Damn the playoffs

The truck series was a great points battle as well. I think you find that the series inversely mirrored each other before the playoffs. If the cup series was a runaway, the Busch and truck series was a tight battle. If the trucks or Busch were a runaway, the cup series was a closer battle. I remember watching the '03 Ford 300 and not only was the points battle back and forth but the race was back and forth too. Biffle lead early, then McMurray dominated, then Kenseth came out of nowhere to lead, the Truex looked like he had the car to beat, the FINALLY Kasey Kahne stole the show and won.

It's a shame because these kinds of battles are what makes the sport special because they were organic. The playoffs forces these championship battles. When every final race is special, none of them are special.

Kenseth was the biggest extreme since 1987, but in all reality the title race was over with at least a race to go in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. It was becoming way too common. In a couple cases, in all practicality it was over with 2-4 races left. 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, and 2000

@@scjacket611 Up to that point I was used to it. I was okay with it being clinched with a race to go because of just how long the season was. I was never concerned about the championship as much as I was the racing.

Which means it's time for NASCAR to stop the gimmick "one race" champion crap so relevancy is added to all races to score maximum points. Wins should have a bonus of like well like this:' (I could go on and on and on about this) +3 Lead a Lap +6 Lead the Most Laps +5 Winner bonus So the max points for a winner in a race who led the most laps and won would be 102 (3 lead a lap, 6 led the most laps 5 the win) With this system, there isn't a possibility that second place could outscore the winner of the race as the winner would have lead a lap and receives a bonus for winning. No CHASE, a full season champion, the driver that performs well in every race would be the result with a points system designed to make EACH point matter.. No damage vehicle clock/policy but a driver MUST maintain a minimum average speed over a 5 lap period or be parked. Engine changes allowed with a rear of the field starting spot. Each race has a maximum of 40 entrants, starting fields based on qualifying speeds of one lap (less Daytona and Talledaga). The fastest 20 cars in the first round start in p1-20, the slowest 18 in p21-38. Only the fastest cars make the race, no CHARTER guarantee.. P39,40 would be reserved for provisionals: past champs get 4 on the year and everyone else, 3. No more wave-around or "Lucky Dog" rules. In the event of a caution, lapped cars line up in the order that came off of pit row, double file, in front of the leaders. However, those lapped cars do not get to use the choose rule. The leader, lined behind the lapped cars, will be the first to use the choose rule. Racing back to the caution flag, in that event, will be in effect barring that no cars involved in an accident are a hazard to the cars racing back to the line. No more stage racing, rather 1 competition caution at the halfway point of the race to "break it in half" but allow for strategy to play out. (1) 88 (2) 85 (3) 82 (4) 80 (5) 78 (6) 76 (7) 74 (8) 72 (9) 70 (10) 68 (11) 64 (12) 61 (13) 58 (14) 55 (15) 52 (16) 50 (17) 48 (18) 46 (19) 44 (20) 42 (21) 38 (22) 35 (23) 32 (24) 29 (25) 26 (26) 24 (27) 22 (28) 20 (29) 18 (30) 16 (31) 13 (32) 11 (33) 9 (34) 7 (35) 6 (36) 6 (37) 4 (38) 3 (39) 2 (40) 1

And how many times has that actually happened? Not often enough

@@k18rock22 Isn't that kind of the point? These battles are special when they're organic. When they're forced every year, they stop becoming special.

@@k18rock22 THANK YOU

@@k18rock22 The thing about championship fights on a traditional points system is that they are memorable because they dont happen literally every single time, and if they happen constantly, is good to watch because the drivers are competing every single race for every single position, its not like get a win on the beggining of the round of 8 and then just cruise around knowing that you'll be on the finale anyway

Oh yes!

That's awesome

Rip Ricky Hendrick 1980-2004

Best ride and equipment he had really was at Hendrick in the 25 car and a lot of people have said that was the “experimental” car at that time, maybe if he were in top equipment he could’ve been better… maybe 🤷🏻‍♂️

I do wonder.... could the same be argued for Bobby Hamilton, Jr? (To a certain extent?)

@@davidpeters2625 Same with David Green.

Still kept getting decent rides long enough to become the Busch Series iron man in 2010, but by then he was driving in a midpack TriStar car that was struggling for sponsors and he subsequently retired. Still a great career, a true Busch Series lifer

At least he and Jamie Mac provided a fantastic encore finish at Darlington.

@@luisy.gonzalez6469 Agreed. Probably one of the most underrated finishes of all time. To be fair, the Cup Series race finish stole its thunder, but both finishes are a primary example of why Darlington is the best Intermediate track in NASCAR. Chicagoland would be #2 if they kept racing there. Then again, Atlanta would be #2 if the track wasn't getting reconfigured. Fortunately, with the package presumably changing combined with the debut of the Gen-7 car, maybe we'll get a better race than expected, and I would be happy to be proven wrong in that case.

Well... why was he dropped?

@@Thedearster Lack of sponsorship funding.

??? That cup series season was awesome, apart from all the rain.

Agreed. Never knew at the time how that whole Biffle deal happened. Was weird.

In terms of full season points: 1. Austin Cindric, 1,336 points 2. A.J. Allmendinger, 1,288 points, -48 3. Justin Allgaier, 1,203 points, -133 4. Daniel Hemric, 1,201 points, -135

Last great year in NASCAR. After 2003, 2004-2007 were ok and by 2008 NASCAR was unwatchable. I miss NASCAR 1995-2003 era of NASCAR.

@@osurocks24 1988-94 had greatness too

That’s the thing. The traditional points could go either way. It doesn’t manufacture a close championship, so when the fight for the title is actually close, it makes a year special or stick out. I feel like with the playoffs, it’s just an expectation (not a welcome surprise) that no one knows who will be the championship until the final race.

Kevin conway comes to my mind. He won it pretty much by default if i remember correctly being the only one running for it

Stephen Leicht

Kevin Conway. Only won it because he was the only rookie

Yeah that was pretty great, and Custer keeping Reddick mistake free for the last 20 laps as he was right behind him.

@@supertornadogun1690 I remember that. It was amazing fight for the championship. Was so pumped for Tyler Reddick, who was my second favorite Xfinity Series driver at the time. Since 2020, he's my 5th favorite Cup Series driver.

Bro this video came out 1 minute ago. Are you a time traveler?

And Memento.

Non-Cup affiliated teams like Rensi, Pollax and Brewer all started falling off while Buschwackers in Cup teams kept increasing. This was their last hurrah.

The uncompetitive #32 Tide Ride in Cup happened…he was having to qualify on speed week in week out because that team had fallen off horribly by 2004…he DNQ’d a shitpile of races because of it then went back to Rensi but by then the Cup affiliated teams were dominating the series and it was not the same at all

If they'd used F1 points in this season, Hamilton would have won.

One of the few times he did. He was VERY boring lol

@@YNRBobb I'm not surprised he was lol. At least he has a nice voice for commentating