NASCAR is returning to a version of a championship format it used from 2004 to 2013 but two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch ponders if this is really for the best.
“I thought we got away from it for a reason in the past,” said Kyle Busch during a Monday morning appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “So, I’m not real sure why we went back to it. The reasons why we sort of went away from it was obviously Jimmie Johnson’s dominance, number one.”
“I feel like number two is there were times where guys like myself, who would have one bad race or two that would then knock them out of the championship. I finished 3rd one year, 5th another year just from having a wreck in one race like Talladega. You can’t make up enough points to get back to the championship.”
“I got wrecked at Kansas one year. That put me 5th in the championship.”
The point Busch was articulating is that the elimination rounds format used over the past 11 years allowed a top-tier driver to recover by winning. It’s also fair to mention that Busch won both of his championships under that format.
“It’s just stuff like that,” Busch said. “I don’t really agree with it. But, the racing, the way that it is today and everybody running over everybody all the time, you might see that all 16 of us have a bad race.”
“If all of us have a bad race then that could be construed as a throw away and you gotta be good in the other nine.”
“We’ll see how it plays out.”
This isn’t entirely the old Chase for the Championship either as NASCAR has drastically increased the number of points allocated for winning races and more points are available in the form of stage points.
Busch says, ultimately, the only teams capable of recovering from a bad race moving forward are those who win in bulk.
“If you’re a winner,” Busch said of overcoming a mulligan. “If you’re a Hendrick, Gibbs or Penske car, yeah. Name me another team that wins races outside of those guys.”
