2011 NASCAR Seasons

The 2011 NASCAR season, particullarly for the Sprint Cup series, has been a fantastic one. There has been 15 different winners as of Watkins Glen, and 5 of those have been by first time winners! Trevor Bayne started off the season by winning the Daytona 500, which was exciting for him especially for it only being his 2nd ever start! A lot of people were complaining into 2011 that Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs racing were winning far too many races and were dominating the sport. And there can be no arguing that they have spent a lot of time in victory lane in the last few years, but this year has not been a typical year in any way. There have been so many different teams winning the races and dominating that you’d reckon it’s a completely different sport! And the cool thing is it’s not just that these first time winners are just somehow finding their way to winning, by rain or a caution or something, but they are driving hard and making the race go their way.

I’m a fan of that, the many different winners and different teams doing so well. Penske racing is doing really well lately, and that’s not been right for a long time so it’s cool to see them competing as well as they are. They typical Joe Gibbs, Hendrick and Roush are doing pretty well as well, but to see RCR doing well again like last season is exciting, and watching Richard Petty’s team win the Watkins Glen race with Marcos Ambrose is pretty exciting to me!

But it’s not just the pairty of the Sprint Cup series that has me excited this year. It’s the fact that the points are so close! They started using a new points system this season, a 43 to 1 points system. You get 43 points total to win a race, and 1 to get last, one point between each position. You get a point for leading a lap, and I believe 3 bonus points for winning a race. It is a much better system than the one they had in the ancient days, including last years points, and makes the regular season much closer because of a smarter system. Sadly NASCAR has still keep the Chase, but in a way at least it’s not as terrible as it once was. The top 10 in points after 26 races are in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and 11th and 12th in the points are in  on a wild card. Basically, anyone who is between 11th and 20th in the points who have wins are seeded into those positions. Say a driver has 4 wins and is in 18th in the points and another has 3 at 20th in the points after race 26. Those two drivers would be in based purely on wins, which makes the season more dramatic and gives other teams a fantastic shot at making the Chase when they otherwise would already be preparing for the next season. I’m not really in like with the Chase, I reckon the new points system is proving in a very huge way you don’t need it to be dramitic in the points (there is a two way tie for first in the points at this time), but that is certainly the way to do it if you are going to have the chase.

And the way the season is going so far is fantastic for the fans apparently, because the tv ratings for the races have been higher all across the board, minus a rained race or two here and there. Which is fantastic, I’m certainly excited that NASCAR has so much going for it right now. They have even had a few sell out races, which is sadly rare now days with the economy and things being the way they are. I just hope the series continues at the pace it’s setting, and can’t wait for it to keep going!

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