Some Chase...

Once in a blue moon I'll write something sports related... sue me. :)

This Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jimmie Johnson will win his third straight Nascar championship. The sports media are drooling over themselves with all the talk of doing what no driver has done since Cale Yarborough: Winning 3 straight titles. Yes, it's been 30 years since that's been done... but under NASCAR's demeaning 'Chase for the Championship,' can we really compare what's happening now to what happened 30 years ago?

Not hardly.

NASCAR implemented the 'CFTC' to spice things up and make the end of the season exciting so it could compete with televised NFL games. In its first year (2004), the championship came down to 3 drivers and was decided by what happened on the last lap of the last race. It was the closest of margins in NASCAR history. Only eight points separated winner Kurt Busch from Jimmie Johnson.

The 'Chase' was considered a success.

But since then? It's been anything but.

Sure, once the Chase starts, it looks interesting. For about 2 weeks. After 3 races in, it's quite clear as to who is going to contend who isn't. It becomes another yawner, especially since ONE team (#48) has won 3 of the last 5 Chases! It's not exciting when someone is winning the thing 60% of the time.

Right now we have the press going nuts over Johnson's 3 straight titles. That's it. Had there NOT ever been a Chase, then what?

In 2004, Jeff Gordon would have won his FIFTH NASCAR championship. The media would be talking about tying Petty and Earnhardt's seven titles.

In 2005, Tony Stewart wins his second championship with 5,199 points. Greg Biffle comes home second, more than two hundred points back.

2006: The year that wasn't. Jimmie Johnson wins his first championship by FOUR POINTS over Matt Kenseth. Talk about being on the edge of your seat at the last race!

2007: Jeff Gordon returns, winning his SIXTH title and second in 4 years. Totaling 6 wins and 5,455 points, it isn't even close as teammate Jimmie Johnson comes home second in the standings, 353 points back.

Imagine the drama of the closest championship in history (4 point margin) and a driver within arm's length of tying Petty and Earnhardt's record 7 championships. Now that's excitement!

Instead, we have a 'Chase' that has offered only one year of excitement.

Woopty-doo....