{"id":1165,"date":"2007-01-29T13:11:49","date_gmt":"2007-01-29T18:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2007\/01\/chase-changes\/"},"modified":"2007-01-29T13:11:49","modified_gmt":"2007-01-29T18:11:49","slug":"chase-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2007\/01\/chase-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Chase Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chase Changes<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Brit Fryer
WagerWeb.com<\/a> Contributing Writer<\/p>\n

CHARLOTTE<\/strong>, N.C.<\/strong> \u2014 <\/strong>It\u2019s hard for Kasey Kahne <\/strong>to argue with NASCAR<\/a>\u2019s changes to the points system and Chase for the Nextel Cup.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s announcement been in place five months ago, Kahne\u2019s No. 9 Dodge would have started the Chase first with 10 points to spare.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning is what the sport is all about,\u201d NASCAR CEO
\nBrian France <\/strong>said on the annual media tour. \u201cNobody likes to see drivers content to finish just in the top 10. We want our sport \u2014 especially the Chase \u2014 to be more about
winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting with the Feb. 18 Daytona 500, race winners throughout the 36-race season will receive 185 points \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019ll then be seeded based on the number of victories amassed that season, each of which carries a 10-point bonus.<\/p>\n

Bobby
\nLabonte<\/strong>, the series champion in 2000, is slowly coming around to the whole Chase thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can honestly say I didn\u2019t like the deal three years ago when they started doing it,\u201d Labonte said, \u201cbut I think it\u2019s like anything else. You grow accustomed to it and it\u2019s OK now. If you win more during the season that puts you in different places for the final 10. I think it\u2019s all good.\u201d
OUCH: Kevin Harvick <\/strong>(+1,200 to win the Nextel Cup on WagerWeb.com<\/a>) let Teresa Earnhardt <\/strong>have it Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt\u2019s hard when you
\nhave what I call a deadbeat owner that doesn\u2019t come to the race track,\u201d Harvick said during a stop at Richard Childress Racing. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou always see Richard Childress<\/strong>. You always see Chip Ganassi<\/strong>. All these owners, they all come to the race track. It\u2019s not just a money pit that somebody says, \u2018Well, I can make money off of Dale Jr. I can make money off of Dale Earnhardt.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Dale Earnhardt Jr., <\/strong>Teresa\u2019s stepson, drives for DEI and is involved in a tense contract negotiation.
MORE CHANGES: <\/strong>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\u2019s $1 million race at Lowe\u2019s Motor
Speedway. And two drivers \u2014 not one \u2014 will transfer from the Nextel Open. NUTS AND BOLTS: <\/strong>Petty Enterprises, based in the Level Cross, N.C., since 1949, will move to Salisbury in the next year or so. \u2026 Toyota plans to purchase 89 acres in North Carolina\u2019s Rowan County for a NASCAR support facility. \u2026 After an interview during preseason testing, Jeff Gordon <\/strong>found himself locked inside the Daytona garage area and climbed a fence to get out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chase Changes By Brit Fryer WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 It\u2019s hard for Kasey Kahne to argue with NASCAR\u2019s 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\u2019s … Continue reading Chase Changes<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press_releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}