New season brings new changes!

Hi Everyone!

As we step out of January and walk into February, we are now only a few short weeks from the 2014 NASCAR season...and this fan is excited! Things will start off with Speed Week on February 14th with practices for the Sprint Unlimited that will be held Saturday February 15th and followed by the qualifying on Sunday for the Daytona 500! Then on Thursday, February 20th will be the Budweiser Duels which are two races that will also determine the line up for the Daytona 500. And then on Sunday, February 23rd is the Great American Race...the Superbowl of NASCAR...the start of the 2014 season...the Daytona 500! I have been counting down to Daytona since the drop of the green flag at Homestead last November and am now down to twenty two more days til the great race...back to when I can officially end my NASCAR withdrawal and get back to following my favorite drivers on the track.

But with the new season...also brings some drastic changes to both the way the drivers qualify and to the Chase.

For qualifying, instead of qualifying on their own as they had in the past, they are now going to qualify in a sort of way the F1 series qualifies; which has been called the knock out qualifying. For tracks larger than 1.25 mile the drivers will qualify together for twenty-five minutes before the top twenty-four cars in speed will run together for ten minutes. Then after that the fastest twelve cars will compete for the pole position in the final five minutes. On the tracks shorter than 1.25 miles, the drivers will go out for thirty minutes before the top twelve fastest drivers will go back out for the last ten minutes.

For the Chase, the first change comes with the name. The new name will be NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase Grid. The field will now be expanded from twelve drivers to sixteen drivers - where the top fifteen slots are reserved for the drivers who have the most wins within the first twenty-six races (the regular season) and the sixteenth slot held for the driver for the most points after the regular season. The Chase will then be cut up into four different sections (Challenger Round, Contender Round, Eliminator Round, and the NASCAR Championship). The first three rounds are of three races while the NASCAR Championship Round only consists of Homestead...the last race of the season. At the end of each round four drivers will be eliminated from the Chase where their points will be reset back to the season point standings. The drivers eliminated will be the drivers with the fewest season points. Though if a driver wins a race in that round, they will move on to the next round. (Challenger Round will have sixteen drivers. Contender Round twelve drivers. Eliminator Round will have Eight drivers. The Eliminator Round will have four drivers.) Which will leave ONLY four drivers going into the final race of the season, Homestead, going for the championship.

Personally, I am not a fan of either change that NASCAR has made for this 2014 season. (I am hoping to be wrong) but to me it seems like all it is asking for is the drivers to wreck each other in order to be the fastest qualifier or to get in the Chase or stay in the Chase. Seems like they are asking for more point manipulation to occur as had happened at Richmond last year when Clint Bowyer purposefully spun out on the last lap in attempt to help his teammate Martin Truex Jr. get into the Chase. As for the changes for the Chase, I understand they want to emphasis on winning. But in doing so, they are punishing the drivers who are consistent throughout the entire season. It is great to have multiple wins in a season, but it is just as great to have a top five/top ten average finish of the season.

Then again, this all is coming from someone who is not a fan of the Chase to begin with. If I had my way, I would just ditch the Chase together and go back to the old point system. Which is probably why NASCAR has yet to ask me for my opinion on it all. :)

Despite how I feel about NASCAR's new changes they are putting into play this season, I will always be a die hard NASCAR fan. No matter what. Which leaves me  no choice, but to give them a shot to prove themselves and their changes to me. I will attempt to stay positive about NASCAR and their changes....and hope that their changes will work in team Hendrick's favor.

Just twenty-two more days until Daytona...am really looking forward to hearing Darrell Waltrip say his "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity. Let's go racing Boys!"

NASCAR HMS Fan

(I got my Speed Week info from: NASCAR Speed Week and my info on NASCAR's new changes from: NASCAR changes to qualifying order and to the Chase)