NASCAR may scrap points system
1-Jimmie Johnson: 388
2-Kevin Harvick: 387
3-Denny Hamlin: 386
4-Carl Edwards: 340
5-Matt Kenseth: 314
6-Greg Biffle: 293
7-Tony Stewart: 287
8-Jeff Gordon: 279 (+1 spot over current system)
9-Clint Bowyer: 272 (+1)
10-Kyle Busch: 267 (-2)
11-Kurt Busch: 265
12-Jeff Burton: 232
But what about the bonus points, you're asking? That hasn't been divulged by NASCAR either, but let's pretend it's one point for leading a lap, two extra for leading the most and a three-point bonus for winning. So that would mean the max a driver could score per race is 48, leaving a possible 47-point swing between first and last place. More at the Sports Illustrated
01/18/11 Ramsey Poston, NASCAR managing director of corporate communications, said the sanctioning body has bounced several new competition ideas around to drivers and car owners in a recent series of town hall meetings. "NASCAR executives, including chairman and CEO Brian France, are in the process of meeting with drivers and team owners," Poston said in a phone interview Monday night. "In those meetings we have discussed a number of ideas for potential changes for the coming season, none of which have been finalized at this point." NASCAR president Mike Helton and vice president of competition Robin Pemberton will address 2011 rule changes in a news conference scheduled Friday at Daytona International Speedway. "We need to balance stories from past and look to the future to make things better," Speedway president Joie Chitwood III said from his home Monday night.
Darrell Waltrip won three Cup championships during his driving career, all with the current points system [but no Chase]. Contacted at his home near Nashville, Tenn., Monday night, he said changing the points would have little effect on who wins the championship. "If you run the numbers, I guarantee you it comes out the same," said Waltrip, now a racing analyst for Fox Sports. "It's all perception. I've said all along, when we can't explain it, so the people at home can understand it, it needs to be addressed. If you look at the history, 90% of the time, the championship comes down to two guys, sometimes three." Chitwood said he hopes to see the change because it would make the points system easier for fans to understand. "We can never stop improving our sport, whether it is what we do at the track or what NASCAR does to manage competition," Chitwood said. Daytona Beach News Journal
01/17/11 AP reports that a person familiar with NASCAR's proposed changes for this season says the sanctioning body is considering scrapping the points system it has used since 1975.
The person spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity because NASCAR has not finalized its upcoming changes.
The sanctioning body wants to go to a scoring system that would award 43 points to the race winner, and one point less for each ensuing position down to 1 point for the 43rd-place finisher.