Re: FAQ (Paxton Points)

On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 20:08:26 +0000 (UTC), "Michael McGaha" wrote:

> He would have been if he hadn't had so many awful finishes. he failed to
> finish 7 races. 11 times he finished outside the top 20. 7 of those times he
> was outside the top 30.
>
> Tell me this. if he'd only run 10 races for the year and won 8 of the 10
> races. but failed to even run the other 26 races, would you still be saying
> he should be higher in the points?

No, which is most of why I don't think he should have won the
championship.

We had a year where we had four wins, four seconds, a fourth, and one
DNF (got punted by one of the drivers who was starting to get upset at
how well we were running) in the nine races we ran out of the
seventeen race season. I don't think we should have won the
championship that year :)

> The fact of the matter is, he finished 6th in average finishing position for
> the year too. The top 10 drivers based on average finish are...
> 
> Matt Kenseth        10.25        with 2 DNFs
> Jimmie Johnson        11.39        with 3 DNFs
> Kevin Harvick        12.33        with NO DNFs
> Dale Earnhardt, Jr.        12.72        with 4 DNFs
> Jeff Gordon        12.92        with 5 DNFs
> Ryan Newman        13.93        with 7 DNFs
> Tony Stewart        14.58        with 5 DNFs
> Bill Elliot        16.06        with 2 DNFs
> Bobby Labonte        16.14        with 5 DNFs
> Terry Labonte        16.69        with 1 DNF
> 
> Now if you'll notice Ryan had more DNFs than any other person in the top 10.
> that's one of the reason he couldn't get higher in the points. Matt Kenseth
> finished 5 more races than Ryan Newman did. Shoot, Kevin Harvick finished
> SEVEN more races than Ryan Newman did.

I know there is no way to take this into account, but only two of
Ryan's DNFs were mechanical failures. I don't recall one of the wrecks
being entirely his fault. He got punted a couple of times, had a
couple of cut down tires, and got caught up in a couple of other
people's wrecks.

The main reason that I would like to see the same number of points
awarded from 36th or so on back is to keep the rolling wrecks off the
track. It adds nothing to the racing, and I don't think that too many
drivers enjoy it.

I personally don't think average finishing position means much. There
are too many factors which affect it, most of which deal with luck.
Unfortunately there is no way to make luck have less of an affect
without reducing the affect that mistakes has, which is something I
don't want to see happen.

> So yes. I think Ryan Newman deserves a lot of respect and praise for winning
> 8 races. but no, I do not think he was the champion this year. The ONLY area
> where he was best was in the number of wins. average finish he was 6th in
> the top 10, most DNFs he was LAST in the top 10, basically Matt Kenseth beat
> him in every area EXCEPT most wins.

Most poles, most top fives, second most top tens, and I would guess
that he had best average qualifying position. Matt on the other hand
had two poles, was  tied for 7th for most top fives, had the most top
tens, and used seven provisional's (though you can't determine how
much of that had to do with having a big points lead at the end of the
year).

I agree that winning races isn't everything when it comes to winning
the championship. Which is why I don't really believe that Ryan was
"robbed" of the championship. Though I wouldn't have argued if he had
won. I do, however, think that a points system that ends up giving a
guy who had a year like Newman's sixth could use some work.

If you haven't figured it out, I am in the if you don't win you had a
bad day group. This is why I don't think average finish is that
important. If one guy finishes 12th and another beats him, but
finishes 14th, they both had bad days in my opinion.  I agree that
winning races isn't everything when it comes to winning the
championship.