The Points

Wow, look at the movers after this weeks race. Ryan +12, Jeff Gordon +21. etc.. And just as many that fell back.

It looks like, early on at least, that this will be the norm until your back of the pack drivers sort to the back and the mid to front runners sort to the front. But one thing is evident, you will not make up for a bad race as quickly with the points being like this. Two races in, it doesn't appear to be a big deal, but the more races that take place, as the points tighten and spread out between positions, it could get tough to make up for a bad finish. I see this point system, especially toward the end of the year, forcing some tough decisions to be made by the CC's and drivers.

What do you guys think of the points, both positive and negative?

Yeah, towards the end of the season, bad performances and bad luck early in the season is going to haunt you. This will really put a premium on good performances most, if not all, of the season. One or two points here and there this early probably won't get anyone sweating yet, but come mid-season there may be some teams actually starting to get desperate.

A few wins would help any team. I think it will also show that a lot of top 5s and top 10s during the season will be beneficial. I think this point system is going to prove to be interesting and make things much more competitive. The days of getting 120 to 150 or more points per race while other teams were only getting 10, 20, or 30 points per race are now gone. It is going to be difficult to make huge jumps into the lead by leaps and bounds all at once.

I think you will see a huge change in how teams drive for points. Any DNFs will be a killer at any part of the season and anytime you run out of fuel will be costly as well as some of these teams try to figure out just how far they can go on a tank of gas and how much they accidentally spill because this E-15 is going to give them lower fuel mileage. I think there may be a change in strategy from the way things used to be, time will tell.

i like the new point system, but i feel the same drivers will be there at the end anyways, they need to lose the chase, ya the 48 team has dominated with that format, but they need to change it to keeps some fans interested,

The new scoring is definately easier to understand and keep track of.

In the end though, it really doesn't matter as long as a driver is consistantly in the the top ten.

In 2002, Matt Kennseth won only the Daytona 500 but finished regulalrly at the top of each race. Ryan on the other hand won eight races but was all over the board in the other races. Kennseth won the championship that year while Ryan finished I believe sixth.