Are changes to NASCAR’s points system imminent?
NASCAR may be making some tweaks to its point system sooner rather than later.
NASCAR CEO Brian France said Tuesday on MRN's NASCAR Live that the sanctioning body was "not satisfied" with the points system. Currently, a driver that wins and leads the most laps gets 48 points while second place -- assuming that driver did not lead a lap -- receives 42, third place receives 41 and so on.
"We're not satisfied we have the exact balance we want with winning, consistency, points, running for a championship," France said (via USA Today) "We think we can make some tweaks that continue to incentivize risk-taking, racing harder and so on. We're looking at that. We'll undoubtedly be coming with things that put the incentive on winning races and competing at the highest level."
And then to add to it, NASCAR VP and Chief Communications Officer Brett Jewkes tweeted this on Wednesday morning.
Truth is ... it's going to be a newsy January. #NASCAR
— Brett Jewkes (@BJewkes) January 8, 2014
We can hold out hope that NASCAR would go to a Formula 1 style points system that only awards points through the top 10 and greatly values winning, but NASCAR will likely not go that far. And that's fine. A second big points change in less than five years may not go over too well. It's probably in the best long-term interests to make a change and keep the point-per-place base that's currently intact.
France also mentioned that NASCAR was trying to move some start times later. NASCAR just announced the 2014 broadcast schedule, though it didn't contain many tweaks to the standard start times the Cup Series has had for the past few seasons.
“If anything, we’re trying to go a little bit later,’’ France said. “We’re, obviously, trying to get more prime-time events and be in the widest possible audience that’s available on television, although I certainly understand that creates some hardships as well with people trying to get back.’’
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is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
