by Darrell Waltrip

Updated: September 12, 2007, 11:38 PM EST 70 comments

add this RSS blog email print

The Chase has the same point system that these guys use all year long except there are no bonuses for victories in the Chase so there's no incentive to win. There's only an incentive to finish. Now, that may sound ridiculous, and in some ways, it is. Every week we go to the racetrack, there are plenty of incentives to win. But the championship is so crucial, important and big that it changes the way you approach every race in the final 10.

As a driver, the first thing you think about is not winning the race. The first thing you think about is finishing the race. With that in mind, the guy that averages a seventh- or eighth-place finish over 10 races more than likely will win the championship. That's the way its shaken out over the last four years, and it's not going to change this year. There's a real potential for a few drivers to dominate the Chase.

Recognize regular season champ

Jeff Gordon has 15 top five finishes in 26 races. He's been phenomenal, running up front, winning poles and winning races, week in and week out. I feel sorry for Jeff. He had a huge point lead — over 300 points — and it's all for naught. It's been taken away from him, and he's not even going to start the Chase as the point leader. After all that work and dominance, he's going to start the Chase in 2nd place. It's just like a pat on the back. "Good job, buddy, but we're moving on."

After Richmond, Kurt Busch was 657 points behind Gordon, and Kevin Harvick was 664 points behind the leader. They're going to start 40 and 50 points respectively out of first place. That's the one thing that makes it hard for me to be a fan of the Chase. There's no real reward for the hard work these teams put in leading up to the Chase, other than 10 bonus points for winning a race.

If you're going to throw all of Gordon's hard work out the window, take away all of his points away and start him in 2nd place, the least you could do is pay him a big bonus and make him the regular season champ. That would be worth fighting for.

Plus, they've got to do something in the 10 races to encourage racing for wins, not just going out and trying to finish. They need the same incentive to go to victory lane that they had in the Race to the Chase. It was a huge deal for Johnson because a 60-point lead over last place is pretty big to take into the Chase. I agree with giving bonuses for winning. There should be bonuses for winning all the time, and maybe they should double or triple in the Chase itself. If you win races, you should get a lot of bonus points.

Oh, by the way

Heading into the Chase for the Nextel Cup, something that plays right into the hands of the Gibbs and Hendrick teams is the Car of Tomorrow. It's going to be run in five of the 10 Chase races, and they are the two best organizations, winning 16 of 26 races this year. Their Car of Tomorrow programs have been stellar so they not only have a performance, driver and crew chief advantage, but their Car of Tomorrow programs give them a distinct advantage as well.

Ask DW
AskDW Subject: Comment/Question: Name:  Email:  Hometown:

But I was very impressed with Carl Edwards' Car of Tomorrow runs at Bristol and Richmond, Roush Fenway Racing has come a long way with their car. Kasey Kahne has had a couple of good top-10 runs recently. He's not in the Chase, but it looks like he may have gotten a little of his performance back from last year. That's good to see. Maybe Kasey and Ray Evernham will gain a little momentum going into next year.

Oh, by the way, too

A lot of people have talked about the No. 8 car losing five engines this season, and it could be an inventory thing. They are still running the current, SB2 engines and not the new engine, the R07.

In order to make the transition from that old engine to the new, it's a pretty large investment. You've got to scrap what you have because nothing off the old engine works on the new one. You've got to go through an incredible inventory change with expensive start-up costs to change over from the old engine to the new one.

Maybe they're just trying to use up all of their old inventory to make it through the rest of the year with what they have in-house before they switch over to the R07 engine. I don't know that to be a fact, but when I had my own team, we went from the old engine to what is now the current SB2 power plant. We tried to use up all of the old engines before switching to the new ones because it would save a lot of money.

I'm not saying that's what they're trying to do or that's what they're doing, but it certainly could be part of the problem.