Post by thefallen365 on Oct 13, 2019 17:44:08 GMT -5
Hello, everyone!
This area is going to act as a hub for all the logistical information in my mock season.
Premise
Starting in the 2002 season, NASCAR implements the points/playoffs system of today fifteen years early. I felt this year would be a fitting place to start, one year after NASCAR's last on track death. With changes already being made for the sake of safety, officials also wanted to make some changes to allow for more "late season drama." Ratings were trending upward at this time, but always seemed to fall off toward the latter half of the schedule with football coming back and MLB's postseason starting up. Leadership saw some ground to be gained through the fall, thinking people might choose to watch something else if the championship was already a lock before the last race of the season like it had been for the last four years.
Welcome to the Playoff Era, baby.
The Playoffs
The Top 8 in the Craftsman Truck Series, Top 12 in the Busch National Series, and Top 16 in the Winston Cup Series will make the playoffs. After 2 rounds for the Craftsman and Busch Series, and 3 rounds for the Winston Cup Series, we will have cut down to 4 drivers in each Series, who will race for the championship in the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Race Winners will be given priority, as far as playoff placement goes. So, for example, if less than 16 different drivers win a cup race in the regular season, if you win, YOU'RE IN. Just as long as you stay in the Top 20 in points in the Truck Series and the top 25 in points in the Busch and Winston Cup Series, you attempt to qualify for every regular season race, and you haven't chosen a different series as your primary series. But wait, there's more changes being implemented within the races themselves to accommodate for this new system.
The Regular Season Champion, the playoff driver with the most regular season points, will earn 20 bonus playoff points in the Winston Cup Series, and 15 points in the Busch and Craftsman Series. Playoff bonus points are shown in detail in the table below.
The Races
Each race will be split into stages with the top ten finishers in each stage receiving stage points. The winner of the stage will receive ten points, 2nd place will receive nine, etc. The winner of each race will be awarded five playoff points and the winner of each stage will be awarded one playoff point to take with them into each round of the playoffs. The race winner will receive 40 regular season points, with 2nd place receiving 35 points, 3rd place receiving 34, and so on in descending order with any stage points earned being added to their regular season point total.
Owner Points (added 10/16)
This section will briefly explain the owner points system in place. For the opening races of the season, the previous season's owner points will be used to determine guaranteed spots in the race. This means 24 teams in the truck series and 36 teams in the Busch and Winston Cup Series will have a guaranteed spot in each race for the first four truck races, seven Busch races, and nine Winston Cup races. This is noted by dates on the schedule section of each spreadsheet which appear in bold. After the last bold race, the current season's owner points will apply and any team that had falls below 36th place will have to qualify or risk missing the race. Drivers will still be playoff eligible if they miss a race as long as they attempted to qualify for it, but missing races will affect their chances to stay in the top 20/25/30.
Teams with multiple cars can transfer points between cars, but only the car that has more owner points can transfer its points to another car on the team and the car that transfers owner points must also transfer enough points to drop down AT LEAST one position in the owner points standings.
The Steve Park Rule
This is a rule I'm instituting for drivers who have a full time ride, but are out due to injury. The driver will remain eligible for the playoffs despite missing races as long as the team agrees to waive any owner points earned by the replacement driver.
This area is going to act as a hub for all the logistical information in my mock season.
Premise
Starting in the 2002 season, NASCAR implements the points/playoffs system of today fifteen years early. I felt this year would be a fitting place to start, one year after NASCAR's last on track death. With changes already being made for the sake of safety, officials also wanted to make some changes to allow for more "late season drama." Ratings were trending upward at this time, but always seemed to fall off toward the latter half of the schedule with football coming back and MLB's postseason starting up. Leadership saw some ground to be gained through the fall, thinking people might choose to watch something else if the championship was already a lock before the last race of the season like it had been for the last four years.
Welcome to the Playoff Era, baby.
The Playoffs
The Top 8 in the Craftsman Truck Series, Top 12 in the Busch National Series, and Top 16 in the Winston Cup Series will make the playoffs. After 2 rounds for the Craftsman and Busch Series, and 3 rounds for the Winston Cup Series, we will have cut down to 4 drivers in each Series, who will race for the championship in the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Race Winners will be given priority, as far as playoff placement goes. So, for example, if less than 16 different drivers win a cup race in the regular season, if you win, YOU'RE IN. Just as long as you stay in the Top 20 in points in the Truck Series and the top 25 in points in the Busch and Winston Cup Series, you attempt to qualify for every regular season race, and you haven't chosen a different series as your primary series. But wait, there's more changes being implemented within the races themselves to accommodate for this new system.
The Regular Season Champion, the playoff driver with the most regular season points, will earn 20 bonus playoff points in the Winston Cup Series, and 15 points in the Busch and Craftsman Series. Playoff bonus points are shown in detail in the table below.
The Races
Each race will be split into stages with the top ten finishers in each stage receiving stage points. The winner of the stage will receive ten points, 2nd place will receive nine, etc. The winner of each race will be awarded five playoff points and the winner of each stage will be awarded one playoff point to take with them into each round of the playoffs. The race winner will receive 40 regular season points, with 2nd place receiving 35 points, 3rd place receiving 34, and so on in descending order with any stage points earned being added to their regular season point total.
| Winston Cup | Busch Series | Craftsman Trucks | |
| Reg. Season Champ | 20 | 15 | 15 |
| 2nd | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 3rd | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| 4th | 7 | 5 | 3 |
| 5th | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| 6th | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| 7th | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 8th | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 9th | 2 | 0 | N/A |
| 10th | 1 | 0 | N/A |
Owner Points (added 10/16)
This section will briefly explain the owner points system in place. For the opening races of the season, the previous season's owner points will be used to determine guaranteed spots in the race. This means 24 teams in the truck series and 36 teams in the Busch and Winston Cup Series will have a guaranteed spot in each race for the first four truck races, seven Busch races, and nine Winston Cup races. This is noted by dates on the schedule section of each spreadsheet which appear in bold. After the last bold race, the current season's owner points will apply and any team that had falls below 36th place will have to qualify or risk missing the race. Drivers will still be playoff eligible if they miss a race as long as they attempted to qualify for it, but missing races will affect their chances to stay in the top 20/25/30.
Teams with multiple cars can transfer points between cars, but only the car that has more owner points can transfer its points to another car on the team and the car that transfers owner points must also transfer enough points to drop down AT LEAST one position in the owner points standings.
The Steve Park Rule
This is a rule I'm instituting for drivers who have a full time ride, but are out due to injury. The driver will remain eligible for the playoffs despite missing races as long as the team agrees to waive any owner points earned by the replacement driver.
