NASCAR Top 25 Year-in-Review: Jeff Gordon

Congratulations to Jimmy. But I still can't get use to the new way of adding the points system. I still feel who has the most points through out the year is entitled to the Championship. But I realize that's not going to happen. But now that the have to change the title of Cup Racing from Winston Cup too Nextel Cup now Sprint Cup, maybe they out too start everyone back too zero again. I'm glad Jeff and Steve are on the same page because he still has more wins and Champion Ships ahead of him.

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I have to agree that the 10 race Chase playoff system can keep up interest in the sport down to the very end. So I guess it serves it's purpose, but for the long time Nascar fans it still seems to upset the whole balance of the sport. How can you ever compare drivers from the pre chase era to todays drivers with the current chase format. Jeff Gordon has no doubt suffered more then any other driver to date. He has lost two championships that would have been his if not for the chase.

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The points system needs to go back to the way it has always been. The old points system was good enough for all those years. The Gordon hater, Nascar personnel have to do something to keep Gordon from beating all the records. They can't let Gordon beat earnhardt or Petty, now can they. The points system was good enough for thier championships to count, it should be good enough for everyone else. Maybe Nascar should go back through all the championships and have a recount of just the last 10 races and adjust the championship accordingly. We will see how many people like the system then when all these champions have thier Cups takin from them. Oh and by the way the only one to be cheated out of championships by the new points system, so far is Gordon. Two of them already. He technically has 6 championships and not 4.

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Most sports have a playoff system of some kind and to my knowledge none of them take into the playoffs what they accomplished during the regular season except for seeding. It's here to stay so get used to it. It's also a pain knowing who the champion is going to be with six races to go. Support Jeff and quit whining about it. It's getting annoying.

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You idiot, your coment doesnt even make since. Must be one of those earnhardt fans. Of course ever sport goes by what they accomplished collectively throughout the year or they woudnt even be in the playoffs contending for a championship to begin with. If an NFL team (insert any other sport) doesnt win any games during the regular season are they even in the playoffs to begin with. NO!!!!! The old points system was good for earnhardt and Petty to get there championships but not for todays drivers, it just doesnt make since. I don't see the NFL saying ok you were 2 or 3 place throughout the season, so we are going to give you the championship. If you want to just play it as a playoff then take the top 10 drivers and let them be the only ones on the track racing for the cup for those last 10 races. Allowing 43 drivers to change the outcome of the last 10 races is unfair and just plain wrong. Does the NFL start their post season with ever team taking to the field. NO!!!! Whining, thats funny. It's about what is right and fair. If the system wasn't changed for little E it would be the same old system. I can't remember his name but the official from Nascar came out last year sometime and admitted they changed it to help Little E, then when he couldn't get in the top 10 they changed it to top 12 drivers to help him. When that didn't work they decided to make the cars basically all the same. It's people like you that take from the sports tradition.

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JG24:

Didn't your mother ever teach you it isn't nice to call others names just because they disagree with you? You are the one that doesn't make sense. Ron's response to your initial comment was right on indeed. Every sport has a "play off" season of some sort or a "championship" of some sort, so why should NASCAR be any different? If you let the driver with the most points all through the season automatically win, then how are the others supposed to get better to compete against him/her? Times they are a changin in Nascar. There are now three to four car teams, so there has to be a fair competition, albeit a "chase" so that all can compete fairly.

Jeff is an excellent racer indeed and will go down in history as one of Nascar's best, definitely! His season started off with a bang, but clearly Jimmie won fair and square when it mattered. It wasn't like Johnson had a crappy season up and until the chase began. He and Gordon were dominating all the way through the entire season. And yes, anyone that complains constantly about THEIR driver being "robbed" or their driver being better than everyone else, is a whiner, plain and simple! Frankly you should be a Stewart or a Kyle Busch fan. Your personality is more in line with theirs! Jeff Gordon seems to be the only one NOT WHINING about not winning the championship. In fact his comments were more along the lines of, "Jimmie was just better," "They beat us fair and square." I believe those were his exact qoutes when the season ended.

Kim

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LOL Like I said. You're annoying and you have a problem with comprehension. Grow up and learn to live with the changes. All things evolve. All that whining you're doing isn't going anywhere. Jeff is a great driver but he's no whiner and I doubt that he wants fans who are. Hey Kimi

Ron

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Back at you, Ron! :-) Hey, where's Emerson? He and this JG24 person sound like one in the same. They both believe in NASCAR conspiracy theories. Give me a break....it isn't that sophisticated! It's just racin, folks!

They didn't change the points system to assist Little E. They didn't add 2 extra drivers in the drive to the chase to help Little E. and no one and I repeat no one official or otherwise from NASCAR said any such thing. Just where did you get that information from JG24? If you are going to make such a bold statement and claim it is fact, then name your source and be right! NASCAR just tried to even the field a bit by granting additional spots to those who could qualify to try to have a more exciting chase race and to attempt to give those twelve a better shot at winning the cup. As for the cars, they certainly didn't change them to benefit Little E. personally. They changed them to make them SAFER for ALL the drivers due to Big E's senseless death! There are no conspiracy theories here.....just racin!

Kim

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jeff gordon is a true champion, a gentleman, a man who truly loves the sport..i tip my hat to you mr gordon.

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this fanhouse is great. youcan sure see it's getting close to green flag time again. i'm for the chase format, tho a lil tweak here and there will always be there. old, yes jeff should be a 6 time champ, but with eveything in life change we cannot stop.old, people{not a true fan}, would lose interest, new, it brings more fans and more money which is what there after. old, yes i am, new, thats what i got to put up with. have a good season boys

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Right on Todd. True Nascar fans will accept the changes and learn to live with them. I'm not exactly happy with chase format as it stands (it needs some serious tweaking) but I think in the long run it's best for the sport and the fans. Will it please everyone? Hell no, but what does?

Hey Kim, you're a psychology major. What's your take is on these conspiracy dudes. What drives their thinking?

Ron

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There are actually good arguements being made on both sides of the issue.
Yes, in the OLD format Jeff Gordon would now have 6 Cup titles. Yes, all sports have some form of playoff. Yes, Nascar is not like other sports in that you do not have to actually ever win a race during the year to make the playoffs. You do not have to win a race in the playoffs to win the title. 43 teams still compete during the playoffs and one of the non-chasers could destroy a title contenders chances of winning with one stupid mistake. Why is the last place chase team in each race still in the playoffs the following week? All good points.
The chase format is still relatively new to our sport. While it may be true that Jeff Gordon is the only one that has been "robbed" of two titles, it is going to happen time and time again to other drivers as well. There have been numerous suggestions on how to improve upon the current format but unless the gods of Nascar decide to change it, it is what it is. Whining about it is not going to change things.
As a Jeff Gordon fan myself I have done far more than my fair share of whining about it. Sooner or later though, we fans need to move forward. Be happy for now that the man driving the car that crosses the checkered flag first is the winner. There are actually people that want to change that because they feel a driver should lead the whole race to be declared a winner. (Side note for those of you that like to compare Nascar to football. The winner is not declared until the clock runs out. How many football games are won in the last minute when the team trailed the whole game?)
As for the question of how you compare drivers of different eras, I do not see what the problem is. A win is still a win. If it really bothers you that much, do the research and and go back in history to see how many titles the past greats would have won under todays format. However, if you do, I hope you are willing to post those results if it turns out that they would have won more titles just as you probably would if they would have won less.
While yes, it may sound good to those of us that do not have our head up Jr's butt to say the chase was invented for him and the chase was expanded for him, think about it. You, JG24, are the only person I have heard quoting some forgotten Nascar offical as having said so. If that were the case, do you not think it would be quoted again and again and again? And with the actual officials name? With a taped recording of it playing over and over again? I have certainly been on record as having been no supporter of Little E but that one always make me shake my head when someone says the reason the chase was expanded was to include Jr.
Michael Bishop LeVan

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Hi Ron!

They won't like it (as we've learned in the past when I gave an assessment on Emerson, which by the way must have hit some kind of nerve because he hasn't returned in some time now), but they have a paranoia disorder. Not only do they believe everything in their lives must be a conspiracy, but they usually tend to believe everyone is out to get them personally as well which is why they become so incredibly defensive, overly so when it's not necessary to be so. It actually is no laughing matter. Paranoia diseases can truly take over one's life to the point that they cannot develop quality personal or professional relationships. Their work suffers as well as their friendships, family relations and so forth.

And there you have it.....hopefully that gives some insight into the way a person who is constantly paranoid goes through life.

Now I will just wait for someone to come on here to call me an idiot because that will be the best response they can come up with!

Kimi

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