Following the Virginia event the new points system would have reduced the championship contender ranks to just four drivers in each of the professional categories, again with a fixed point split going into the last two events . In this week’s points breakdown comparison we will look at what effect that would have on various driver’s title hopes as well as the fact that now only four drivers have even a mathematical hope for the big prize.

Following the Reading event our “Chase” scenario was quite different from the current points split with Tony Schumacher leading Brandon Bernstein and Rod Fuller while Doug Kalitta languished in fourth place. After Virginia the top pair swap places as Tony’s early loss added just 38 points to his total and Melanie Troxel who is still 4th in the “real” points is no longer a player with the above mentioned four once again starting with a ten point split going into the Las Vegas and Pomona events. Kalitta is the major winner in the cut as his deficit to Bernstein is reduced from 49 to 30 although in the current world his lead is 83 markers, making him the favorite for the title.

In Funny Car Robert Hight continues to lead but his boss is now second under the new scenario while Eric Medlen’s victory has moved him past Tony Pedregon in both versions of the point tally. Medlen also moves around Capps under the new system to put all three of Force’s car at the top of the list. In the current world Tony is just 32 markers in arrears and could quite conceivably make that deficit up in the final two events but under the new system the best that he can hope for is fifth as the others battle for the title. Force currently has a 46 point lead over Capps who is just 8 ahead of Hight but once again under the new rules those margins will be just 10 points per place and Capps actually gains ground even though he falls to fourth in the order with the new allocation.

Pro Stock sees Jason Line finally take the lead under the new allocation but it took his resetting of the national record at a second successive event to get him to the top of the order as Greg Anderson trails him by just 7 markers rather than the 119 under the current system. Line actually benefits from the cut to four as he will have a ten point margin at the next race although with the current system he has a good chance of clinching the title at Las Vegas. In both scenarios Kurt Johnson is bumped down to 5th by Mike Edwards but in the new system this is critical as Kurt is now out of the running and unable to make up the 17 point deficit to Edwards.

THE CHASE HEADED INTO VEGAS (Points reset to 3030, 3020, 3010, 3000)

TOP FUEL

FUNNY CAR

PRO STOCK 

THE COMPARISONS AFTER VMP

TOP FUEL

FUNNY CAR

PRO STOCK