The Sum Is Greater Than The Parts
Dateline: 07/24/2000Last Sunday on NASCAR2Day Benny Parsons mentioned that he believes that the NASCAR Winston Cup championship is worth so much more than any individual race that the leading race teams were, in effect, discouraged from taking chances to try to win a race.
The problem is that the short term benefit of winning a race is overshadowed by the risk of taking a bad finish and jeopardizing a championship. This causes the title contenders to play it safe and race for consistent top-ten or top-five finishes instead of charging for the win each week.
The NASCAR Winston Cup points system is designed to reward consistency. Excluding bonus points the winner of the race receives 175 points while the fifth place finisher still receives 155 points. A Winston Cup title contender needs to worry about consistently finishing in the top ten more then they need the win.
What kind of racing series encourages the top teams to play it safe?
NASCAR needs to make some changes to encourage teams to take a little extra chance to win the race. Other than the No-Bull five bonus, the dollar value of an individual race will never offset the financial windfall that the Winston Cup Champion receives. The best incentive for drivers and teams is to make the points system a bit more top-heavy to encourage teams to race for the win.
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