"Playing the Numbers Game"


Some people, like myself wonder what would happen if you
play with the numbers in the chase.So I worked them over.
For various reason's I used the top 15 in points because all
15 are in the numbers game.

ALL TOTAL ARE ALL AS OF THE RACE @ POCONO
and not Indianapolis
J Johnson 2939
M Kenseth 2842
J Burton 2621
Ky Busch 2582
K Harvick 2563
M Martin 2557
K Kahne 2515
D Hamlin 2514
J Gordon 2512
T Stewart 2477
D Earnhart jr 2462
G Biffle 2433
Ku Busch 2311
C Edwards 2242
C Mears 2185
Any one of these drivers could make the chase this year,and
some like Johnson,Kenseth and Burton seem to have a lock
on being in the chase,but we should never make any predictions
yet.

On a proposal by a friend it would take a win and in.Others want
to limit the points earned by leading a lap and leading the most
laps eliminated.
Winners this year are Kanhe with 4 wins,Johnson 3,Kenseth 2,
Stewart 2,Hamlin 2, Gordon 2, Harvick 1 Ky Busch 1,
Ku Busch 1,Biffle 1,Earnhart 1.

In the current points system each leader of a lap receives
a 5 point bonus and the leader of the most laps in a race
receives 5 more bonus points.No extra points are given for
leading at halfway(is a cash award tho) and no points for
fastest qualifier.

So if we take away points for each time you lead a lap and
had lead the most laps the list would be like this.
Johnson (no most laps lead)(7 x lead a lap) 2934
Kenseth (2 x most laps lead)(12 x lead a lap) 2772
Burton (no most laps lead)(8 x lead a lap) 2582
Harvick (1 x most laps lead)(9 x lead a lap) 2535
Busch Ky (1 x most laps lead)(12 x lead a lap) 2517
Martin (no most laps lead)(8 x lead a lap) 2517
Hamlin (2 x most laps lead)(4 x lead a lap) 2484
Kahne (1 x most laps lead)(8 x lead a lap) 2470
Gordon ( 3 x most laps lead)(15 x lead a lap) 2432
Earnhart ( 1 x most laps lead)(9 x lead a lap) 2412
Stewart ( 4 x most laps lead)(14 x lead a lap) 2357
Biffle ( 5 x most laps lead)( 14 x lead a lap) 2343
Busch Ku ( no most laps lead)(14 x lead a lap) 2241
Edwards ( no most laps lead)( 6 x lead a lap) 2212
Mears ( no most laps lead)( 2 x lead a lap) 2175

First thing you notice is Harvick jumps ahead of Ky Busch,and
Hamlin is ahead of Kahne and Earnhart moves ahead of Stewart.
but no real difference in the points.Except that the spread is
greater in the second set (728 versus 869)

Some want to reward a race winner with more points.What would
be the number of points given ? Some say a one shot deal of 500
points no matter how many races you won.While others wanted
to give 100 points per race win.
I could make a list and show the new totals but why waste
time and space.With the addition of 500 points for a win
Johnson (3439) would still lead and Kurt Busch(2811)
in 11 place while Burton,Martin,Edwards and Mears (2185)
would be at the bottom.It is funny that we have had 11 race
winners this season,so far.
Now if you added 100 points per win the only changes would
be Kahne would leap ahead to 3rd in points 324 points behind
Johnson.

But if you added 100 points to the fastest qualifier the changes
would be Johnson in the lead 3039,Kahne 2nd 2915,
Kenseth 3rd 2842,Burton 4rth 2821,Hamlin 5th 2714,
Ky Busch 6th 2682,Biffle 7th 2633,Stewart 8th 2577,
Harvich 9th 2563,Martin 10th 2557,Gordon 11th 2512,
Ku Busch 12th 2511,Earnhart 13th 2462, Newman 14th 2280,
Edwards 15th 2242.This brought about the most changes.
Kahne moved up 3 spots but the biggest mover was Ryan
Newman up 3 spots while C Mears dropped to 16th.

So after doing all this I wonder
Is 10 drivers in the chase to enough?
or is 15 drivers too many?
Is an increase in points really justified ?
Does leading laps or the most laps really count?
Or should we give points to the fastest Qualifier?

Tell me what you think?
[b][/b]

You really put a lot of work and thinking into these different scenarios. I like the idea of adding 100 points for winning a race, because I feel that winning should be rewarded far more than it is now. I don't mind adding in some bonus points for qualifying well, but that's kind of like the bonus points for leading a lap or leading the most laps, it really doesn't count for anything at the end unless you win, does it? As far as the number for the Chase, I have a couple of different ideas for that. I think that instead of the top 10 only, it should also include anyone that has won a race and anyone within 100 points of the 10th place driver. That would still most likely not be more than 12 drivers, but it would give some others a chance, and make for a more interesting Chase.
There was another scenario that I saw tossed about last year by one of the drivers, and that is actually a Chase within the Chase format, in which the drivers that didn't make it have a 2nd chance to make it in by being ahead of the drivers that have fallen to the bottom of the Chase. This would occur after the 5th race in the Chase. Using the regular points system, any driver not in the Chase that would actually be ahead of a driver that is in the Chase makes it in, and they would be bumping a Chase driver out.
There are so many different ideas being tossed about as to how the tweaking could/should be done. It should be interesting to see what Brian France comes up with for next year. [color:"blue"] [/color]