Are there twelve teams capable of pulling off a championship run in the Chase?
- Atlanta Motor Speedway will still have one annual race, but a schedule without two dates near the unofficial capital of the South seems strange. It's a good track, a fun track, even if not enough people ever seemed to notice.
- Most race fans don't live in cities. They may live near cities, but it's hard to get city dwellers to take road traps, and AMS is a long way from downtown, particularly taking traffic into account.
- Pocono Raceway is no more than a 90-minute drive from New York City. It could be considered "the New York track." Very few residents of the Big Apple make the trek to Pocono, and why should they, with so much entertainment and sports available via a short subway ride?
- Some "city folks" adore NASCAR, but many never develop the great American love affair with the automobile, simply because they seldom drive one.
- Automobile racing is much more popular in the rural areas and suburbs than in large cities. Only so much can be done about that.
- It will be interesting to see if the relative lack of drama regarding the Chase field affects Richmond attendance. Once individual races stood on their own merits. The intense hype regarding the Chase may have the almost subliminal effect of undermining the perceived importance of individual races.
- What to do about the Nationwide Series? NASCAR and the tracks want Sprint Cup drivers in the field but aren't so pleased with Cup drivers winning all the championships. If they just make it impossible for Cup drivers to win the title, they will be doing no more than producing a champion who seldom wins. It's a vexing problem.
- The key to the Sprint Cup championship is timing. Thanks to the Chase, being strong all season long is less important than being strong at the end.
- What is the overriding effect of four straight Jimmie Johnson championships on his peers? They fear him, whether they will admit it or not.
- Twelve drivers will have a shot at the championship ... not. There aren't 12 teams capable of pulling it off, even after having the regular season graded "on a curve," which is what the Chase format basically does.