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The pros and cons of NASCAR's points and race format changes

There’s a lot to digest when it comes to the massive points and race format changes NASCAR announced Monday.

In the hours since NASCAR’s announcement, we’ve had some time to reflect on what NASCAR has changed about the sport. Quite honestly, these are probably the biggest changes since the Chase was introduced in 2004.

Courtesy of Nick Bromberg and Jay Busbee, here are our quick thoughts about the changes. We want to hear your feedback too; let us know via Twitter and we’ll publish a mailbag of your reactions later Tuesday.

If you missed the details regarding NASCAR’s points changes, click here.

Nick Bromberg: Jay, what was your first reaction when you saw the changes that NASCAR made to its points systems? Did your initial reaction match your feeling when you had a chance to digest all of the changes? Because, let’s be honest, they’re pretty complex.

I think I like the changes, though I can’t say I wholeheartedly endorse everything NASCAR has tweaked. My biggest endorsement is the carryover of bonus points throughout the Chase now. My biggest problem with the Chase over the last three years was how a fluke event could have disastrous consequences for a driver who’s been one of the best throughout the season.

With bonus points applying to the first three rounds of the playoffs, a driver now has a cushion. And I think that lessens the chance that he could get kicked out of title contention prematurely because of a broken part.

Jay Busbee: My first reaction is that a second screen is going to become mandatory to track three different points schemes at once: the race, the regular season, and the “playoffs.” (That sounds weird, huh?)

I know, I know, this ain’t how Dale did it. But the NBA game has evolved far past the style of Jordan. The NFL has evolved past the days of Montana. And NASCAR has to evolve too, because what it is now isn’t working well enough from either financial or viewers’ perspectives.

I like the changes. They’re manufactured drama, but hey, all of sports is manufactured drama. My first question back to you: are the new points schemes TOO complex?

Nick: I think so, but I also understand why NASCAR did it.

I understand the points changes. And I like them. I think. But I also know that my job is to pay attention to the sport. For many people, this is a hobby and nothing more than that. And I do wonder if the complexity of the changes takes away from a fan’s ability to sit down and watch a race and easily pay attention to what’s going on.

After reflecting on the format for a bit, I think the segment bonus points are the overly complicating factor. A driver gets one bonus point in the Chase for a segment win, so if a driver wins 10 segments in the first 26 races, he gets 10 bonus points for the Chase. Fans are used to race wins counting for the Chase, and adding a bonus for the regular season points standings is a welcome and sensical change too. But the segment bonuses is where things get tricky.

Quite frankly, I’d be cool with just race win bonus points and the bonus points for the top 10 in the standings at the end of the regular season carrying over. That would reduce the complexity quite a bit and still make the regular season “mean more.” But I also understand the need to emphasize segments by NASCAR even if it’d be the first thing I could change from this.

Keeping on the segment idea, do you think NASCAR fans will acclimatize well to predetermined breaks in a race?

Jay: The first bar for fans to hurdle is the NEW = WRONG one. What’s new is not always terrible, what’s traditional isn’t always the best way. You’re going to hear plenty of yowling in comment sections and on Twitter — I’ve already seen people calling it “Common Core NASCAR,” which is funny, but still: this is far easier to comprehend than the wavearound rule, folks. Get your “gosh, I didn’t know I needed a calculator to watch races” jokes out of the way in February, and then let’s get down to it.

I think fans will be fine with the breaks once they get accustomed to them. Studies used to indicate that the human mind can stay engaged on one task for about 45-50 minutes before needing a break; if we discount the impact that smartphones have had on our attention spans, that’s getting to the ballpark of where these breaks will fall. Netflix shows, football halves, NASCAR race segments — all about the same length of time.

So I can very easily see a scenario where people start focusing in hard on the last 20 laps of each segment, pulling for their driver to win that slice, and then stepping out, taking a break for 15 minutes or so as the next segment starts up. Breaking up the game into chunks has worked pretty well for football, basketball, hockey, soccer, etc. for all these years.

The difference comes in the fact that what happens in these segments directly affects the playoffs. The Falcons didn’t get any extra playoff points because they beat the Saints way back in September. What are the complications you can see arising from this format?

Nick: You want me to think of the downsides to something? I never do that.

We’re used to seeing the impact of penalties and miscues ratchet up the later they happen in a race. That linear buildup that we’ve come to know is gone because of the segments.

The segments are divided up into roughly two segments of 25 percent of the race and a final segment of 50 percent of the race. With points being awarded for the first two segments, a penalty with, say, 10 laps to go in segment two for a driver running third could be far more costly than a penalty 20 laps later that comes in the first 10 laps of the final segment.

How? Well, that second-segment penalty will have cost the driver points at the end of the segment. With an early third-segment penalty, the driver has ample time to get back towards the front and salvage a good finish without the fear of losing immediate points even though the penalty came later in the race.

I understand that’s a bit complex, but this is the world that NASCAR just stepped into. There are going to be a lot of complexities and a lot of things we learn on the fly about it as crew chiefs and engineers figure out the best way to game the system. Will teams short pit throughout the segments to get better track position? Will teams at the back of the pack in segment 1 try crazy things to get to the front at the start of segment 2?

These changes have been posited as a way to improve the racing on a weekly basis. But with the exception of Talladega and Daytona, there’s no upside for a driver to run 15th for the first half of the race. Do you think that drivers will race harder now that there’s a carrot in front of them in the form of points in the first half of the race?

Jay: Every driver, every crew chief remembers the championship Chase (RIP) in 2011, where Carl Edwards lost on a tiebreaker to Tony Stewart (aside: how weird is it that neither of those guys are in the field anymore?), or the many Chase instances of the last few years where one driver has edged another out of the next round by a single point. Someone’s going to run the numbers, pile up the points, and edge out a more conservative driver/team, Kulwicki-over-Elliott-style, and everyone will be banging their heads they didn’t think of it first.

Of course, you bring up some great points. NASCAR lives in a world of unintended consequences, and we don’t know exactly how this will backfire on someone, but it will. NASCAR just has to hope the backfire doesn’t blow up on, say, Dale Earnhardt Jr. But you can bet that Chad Knaus, Paul Wolfe, and other look-for-every-edge crew chiefs are already working the angles on every segment of every track.

Bottom line? I’m excited for it. I’m willing to give the new format a chance. It’s clear from dwindling ratings and emptying grandstands that what we had in place before wasn’t working. This is a huge gamble, but you gotta play big to win big. Care to bet a press-box cookie on who’ll win the first segment in Daytona?

Nick: Oh, this is easy. Junior. Always pick Junior.

(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)