[vincesanity82]

Give Roush Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith credit for resorting to a new tactic to make his case that points penalties against drivers in the Chase for the Nextel Cup are unfairly harsh. Smith's argument is mathematical. Since Chase drivers only have 10 races in which to garner points in the championship season, Smith argues that a 25-point Chase penalty was 250 percent more severe than the same penalty in a 26-race regular season. (Actually, that'd be 260 percent, but he rounded down.) Smith suggested that a 10-point penalty would have more appropriate. -- Charlotte Observer

Charlotte Observer | 09/27/2007 | Inside Motorsports | David Poole

[Racer Duck]

I see nothing wrong with the current system where the Champ is crowned based on race results which include highest place finishes and least number of penalties.

why make penalties dependent on your place in the points? with that attitude the non-Chosen penalties would be very harsh...

[wardfan]

why not the same points penalty as during the season, after all they are earning the same points as before the chase and racing under the same rules as all the OTHER CARS STILL RACING

[LSC9901]

Why not eliminate the chase and this "unfair" problem at the same time.

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by LSC9901

Why not eliminate the chase and this "unfair" problem at the same time.

That's the best idea I've heard yet.

[Racer Duck]

now that I've re-read my previous post in light of the recent posts, I find it didn't quite say what I wanted: I should have prefixed my comment with "without discussing the Chase itself" .. the basic idea of making the champ the driver who gets the best finishes and least penalties is what ought to be the goal .. and except for the forever fiddling NASCAR is doing, it is pretty much that.

I suppose most everyone on GTG knows my opinion of the Chase, so, LSC, you're right, eliminating the chase makes Geoff Smith's "suggestion" useless and resolves the problem quite nicely. now if we can get both the chase and the chosen eliminated at the same time, what a great day it would be for racing.

[jks812]

If it's in the first 26 or the last 10 races, shouldn't matter. The penalities should be the same. Chase driver or not, they should be the same. If you don't want your chase driver to get a penalty in the last 10 races, make sure you don't do anything wrong and they won't get one.

[PettyBlue]

Said my take here, NASCAR taking Edwards car for closer inspection

[wardfan]

I think Roush is breathing to many exaust fumes. Just now on Raceday he says he doesn't know why they inspected Edwards car. Duh, wouldn't it be because he just won the race and that's what they always do. What a crybaby.