This thread will provide the background for the upcoming timeline of a simulated season in NASCAR, the most popular American-based auto racing sanctioning body.
I have always been curious to play out what might have happened if sports superstars from different eras were placed in the same competition to find out the "best of the best" of all time. In 2009, I ran simulated seasons in many major U.S.-based sports, specifically the NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, college football and basketball, and NASCAR. Those results can be found at the site alltimesports.freeforums.org; just look for my name within the various subject areas.
At the time I did the simulations, the cutoff points for all rosters was roughly 2006. Of course, time - and sports - marches on, but I chose not to update or continue the threads (although I understand others have in the years since at the forum, which continues to operate). However, in January 2017, NASCAR changed the rules of play so radically that I feel I must revisit it now.
Since 2004, NASCAR has run a 10-race playoff series - formerly known as the "Chase" - to decide its season champion in its top series, now called the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. This expanded to the two series just below it, Xfinity and Camping World Truck, in 2016. In deference to its historic R. J. Reynolds sponsorship ("Winston Cup"), I chose not to run a Chase in my original sim. Dale Earnhardt (Sr.) beat Jeff Gordon in total points to win the title.
Here are the changes NASCAR made in 2017:
In the next post, I will give the driver lineup for the MENCS and qualification rules for the other two series.
I have always been curious to play out what might have happened if sports superstars from different eras were placed in the same competition to find out the "best of the best" of all time. In 2009, I ran simulated seasons in many major U.S.-based sports, specifically the NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, college football and basketball, and NASCAR. Those results can be found at the site alltimesports.freeforums.org; just look for my name within the various subject areas.
At the time I did the simulations, the cutoff points for all rosters was roughly 2006. Of course, time - and sports - marches on, but I chose not to update or continue the threads (although I understand others have in the years since at the forum, which continues to operate). However, in January 2017, NASCAR changed the rules of play so radically that I feel I must revisit it now.
Since 2004, NASCAR has run a 10-race playoff series - formerly known as the "Chase" - to decide its season champion in its top series, now called the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. This expanded to the two series just below it, Xfinity and Camping World Truck, in 2016. In deference to its historic R. J. Reynolds sponsorship ("Winston Cup"), I chose not to run a Chase in my original sim. Dale Earnhardt (Sr.) beat Jeff Gordon in total points to win the title.
Here are the changes NASCAR made in 2017:
- Races are no longer run all the way from start to finish. Instead, they are divided into three periods, or "stages." At the end of the first and second stages, points are awarded to the top 10 finishers (10 points down to 1) and are reflected in the standings. At the end of the third stage, points are awarded to all finishers; the winner gets 40 points, second place 35, third place 34, and so on to 36th place; that drivers and all others below that place receive 1 point each.
- As before, the top 16 drivers in the MENCS standings qualify for the season-ending playoffs and their point totals will be reset to 2,000. But now those points will be added with what are called playoff points, which are earned by winning stages (1) and races (5) within the first 26 races. Unlike in previous formats, points will continue to accumulate until the next-to-last race as long as the driver is not eliminated (it's a bracket-style format, 16 to 12 to 8 to 4; also, the "Championship 4" does not change in which the first of the remaining drivers to cross the finish line in the last race still wins the title).
- For safety reasons, teams have only five minutes to fix crash damage, and if the car goes to the garage as a result of an accident, that driver is out of the race and must report to the infield care center immediately.
In the next post, I will give the driver lineup for the MENCS and qualification rules for the other two series.

