Well, well, the pole man wins the race for the first time since round nine...but it wasn't as clear cut as that. Jimmie Johnson had to fight for the win as Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr all had strong cars and, given the right circumstances, could have walked away with the race.
Alas, as has happened a few times this year, Jr (and Carl) saw his chances of victory go up in smkoe (no, not from Tony), while Denny had pit problems, Newman crashed, and Gordon and Stewart didn't have enough for Jimmie when it came to the crunch at the end...in fact, if David Ragan didn't have to start from as far back as he did, he could very easily have pulled off a win in his rookie season as he was the fastest car out there at the end.
With back-to-back wins, Jimmie is full of confidence going into the last 10 races
Anyway, with Jimmie's win and Gordon's fourth place, this leaves both men tied in points at the top of the standings. Johnny Sauter had a great run and scored his first points of the year with a fifth placed finish.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship (TNRC) Standings - after round 26
(* denotes half points only awarded as race did not reach 75% completion)
The HMS domination continues then...and I daresay that Jr would like my points system since he is in the top 12 in points with ten races to go. but, since this isn't going to be a Chase format (that's just for the qualifying one this year remember), the only race that matters will be the last one in Miami.
I think the only points that should be award, are for wins. IF you were gonna award points based on place finished, then a season's champion should be determined by a best average. That is the only honest and deserving way. Otherwise, your just another money hungry sport attraction like all the others. Where it doesnt matter who wins as long as it is making the money. and anyway that will increase the money is the way to go.
Now that we are past the regular season, it is very interesting how close the results are for what you have to the results for the modified Chase system.
Here is the big difference: The Chase system punishes drivers who do not finish on the lead lap and severely punishes drivers who DNF.
I would submit the current point system is a safety feature of the series. While it rewards wins, it makes success difficult for the "checkers or wreckers" approach.
Tez is a rare creature; an Australian who was living in New Zealand before moving to Canada. He's also a Civil Engineer who is hoping to spend his Monday to Friday sitting in front of a computer surfing the inter...uh, working hard for an Engineering Consultant or Contractor when he finds a job. His heart is torn between his two loves; F1 and NASCAR.
Due to his high interest in those, his blogs will likely focus on them with the occasional foray into sports that don't get much (if any) mention on this website. All blogs and/or comments will more than likely have his usual dollop of sarcasm and general Aussie spin on them.
Amazingly, he also managed to score 2 MiB nominations on consecutive days (August 5 & 6, 2007) after announcing he had been keeping track of them...he's considering hiding under his bed as a result.
