The race for the cup seems more like a joke than anything. Now Jimmie Johnson is being compared to some of the greats of all time. Yes he is a great driver but when you have a system like NASCAR has then its a totally different season.
l say go back to the old way and give an extra 25 or more point bonus for winning the race.
Any thoughts from NASCAR fans?
l do disagree with the Yarborough comment. Yarborough won three straight without a chase race. JJ would not have won this year if it were not for the chase.
''It is time for everyone else to try to catch up and not spend all their time and energy to dominate the first 26 races of the season.''
Wow how exciting that sounds. Lets let everyone lay back at the begining and just make the chase. l belive the SUPER BOWL of NASCAR is the first race of the season.
This is why l do not watch NASCAR that much anymore. When you race you race to win not chump around the track for points.
Yes Jeffey your stats look right, but you have to figure in the chase again. Things could be totally different if there were no chase. How can you say Johnson would be in the lead?
The chase affects the whole season.
Im old school & just flat out do not like the chase.
Im not hating Jimmie Johnson. Im simply saying l do not like the chase for the championship.

Not a chase fan and yes it should be changed to whoever has the most points at the last race wins the championship. No more wiping the slate clean after months of hard work.

And l will stick by this whoever is or is not winning. l said it way before and l will continue to say it.

l like competition. As long as the rules are the same for everybody going into the season, it should not make a difference. There is plenty of time to prepare for the chase and to prove yourself. Either you ''can'' or you ''can not''. Anything other than that is just ''tough luck''. And as l always say, ''there is no good luck in racing, only bad luck''.

l like the old system better, but to your Johnson comment, he will if he wins it be up there with Yarborough and that would be a great accomplishment.

Unfortunately this is a loaded question. They raced in different times, with different equipment, & different rules.

Yarborough ran for 35 years (1957-1988) & raced in 560 races. He has 83 wins. That gives him a 14.82 percent win ratio.

JJ has raced since 2001 (7 years) & raced in 252 races at the end of this season. As of today he has 39 wins. That gives him a win ratio of 15.48 percent.

So as far as number go, JJ is a slightly better driver, but l agree that if u take away the Chase format, he might not be doing as well as he is.

Sorry, it is early & the caffeine is just starting to kick in.

You can argue many different points, but one thing is true - Jimmie Johnson would still be points leader this year no matter which points system is in place. The only championship Jimmie would have lost is last year. Gordon would have taken that one. Get your facts straight before you ramble on.

l agree with everything you wrote above, 2gadoo! great question & insight!

l do not think they will go back. l do not like it either except for the fact that Kyle Busch is not ''in it''. It does not seem fair, though!

This is ridiculous. How many years have we had the Chase now? The rules r the same for everyone. Get over the ''Johnson hating'' & give him his credit. Had Scrub not pulled off one the BIGGEST choke jobs in sports history & continued running like he had been, Johnson would be a non-factor right now. He is going out winning races, & when not winning, he is passing 9 cars in a handful of laps to finish 2nd.

Ca not blame him or Knaus for having the Chase formula figured out. It is time for everyone else to try to catch up & not spend all their time & energy to dominate the first 26 races of the season.

As someone already said. Johnson WOULD still be the points leader if onm the old system.

Classic Driver Points Standings [after Atlanta race 33 of 36]:
1) #48-Jimmie Johnson 4784 [6 wins]
2) #99-Carl Edwards 4686 -98 [7 wins]
3) #18-Kyle Busch 4581 -203 [8 wins]
4) #31-Jeff Burton 4404 -380 [2 wins]
5) #16-Greg Biffle 4343 -441 [2 wins]
6) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. 4307 -477 [1 win]
7) #29-Kevin Harvick 4224 -560
8) #24-Jeff Gordon 4157 -627
9) #20-Tony Stewart 4132 -652 [1 win]
10) #11-Denny Hamlin 4048 -736 [1 win]

l hate the chase bs. If the old system was good for Dale sr.Why not now.

l do not watch NASCAR. But l have a friend who is going to take me to a race and he gets pit passes ; )

Sounds like fun!

l have also been told that sitting up close and feeling the vibrations would be EXCITING *wink*

GO PHILLIES!!!!!!!

GO CELTICS!!!!!

GO NASCAR!!!!!

Jeffys got it down! Scroll up!

Last year should have belonged to Jeff Gordon and this year should belong to Kyle B. The adulterated tampering has blanked the whole thing up. You may not have wanted Jeff or Kyle to win the championship but you could not have said that they did not earn it.

l think the feelings are that JJ has not earned the right by only mastering the championship and not the season the way Jeff and Kyle have.

Yes, things WOULD be totally different if they did not have the chase but the teams have to work within the rules they r given. The 48 team would also have done some things differently earlier in the season if they were racing under the old points system but they obvuiously key on the last 10 races because that is how it is setup these days. The competition is much tougher nowdays, with more equal cars & more drivers racing in ALL the sheduled events. You can dislike the chase all u want but u cannot take anything away from Jimmie, Chad & Rick. They have worked harder & prepared better than the other teams plain & simple. Change the rules & format, the 48 team will adapt. Why is everybody hating on Jimmie for being one of the all time greats? Stop the hating & start appreciating!
3 STR8 N 08!!!

YES HE WOULD BE WINNING NOW
another so called race fan -- where do yall come from here at the end

My main complaint with the chase is that people r saying Jimmie wins ''when it counts''
The whole season should count, not just the last ten races.
True, Jimmie would still be the points leader, & l am not saying he has not done anything all season, it just seems as though he always kicks it into high gear come time for the chase as though the first 26 races were just practice sessions not accomplishments.
That is a shame.
If all teams were to do that, what a boring, pathetic season it would be.

l think that nascar intended to put excitement into the races because they were competting with football. For me this did not work & they need to go back to the way it was before. The only real champion is the guy who earned the most points during the year,or cut it back to ten races & call it a year. to me it is like a fishing contest, u fish 2 days to get a 10 pound lead then on the third day they take erase everything & send u out to fish & u lose by one pound to the lowest guy that came in. This is not justice it is a kick in the crotch. l actually watch less racing now that they started this chase crap.

They should go back to the old way. l am a old school fan.

l do not like the Chase and l do not like JJ. But l will absolutely give him and Chad all the credit for they have done. The system is what it is. Everybody is playing by the same rules and they are just killing them. You have to strategize according to the system in place. As good as they've been, they would probably have won these 3 championships under any format.