Chase Changes - NASCAR Racing News, Tips And Picks

Chase Changes
By Brit Fryer
Posted: 7:00 am PDT 2007-01-28

It's hard for Kasey Kahne to argue with NASCAR's changes to the points system and Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Kahne won a series-high five races for Evernham Motorsports before the 2006 Chase ever began, but he entered the postseason in 10th. Had Monday's announcement been in place five months ago, Kahne's No. 9 Dodge would have started the Chase first with 10 points to spare.

"Winning is what the sport is all about," NASCAR CEO Brian France said on the annual media tour. "Nobody likes to see drivers content to finish just in the top 10. We want our sport - especially the Chase - to be more about winning."

Starting with the Feb. 18 Daytona 500, race winners throughout the 36-race season will receive 185 points - a five-point increase. Counting the five-point bonuses available for leading at least one lap and leading the most laps, a winner now can earn a maximum of 195 points, creating a potential maximum of 25 points between the first- and second-place finishers.

Then comes the Chase, which now will consist of the top 12 drivers rather than 10. After race No. 26, all 12 drivers will have their point totals reset to 5,000, and they'll then be seeded based on the number of victories amassed that season, each of which carries a 10-point bonus.

Bobby Labonte, the series champion in 2000, is slowly coming around to the whole Chase thing.

"I can honestly say I didn't like the deal three years ago when they started doing it," Labonte said, "but I think it's like anything else. You grow accustomed to it and it's OK now. If you win more during the season that puts you in different places for the final 10. I think it's all good."

OUCH: Kevin Harvick (+1,200 to win the Nextel Cup on WagerWeb.com) let Teresa Earnhardt have it Tuesday.

Earnhardt operates Dale Earnhardt Inc., the Nextel Cup team founded by her late husband Dale Earnhardt, who died in the 2001 Daytona 500. As usual, Harvick pulled no punches, calling Teresa Earnhardt an absentee owner.

"It's hard when you have what I call a deadbeat owner that doesn't come to the race track," Harvick said during a stop at Richard Childress Racing.

"You always see Richard Childress. You always see Chip Ganassi. All these owners, they all come to the race track. It's not just a money pit that somebody says, ?Well, I can make money off of Dale Jr. I can make money off of Dale Earnhardt.' "

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Teresa's stepson, drives for DEI and is involved in a tense contract negotiation.

MORE CHANGES: The Nextel All-Star Challenge underwent a bit of a facelift. Four 20-lap segments, with no inverted restarts and various requirements scattered about, will decide this May's $1 million race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. And two drivers - not one - will transfer from the Nextel Open.

NUTS AND BOLTS: Petty Enterprises, based in the Level Cross, N.C., since 1949, will move to Salisbury in the next year or so. ... Toyota plans to purchase 89 acres in North Carolina's Rowan County for a NASCAR support facility. ... After an interview during preseason testing, Jeff Gordon found himself locked inside the Daytona garage area and climbed a fence to get out.

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