seems pretty good. How would the points be right now? Harvick 7 + 10 = 17 Kenseth 10 + 4 = 14 Hamlin 5 + 6 = 11 Gordon 1 + 8 = 9 Johnson 8 + 0 = 8 Burton 2 + 5 = 7 Busch 6 + 0 = 6 Earnhardt 4 + 2 = 6 Martin 3 + 3 = 6 Kahne 0 + 1 = 1 I don't know. Would anyone really freak out about that? I doubt it. I don't really see a downside to something like that. I'll have to go back and look at how the other Chases would've gone.

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP (DRIVERS)
Rank                       Points LW
  1 Matt Kenseth              246  1
  2 Kevin Harvick             216  5
  3 Tony Stewart              214  4
  4 Jimmie Johnson            213  2
  5 Kasey Kahne               199  3
  6 Jeff Gordon               192  7
  7 Kyle Busch                179  6
  8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.        155  8
  9 Denny Hamlin              147 11
 10 Carl Edwards              145  9
 11 Greg Biffle               141 10
 12 Jeff Burton               138 12
 13 Mark Martin               122 13
 14 Kurt Busch                113 14
 15 Ryan Newman                74 15

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP (TEAMS)
Rank Points
  1 Hendrick Motorsports      413
  2 Roush Racing              379
  3 Richard Childress Racing  305
  4 Joe Gibbs Racing          295
  5 Evernham Motorsports      162
  5 Penske Racing South       162
  7 Chip Ganassi Racing        82
  8 Robert Yates Racing        59
  9 Valvoline Evernham Racing  41
 10 Petty Enterprises          37

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES
Rank                       Points LW
  1 Todd Bodine               192  1
  2 Johnny Benson             180  2
  3 Mark Martin               147  3
  4 Ted Musgrave              132  4
  5 Ron Hornaday              120  7
  6 Jack Sprague              115  5
  7 David Reutmann            114  6
  8 Rick Crawford             111  8
  9 David Starr                96 10
 10 Mike Skinner               93 11

I don't mind the concept of the Lucky Dog, but I think they should change it so that the first guy directly behind the leader gets one lap back, no matter how many laps down he is. I saw Mikey battling Harvick to stay on the lead lap today, and it made me think that it would be a sensible tweak to the rule. When they had guys race back to the line it wasn't like a guy could come from half-a-lap down to get his lap back THEN, so why not change the rule so it more accurately reflects what could happen if they did race to the line? It seems like it would make sense.