Playoffs!

The 2010 NASCAR recently ended with Jimmie Johnson winning his unprecedented fifth consecutive championship. This was a little different for Jimmie because on the final race he wasn't in the lead and had to come from behind to win. The Chase for the Cup was created to help give the NASCAR season a bit more excitement towards the of the season but this was the first time it achieved its goal. I like the idea of making a playoffs for NASCAR but personally I'd wish that NASCAR would make it even more of a playoff atmosphere.

NASCAR is having a bit of a ratings slump and it carried over into the Chase as well. The races for the Chase had less ratings that previous year and even less ratings that earlier races in the season. The ratings were down even with three different drivers having a legitimate chance to win the championship on the last race. This is just a weird phenomenon to me, in other sports the playoffs and championship games or tournaments get much higher ratings.

I think the solution lies in the differences between other sports and NASCAR. In other sports it is win or go home in the playoffs. In NASCAR if you qualify then you get to race any of the Chase races, even if you aren't in the Chase. Why not make an actual elimination-style playoffs. You take the top 16 drivers and the last seven races and make it a true playoff tournament. The two lowest finishing drivers get eliminated every week and then the final four race in the last race to see who is crowned champion. Don't worry about points, the best finish takes the trophy. You could even have a wild card type event leading up to the last seven races so you could have ten races in the Chase.

In my opinion this would get more people to watch the Chase and help get NASCAR back some of the its lost ratings. It would also make for some great television.

Trevor McGregor