NASCAR Hits Homerun with Chase Format

NASCAR Hits Homerun with Chase Format

Are you entertained? That’s what I was thinking yesterday as I watched the latter stages of the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway as Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman ran one-two-three, while Joey Logano tried to hustle back after a late race pit stop error. People can say what they want about not crowning a champion based off an entire season but the drivers knew what the rules were going into this season.

How can you not give NASCAR an A+ for effort for this past season. From the racing in general to the championship format, everything seemed to be better. When we were at Chicagoland Speedway ten weeks ago, no one had any idea what it was going to take to win the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup. Nine races, a couple hot tempers, a few drops of blood later and we arrived at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend with four drivers all with an equal shot at the 2014 Championship. For years fans have searched for that “Game 7” moment and they finally got it. How could you not love this new format.

As the race went on it seemed like the four title combatants were always within a few spots of each other just waiting for the other three to screw up just a little. And then it came. A caution for an incident including JJ Yeley and Blake Koch with just nine laps to go bunching everyone back up. Who would pit? Who would gamble and take just two tires? Who would roll the dice and take all four tires? Denny Hamlin faked everyone out by staying on track as opposed to Ryan Newman who took two tires and Kevin Harvick who took four as Joey Logano’s car fell off the jack relegating him back in the pack.

I had a feeling that Hamlin was going to be a sitting duck as the green flew. Six laps later, another caution this time for debris landed Hamlin, Newman, and Harvick sitting one-two-four, setting up a three lap dash to decide the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion. Harvick and Newman would make quick disposal of Hamlin and he eventually faded back to seventh. As the leaders took the white flag last night I thought to myself here it comes. One lap between Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman to determine a champion as those two ran one and two on the track. And after watching what Ryan Newman did to Kyle Larson last week to advance to the final round, I really thought he was going to bonsai the car down as hard as he could, to try and get Harvick. But he didn’t. End result, Kevin Harvick is your 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion.

In all my years of watching NASCAR I have never ever seen drivers go at it with as much intensity as they have this season. And I think that’s the shot in the arm that this sport needed. It’s all about win and you’re in. Riding around all day for a 5th place finish just isn’t good enough anymore. I really hope that NASCAR keeps this format around for a while with maybe just a minor tweak here or there as it seems like its creating more exciting racing.

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