NASCAR: NASCAR: Kenseth consistent, rule change?

ESPN
DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Matt Kenseth brushes aside talk that his steadiest of seasons could lead to NASCAR changing the way it awards points in the series standings.

Kenseth, who has built a 258-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. with 14 races left, seems a lock for the championship.

No one discussed changing the system last year when the No. 17 Ford was collecting more trophies than anyone else. Only now has it come up, Reiser said, with Kenseth regularly extending his margin while others celebrate wins.

This year, no one has been more consistent as Kenseth's Roush Racing team. His one victory was the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas on March 3. Kenseth took the points lead the next week with a fourth at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He has had 14 top-10 finishes since then to cement a growing lead. Kenseth's worst showing in that stretch was 22nd at Martinsville's Virginia 500 in April.

Kenseth said the points system needs "to reward a team that makes its bad days a 15th-place finish and not its bad days a 40th-place finish. I think it should be about the whole team, not just the driver, and how consistent they can be all year." The current system "probably could reward maybe a little bit more for winning," Kenseth said.

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**SO, what do you think of the point system that is currently in place? I definitely agree with the way it rewards consistency and I also agree totally with what Kenseth said himself, there should be a little more reward for winning. Consistency is important, say you win four races and finish last in the rest, I dont think that's deserving of the points total. Just a litle more reward for winning and keep the idea of consistenty IMO.

What do you think?????

Kenseth ended up 9th today, another decent finish.

i agree that the points system should reward a little more for winning. the way it is now if the second place guy leads the most laps he'll have the same points total as the winner. so right now the winner gets five more than 2nd, i might be up for the winner getting 15 or 20 more.

and yes matt got 9th today and extended his points lead to 320 something, not breaking out the champagne yet but it's chilling.

This guy Jerry Bonkowski had a suggestion for a scoring rule change, doesn't seem bad:

Jerry Bonkowski, ESPN

The major argument being cited is that race winners aren't getting their due when it comes to earning points. The more wins you have, the more points you should get, the logic goes.

That's why, after trying to formulate several different methods over the last week and trying to be as fair as possible to all drivers, I am proposing an extremely simplistic points standing system. It's so simple that even the most mathematically challenged fans will be able to keep track of where their favorite driver is from week to week, and not have to look it up on the Internet or wait until they pick up tomorrow's newspaper.

The concept is simple: a sliding scale that would award 43 points for each win to coincide with the usual 43-car field, 42 points for second-place, 41 for third, etc., ending with one point for the last-place finisher each week.

I'd also sweeten the pie with 10 extra points for each win, five extra points for winning the pole, and three points for each driver who leads a lap in a race.

However, there would be one significant difference from the current system: I would also award five extra points to the driver who leads the most laps in a race, but only if he's not the eventual race winner.

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So what do you think of his proposal???


Current Winston Cup top-10:

1. Matt Kenseth, 3,432 points
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 3,103
3. Jeff Gordon, 2,971
4. Kevin Harvick, 2,953
5. Michael Waltrip, 2,923
6. Jimmie Johnson, 2,908
7. Bobby Labonte, 2,825
8. Ryan Newman, 2,816
9. Kurt Busch, 2,810
10. Robby Gordon, 2,777

If Bonkowski's plan were in effect:

1. Matt Kenseth, 897 points
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 804
3. Jeff Gordon, 769
4. Kevin Harvick, 756
5. Jimmie Johnson, 751
6. Ryan Newman, 750
7. Michael Waltrip, 746
8. Bobby Labonte, 714
9. Kurt Busch, 711
10. Robby Gordon, 687

i read alot on using different point systems since this controversy has started. one reporter used the points systems from every major racing body and Kenseth would be in the lead in all of them, except the f1 series he'd be tied with dale jr. if using theirs. as far as this guys proposal it's just like the one now except that goes in 1 point increments. i hear from alot of my friends that kenseth has only won 1 race and shouldn't be leading to which i reply Jr. and Gordon (who were the 2nd and 3rd place drivers at the time) have only won 1 race also so why can't he be leading? and let's not forget that kenseth won more than anyone last year and finished 8th. if it aint broke don't fix it.

I hope they don't touch the points system. It works fine. The guy with a steady hand wins the championship, and that is how its supposed to be. Dlae jr has a couple of dnf's this year. If he didn't he would be a lot closer to Kennseth. It all works out in the end.

Matt Kenseth had only one victory all year -- the Las Vegas 400 on March 2. But he usually showed up for every race, failing to finish only twice. So with 25 top-10 finishes in 36 races, Kenseth is honored Friday night by NASCAR as the Winston Cup points champion.