It’s hard to believe, but we’re just a couple of days away from the end of the season. And with a three way battle for the championship I thought now would be as good a time as any for my annual look at the points within the Chase and in the old points format.
Current Points Under the Old System:
1)#29-Kevin Harvick, 5109
2) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 4814, -295
3) #11-Denny Hamlin, 4744, -365
4) #99-Carl Edwards, 4625, -484
5) #24-Jeff Gordon, 4617, -492
6) #18-Kyle Busch, 4580, -529
7) #17-Matt Kenseth, 4497, -612
8 ) #14-Tony Stewart, 4481, -628
9) #2-Kurt Busch, 4350, -759
10) #31-Jeff Burton, 4348, -761
11) #16-Greg Biffle, 4280, -829
12) #33-Clint Bowyer, 4249, -860
13) #5-Mark Martin, 4249, -860
14) #1-Jamie McMurray, 4225, -884
Current Points Under the Chase:
1)#11-Denny Hamlin, 6462
2) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 6447, -15
3) #29-Kevin Harvick, 6416, -46
4) #99-Carl Edwards, 6198, -264
5) #17-Matt Kenseth, 6151, -311
6) #24-Jeff Gordon, 6124, -338
7) #18-Kyle Busch, 6115, -347
8 ) #16-Greg Biffle, 6113, -349
9) #14-Tony Stewart, 6074, -388
10) #2-Kurt Busch, 6033, -429
11) #33-Clint Bowyer, 6028, -434
12) #31-Jeff Burton, 5958, -504
13) #5-Mark Martin, 4249, -2213
14) #1-Jamie McMurray, 4225, -2237
In previous years what we’ve seen is a lot of similarity between the two lists, this year, not as much.
Only Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards maintain their same positions within both points systems. And for a few it’s one shift down or up. While the lists are different, the cream is at the top of both.
No doubt though, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin have benefited substantially from the Chase – without it they’d be out of the fight. Obviously, Kevin Harvick has benefited the least.
Under the old system Harvick would have easily pulled out the Championship win – in fact we would have been celebrating that one a couple of weeks ago. Now we’ve got a three way Chase (finally) going into the last race. I know it’s worn and tired, but with just 46 points separating first from third, it’s still anybody’s game.
Every year I do this, I always get scolded by someone for taking part in this “pointless, what if practice.” At the very least though it’s entertaining to see how the two differ – for the sake of curiosity. For me, I think it’s interesting to see how, despite the implementation of a thing like the Chase, the best cars from that season are always the ones competing for the championship – if not a little closer than they would have been.
Chase or not, I know I’m looking forward to seeing how this thing ends on Sunday.
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