2008 Woodie Awards
Nascar's Silly Season
Rule Changes take a turn for the unknown
Staci Abrahamson
Issue date: 2/5/04 Section: Sports
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In order to get a good preview of what is to come this year in the world of NASCAR's top racing series, you need a good review of what happened last year; it was an interesting year to say the least. Matt Kenseth, a Wisconsin native, took last year's Winston Cup Championship, which was the final year the series was sponsored by Winston.
After thirty-three years of sponsorship, Winston has backed out, and Nextel is stepping in. Along with Winston, 76 Fuel also left and Sunoco has taken over in its place as the official fuel of NASCAR.
Last year was a very interesting year as far as Winston Cup is concerned: the points system was under intense scrutiny, General Motors decided that they were going to remove Pontiac from the series, Toyota was looking to get in, and the aforementioned Winston abandonment.
Several rules changes for this upcoming season hope to strengthen the competition. A major change took place within the points system, due to Matt Kenseth's stranglehold on the points lead for most of the season. Being he was very consistent, he had a quiet, yet strong finish, and had very few DNF's (did not finish).
However, a lot of fans thought simply being consistent was bad for the competition, so there had been talk about a change to the points system, which had been in place since 1975.
During the off season, NASCAR did just that, proposing a new format that will be put into effect this season. The final ten races of the year will now be a "shoot-out" for the championship. Only the drivers in the top ten in points or within four hundred points of the leader at the twenty-sixth race mark will get a chance to participate. There has been mixed reactions from fans and drivers.
Another change that has an indirect correlation to the points is the number of provisional spots in order to get into a race. In previous years, spots thirty-six through forty-two, a driver had to be ahead of another driver in points to get in, since they were slow at qualifying.
After thirty-three years of sponsorship, Winston has backed out, and Nextel is stepping in. Along with Winston, 76 Fuel also left and Sunoco has taken over in its place as the official fuel of NASCAR.
Last year was a very interesting year as far as Winston Cup is concerned: the points system was under intense scrutiny, General Motors decided that they were going to remove Pontiac from the series, Toyota was looking to get in, and the aforementioned Winston abandonment.
Several rules changes for this upcoming season hope to strengthen the competition. A major change took place within the points system, due to Matt Kenseth's stranglehold on the points lead for most of the season. Being he was very consistent, he had a quiet, yet strong finish, and had very few DNF's (did not finish).
However, a lot of fans thought simply being consistent was bad for the competition, so there had been talk about a change to the points system, which had been in place since 1975.
During the off season, NASCAR did just that, proposing a new format that will be put into effect this season. The final ten races of the year will now be a "shoot-out" for the championship. Only the drivers in the top ten in points or within four hundred points of the leader at the twenty-sixth race mark will get a chance to participate. There has been mixed reactions from fans and drivers.
Another change that has an indirect correlation to the points is the number of provisional spots in order to get into a race. In previous years, spots thirty-six through forty-two, a driver had to be ahead of another driver in points to get in, since they were slow at qualifying.