NASCAR 2015 No OT please Chase for the Sprint Cup CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND Final Race: Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway

I created threads a few years ago and nobody posted in 'em.

Hate the new playoff format. I still don't know what was wrong with the old "non-Chase" system.

Mostly haters around here I guess. I like just about any form of racing myself. The accessibility and such a wide amount of coverage makes Nascar about the best to be able to follow and watch.

To me the problem with the old system is that it put so much focus on points racing that there wasn't enough competition during the races to actually go for the wins. Watching cars just ride around without mixing it up and playing it safe to avoid losing too many points if they wreck was getting old.

When they first introduced "The Chase" I thought it was a stupid idea. I didn't care for it much from the time they started it, although it make the final races more interesting since there were more drivers who still had a chance to win the championship.

When I heard about the elimination rounds at the beginning of last year I didn't think much of it. But, after the way it played out and the huge importance it puts on actually winning races instead of points-racing I was pretty much won over after the season ended. I know Vec has mentioned hating that they almost had a season champion who didn't win a race, and it bugged me at first as well. But, it didn't happen. And it could have happened even with the old system.

The way I started looking at it is that a non-race winner would be an extremely long-shot winner to begin with. A driver with no wins getting into The Chase would be like a Wildcard team in the playoffs in the NFL. They didn't win their division but are still in the playoffs, and they have a tougher battle to make it to the Super Bowl. When I started thinking of it like that I wasn't as bothered by it. I'm glad they pretty much kept things the same as far as The Chase goes to see how it works out for another year. Then if it needs tweaking they can go from there.

I didn't watch many races last year, and this year I probably won't see as many as I would like with my schedule, but I am more interested in following things through the season this year.

I've been a regular follower since 1986. Been to at least one race every year since then.

I had no problem following the old system, but agree it didn't have enough emphasis on wins. But under this new format, a driver could win the first 35 races, and still not win the championship. I don't agree with that.

It will be interesting to see how Jeff Gordon's last full season goes. I remember when he came into the sport, and now I feel old.

Still a Jimmie Johnson fan and don't care for the haters of him period. There aren't too many times in a lifetime where we can look back and know we witnessed dominance and success on his level.

I am lucky to live very close to RIR. NASCAR is very important here; every time a race is in town, we get a ton of people, which is great for community revenue. Anyway, I started following NASCAR soon after RIR opened, and I have been to quite a few races. There are a few drivers that are from my area, and it is always fun to root for the home town guys

I can sort of see that, but how about looking at it a couple of different ways? First, in your example, it is almost certain that the championship would already be settled mathematically with quite a few races left in the season since it would be unlikely anybody else could catch them in points. How boring would that be?

But there's an even better way to look at what you are saying. Compare it to the 2007 Patriots. They won all 16 regular season games and their first two playoff games to be at 18 wins 0 losses. They lost the last game, the Super Bowl, and didn't win the championship. Should the NFL change the rules so that can't happen?

If there is going to be a playoff in Nascar, and it looks like that isn't going away anytime soon, then you also need to have the potential for an extreme underdog to win it all. It seems normal now, but I imagine when the NFL included the first wildcard team in the playoffs it likely seemed wrong to a lot of fans. How could a team who didn't win their division win the Super Bowl? It took ten years for it to happen and I remember it being a huge deal when the Raiders were the first Wildcard team to be Super Bowl Champions.

you're doing an apples to oranges comparison of sports, but trying an apples to apples analogy. every week 40 drivers hit to the asphalt. race 1 to race 2394872 at the end of the season, including the "playoffs." not a huge fan of the sport, but I know certain tracks have things where you partner up with another racer to help you go faster around the track. other tracks are known for having "the big wreck". other tracks going 4 wide in turns, while some are single file pretty much the entire track and it matters on how you pit stop to gain in positioning. so many influences from the other 39 cars in the first and final race, how can you have a 16 > 8 > 4 > 2 > winner, type bracketing? to me, just doesn't seem logical. you're basically competing against 12 guys + 27 in the first few. then 8 guys + 31 in the next group of races. then 4 guys + 35 in the final set (from how I understood it). rather bizarre... I liked how they just did the chase down to 10+1 (perhaps +2 in the last season they did it?) and they are given like 4000 (or 5000 points?) to make them unreachable to other racers and have a mini season for the top competitors.

this will likely complete my input on the subject of the LTL, as I am not a fan. just thought it was worth sharing how the traditional team v team scenario completely differs from auto racing. NASCAR seems to have now have this scenario that if WWF was actually real and there are 24 guys in the Royal Rymble, but only Undertaker and Macho Man Randy Savage are possible winners. then the Legion of Doom comes up behind Undertaker and takes him out with a chair, and Macho Man is given the 4x4 upside the head by Hacksaw Jim Duggan(sp?). who wins? sorry for the names, never really watched that fake wrestling thing and those just seemed like popular wrestlers that I remember from the 90s .

Fandango would take them all out.

you're doing an apples to oranges comparison of sports, but trying an apples to apples analogy. every week 40 drivers hit to the asphalt. race 1 to race 2394872 at the end of the season, including the "playoffs." not a huge fan of the sport, but I know certain tracks have things where you partner up with another racer to help you go faster around the track. other tracks are known for having "the big wreck". other tracks going 4 wide in turns, while some are single file pretty much the entire track and it matters on how you pit stop to gain in positioning. so many influences from the other 39 cars in the first and final race, how can you have a 16 > 8 > 4 > 2 > winner, type bracketing? to me, just doesn't seem logical. you're basically competing against 12 guys + 27 in the first few. then 8 guys + 31 in the next group of races. then 4 guys + 35 in the final set (from how I understood it). rather bizarre... I liked how they just did the chase down to 10+1 (perhaps +2 in the last season they did it?) and they are given like 4000 (or 5000 points?) to make them unreachable to other racers and have a mini season for the top competitors.

this will likely complete my input on the subject of the LTL, as I am not a fan. just thought it was worth sharing how the traditional team v team scenario completely differs from auto racing. NASCAR seems to have now have this scenario that if WWF was actually real and there are 24 guys in the Royal Rymble, but only Undertaker and Macho Man Randy Savage are possible winners. then the Legion of Doom comes up behind Undertaker and takes him out with a chair, and Macho Man is given the 4x4 upside the head by Hacksaw Jim Duggan(sp?). who wins? sorry for the names, never really watched that fake wrestling thing and those just seemed like popular wrestlers that I remember from the 90s .

I'm still not completely sold on any kind of a playoff for racing at all. I'm just saying that if we have to have it, they are close to getting it right. But you can't really base that for sure on one season either. Last year was fantastic. And while it seems logical that having so many other contenders to influence the outcome of the playoff races, it is still amazing that with something like 20 laps remaining in the final race of the season the last four contenders for the championship were running 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. That seems almost impossible and even brings out the conspiracy theory in me wondering if it is all rigged?

But it happened, and if their ultimate goal is to make the races more fun to watch and to bring in viewers (which it is because of course money is the ultimate goal) then they have moved in the right direction. I'm still a purist and I hate change, but I'm willing to give it a chance.