In the fourth part of an agitating-ongoing series, I take a look at a particular aspect of Nascar (in this case, the qualifying system), and give it a makeover from square one.
Nascar's the only sport where you don't know if you're going to compete in the real event--its not like football teams need to run a 40-yard-dash to see if they'll play on Sunday. So Nascar's issues are pretty well difficult for "stick-and-ball" sports fans to understand. Lets see if we REAL fans can make it better.
--The Top-35 rule was great while it lasted (you know, when there were more than 25 teams with a legitimate shot to get a top-10.) So lets get rid of it ASAP.
--The old provisional starting system (used before the Top-35 rule was put into place) was OK, but it was too damn hard to understand. So let's make the NEW system a simpler version of the older system.
--Here's how it will work: There'll be one round of qualifying to determine the starting order. The fastest 38 teams (assuming a 43-car-field) will make the race. This will put a premium back on qualifying, as right now its more of a leisurely Friday afternoon test session.
--The five teams highest in points that did not get in on speed will fill out the final five spots (again, assuming a 43-car-field). This gives upper-echelon teams a "mulligan" if they spin out or have a poor set-up in their qualifying lap, but is far from an actual guaranteed starting spot.
--But what if a bunch of start & park teams just set up their cars for one good qualifying lap? Well, teams will now be able to re-adjust their cars between qualifying and the actual race (with a Happy-Hour test session to allow for tweaking).
--The past-champion's provisional, aka The Darrell Waltrip Memorial Starting Spot, is a bit of a necessary evil left over from the days of Richard Petty struggling to make races. However, Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte have shown how much the system can be abused. So from now on, a past champion can only claim a past-champion's provisional if they've run at least 80% of the previous year's races. Additionally, past champions may only use this way to qualify for a race five times a year.
--Obviously the 43-car field (rumored to be a requirement of the TV contracts) has become a joke lately. I'd like to see a more "elastic" field size based on purse money and track size. Maybe only 40 cars per race for tracks 1-mile long and shorter, which will help to free up room on the tight pit roads of Dover and Martinsville. In that case, only the fastest 35 cars would qualify on speed (five provisional starting spots stay the same).
Well, there you have it--oh, and the best/worst side effect of this (if its implemented in all three national series) would be Jeff Green losing his main source of income.