NASCAR’s latest changes won’t add excitement

Daytona International Speedway has eliminated bump and pothole problems on its high-banked oval.

The repaving job at Daytona seemed to satisfy Sprint Cup drivers who tested there last weekend and who then survived this week's preseason media tour around Charlotte, N.C.

Focus shifted from a smooth racetrack to smooth presentations by participating drivers who beamed with optimism because all are tied in the 2011 championship race.

It's the closest they'll get to Jimmie Johnson this year.

NASCAR comes out of the gate Feb. 20 with the Daytona 500.

Great moves made by NASCAR last year to enhance racing excitement were adding double-file restarts and three overtime opportunities and allowing drivers to mix it up a little more. Side-by-side restarts didn't begin until June, so March 6 will be the first time fans get to see it at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the Kobalt Tools 400.

With two weeks left before Cup racing begins with nonpoints exhibition races, NASCAR waited until Wednesday to announce how it plans to smooth bumps and fill potholes in its championship points system.

The changes are a far cry from the level of work done to the Daytona track.

NASCAR chairman and chief executive Brian France announced changes that won't help sagging attendance and TV ratings.

The qualifying order will be set by practice speeds instead of the traditional blind draw. If qualifying is rained out, the lineup will be set by the practice speeds and not season points standings, as in the past.

For the fifth straight year, 12 drivers will make the Chase. But only the top 10 will be based on points after the 26-race regular season, and the last two spots will go to those not in the top 10 -- but in the top 20 -- who have the most race wins.

Those modifications are good ones. France should have stopped there.

He continues to devote too much time creating championship excitement since introducing the Chase in 2004.

The points system has been simplified by awarding 43 points to race winners and dropping by one-point increments until the 43rd-place finisher gets one point. Race winners will get three bonus points, any driver who leads a lap gets one, and another point will go to the driver who leads the most laps.

Whoopee.

The new format might be more simple, but only a simpleton would think it will make racing more exciting.

NASCAR continues to incorrectly put too much emphasis on the championship and its last 10 races it calls a playoff.

No matter how much France wants NASCAR to be like the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball, it never will be.

Racing is unlike other sports in which the entire season is geared toward the last game played. And in each NASCAR race, 43 teams are competing, not two.

Last year's visit to Las Vegas produced the third-largest crowd of the Cup season. The local race consistently ranks among the top three in attendance and in the top five in TV audience.

And it's early in the season when no one strategizes for a championship.

NASCAR prefers consistency over winning. If that truly were the case, it would not consistently change the Chase every year.

The sport doesn't need a forced and fabricated championship.

Jeff Wolf's motor sports column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247. Visit lvrj.com/motorsports for more news and commentary.