System failure

Change will further point NASCAR in the right direction

"We are reviewing the points system, as we often do when there is talk about one driver having so big of a lead that it looks like the championship will be decided before the season is over." -- NASCAR's Jim Hunter.

Now, a cynical fan would say NASCAR's timing is par for the course; Bob Latford's body wasn't even cold before talk began of revamping Winston Cup's antiquated points sytem. Latford, 67, died July 23 after a long illness. Considered the sport's unofficial historian, Latford invented its championship points system in 1974 at the request of Bill France Sr. The system was implemented for the 1975 season after its theories were applied to a few of the previous years' title chases and deemed fit for the burgeoning sport.

On Saturday, NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter said, "We will look at every viable option and at the end of the year apply it to the points standings and see how things might have been different." Thanks, Bob. Your quaint story (aren't all Cup stories the stuff of legend?) is now just another tale to tell when old-timers gather to reminice about the good ol' days: Latford first drew up the points system on a cocktail napkin in a Daytona Beach, Fla., bar.

Teams now manipulate the system while drivers play it safe, opting to rack up top-10s instead of going for the win. The difference between first and 10th is 46 points (180 for the win; 134 for 10th, not considering bonus points for leading the most laps). But now NASCAR is mulling a bigger boon for victories -- between 10 and 50 points -- and even points for winning the pole. Other reported options include the same amount of points awarded to drivers who finish 30th through 43rd, or no points after 36th position.

The points system now forces cars that have been wrecked to make repairs to get back on the track in an attempt to pick up as many positions (and points) as possible. The system under consideration would make it pointless for damaged cars to get back in the fray, like Robby Gordon did last month in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. After his car was patched up, Gordon returned to the track and eventually his hood flew off and into the grandstands.

"I do have a problem with the way it pays points all the way back to 43rd and that we have to go back out there with these wrecked race cars and ride around at a minimum speed," Gordon said last week at Indianapolis. "It's no fun for anybody and I know the competitors don't like it because you're in the way."

Matt Kenseth currently holds a 286-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. Tenth-place driver Rusty Wallace is a whopping 689 points behind. However, all is not lost; Christian Fittipaldi, in 45th place and 2,720 points in arears, is still mathematically alive. All of Sao Paulo, Brazil, is giddy over the possibility of a 15-race scoring binge by the rookie. Never mind that he's raced in but seven events (two via provisional starts) and has a season-best 24th-place finish.

"The way the championship points are structured, winning is not the most important thing," said four-time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon. "It pays the most points, but a top-five these days is almost as good as a win." And that is exactly why Kenseth is atop the leaderboard.

Through 21 races, Kenseth has finished outside the top 10 only five times; he has nine top-5s, including one victory. Meanwhile, Ryan Newman has a series-high four wins among eight top-5s and 10 top-10s, but is ninth in points, 654 behind.

A report by The Associated Press notes that if other racing series' points systems were applied to this year's Cup race, this is how it would be shaping up: