Is it just me or is there an inherent flaw in holding a playoff during the regular season?

Twelve drivers vie for the Sprint Cup Series championship in a ten race run that just happens to include 31 other drivers at the same time. Likewise, 10 drivers vie for the NHRA Full Throttle Championship with six additional drivers in the mix.

It just doesn't seem to make much sense. Yes, the format generates excitement, but can you imagine the uproar from baseball, football, basketball and hockey fans if a similar format was instituted in their sports? It would be pandemonium.

Is it just me or is there an inherent flaw in holding a playoff during the regular season?

Twelve drivers vie for the Sprint Cup Series championship in a ten race run that just happens to include 31 other drivers at the same time. Likewise, 10 drivers vie for the NHRA Full Throttle Championship with six additional drivers in the mix.

It just doesn't seem to make much sense. Yes, the format generates excitement, but can you imagine the uproar from baseball, football, basketball and hockey fans if a similar format was instituted in their sports? It would be pandemonium.

Motorsports, NASCAR and NHRA to be specific, is the only sport where all teams participate in the playoffs, but not all teams are racing for a title.

The Yankees or Red Sox or Celtics or Lakers might never have accumulated their impressive post-season records if while battling each other for a title they also had to beat lesser teams. It would be like having rotating teams on the field or court. The Yankees bat first, but the Red Sox bat third, because the Padres bat second. It just doesn't work.

The NHRA, or NASCAR, doesn't have the time to run a post-season playoff schedule. They must incorporate the playoffs into the regular season. Quite frankly, the idea is working.

However, it is extremely important to put out enough carrots to keep the competition interesting. Fair or not, the NHRA hit a home run last year when they announced the awarding of qualifying points during the Countdown to 1. 

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Friday and Saturday qualifying had become predictable and boring. The most important session was the second one on Friday and Saturday runs had become test sessions. Something was needed to entice teams to do more than just test. The awarding of qualifying points accomplished the task.

Mike Edwards blew his way to his title on the strength of his qualifying. Robert Hight earned his first title thanks to accumulated qualifying points and the battle between Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon was essentially won on the basis of qualifying points.

The system worked.

But, was it enough?

Ron Capps, driver of the NAPA Dodge Funny Car and recently appointed PRO board member, brought up some very interesting points in a column he recently penned for Racer.com.

“I'm really hoping – and I've read some articles written on it – that the NHRA will make some changes similar to what was done in NASCAR in the Chase, by making race wins more important as far as your position in the Countdown is concerned,” started Capps.

“Any team that shows up on a Friday for a racing weekend wants to ... win the race, and that is the primary goal for any team. So, when the points are reset for the Countdown at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, I really would like to see the NHRA put more importance on the number of wins a driver has earned and reward him/her with bonus points per the number of wins.”

Capps makes a good point.

As it currently stands, each position is separated by a half round from the next position. There is no recognition for the achievements of the “regular" season beyond the position in the standings. Awarding additional points based on wins makes a lot of sense. How many? Five sounds like a good number. One quarter of a round for each win prior to the seeding for the Countdown. Wins during the Countdown would not receive an additional bonus.

Capps reminds us that, “Winning is what we all strive for. And I really believe that, if the NHRA rewards a driver who had the most wins in the “regular” season, we'll see more and more teams stick to what they're doing (aiming to win each race) instead of going off and testing halfway through the “regular” season knowing that they're going to get into the Countdown anyway, with just a few points separating the top 10.”

Capps further states that PRO has put the idea in front of the brass in Glendora (Calif).

Capps doesn't stop with his desire to see bonus points awarded for winning. Speaking on behalf of his crew chief, Ed “Ace” McCulloch, Capps talks about changing the ladder system during the Countdown. To do so, the number of drivers involved in the Countdown would be reduced to eight from the current ten.

Capps would put the eight teams in the Countdown on one side of the ladder and the eight teams not in the Countdown on the other side. It sounds good. Those competing for the title would be forced to race against each other until the final round.

One concern, what if one of the teams in the Countdown fails to qualify? Then what? Do we go a step further and ensure that every team in the Countdown is guaranteed a spot in the final six races?

Tinkering with a system to make it better is not a bad thing, but caution, like safety, should always be the side we err on. For that reason, this writer is pro the first proposal and thumbs down on the second.

 

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