How Harvick Won Championship
Our experts weigh in on four of the biggest questions in NASCAR this week:
Turn 1: Is the fact that the Chase produced a great finale and the consensus best driver of the year as champion more a testament to the elimination-style system or to Kevin Harvick? More from ESPN.com
Rodney Childers called for four tires during a late pit stop Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. That proved to be the winning move for Kevin Harvick. Story
Ricky Craven, ESPN NASCAR analyst: It's a testament to both. The format provided the environment in which drivers knew how hard they would have to race in each round. Then Harvick deserves tremendous credit. With his title chances hanging by a thread, he swung for the fence in Phoenix and connected. He put an exclamation mark on his season with a win in the season's final event. It was an enjoyable new Chase format with a deserving winner.
Brant James, ESPN.com: Harvick gets full credit on this one. He did what he needed to do -- win -- when he needed to do it, in incredibly pressurized situations in consecutive weeks on two sides of the country. NASCAR's new playoff system basically put the Chase in a bag and threw it off a cliff, and Harvick was the only title contender to come out unbroken. The next five Homestead races could be clunkers. They could be classics. Either way, until there's enough data, all credit to Harvick.
Ryan McGee, ESPN The Magazine: Harvick. People trying to figure who would have done what under previous systems is a waste of time. Teams would have approached the season differently if the system had been different. Denny Hamlin told me that last week when I started comparing stats from his other seasons. Harvick was fast all year, but more importantly, he was fast when it counted. That's a champion.
John Oreovicz, ESPN.com: It's more down to Harvick. I believe this format is frequently going to lead to some strange wild-card entries in the final four, and this year was split between two drivers who won regularly and would have contended for a traditional season-long championship and two drivers who made the most of the system to keep advancing. With 10 laps to go, it looked like one of those party crashers was going to walk away with the big prize, and someday that will happen. But not this year, to NASCAR's immense relief.
Turn 2: Should NASCAR tweak the Chase format for 2015 and beyond? If so, how?
Craven: The only change I would make is to give more points for second, third, fourth and fifth and open the gap between those finishing positions. Second should reward drivers more than one point over third. It would enhance drivers' chances in the final race of each round.
James: There are several interesting possibilities being floated by teams and drivers, such as Jeff Gordon's notion of a separate point system for Chasers. I personally like a losers' bracket system in which someone eliminated in a prior round could rejoin the field with a win in the next. But I think this system needs to play out for three years. NASCAR is a sport of incessant tinkering, but it's time to stand back and observe, especially since the reception from fans and media this year has been beyond breathless.
McGee: No. If they must tinker (and they always do), then maybe a win bonus at the start of each round. But I say change nothing. Not the Chase, not the cars, not the engines. Nothing.
Oreovicz: I've heard two good ideas: make the first race a wild-card round that eliminates four entries and then follow with the three three-race eliminations. Or recalibrate the points to include only the Chase drivers, so a really poor finish is not as disproportionate. But I doubt NASCAR will make any changes until the current system produces a controversial champion.
Turn 3: Who is your early favorite to win the 2015 Sprint Cup championship? And why?
Craven: This is the first time I remember selecting Kyle Busch as a pre-Chase champion favorite, and it's predicated on two things -- the first being the rules changes for 2015 that bring the Sprint Cup Series cars closer to the Nationwide/Xfinity Series cars' driving personality. This benefits Busch, the latter series' all-time winningest driver. The other has to do with Busch being in the prime of his career -- the balance between experience and still having the speed and talent to lay it on the line week in and week out.
James: Harvick. Have to let him bask in this glow a bit longer, right? But also, there is the sense that he and crew chief Rodney Childers might just now be unfurling their wings.
McGee: Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Gordon has seen the road map now. And the 48's early exit gave that team a head start on 2015.
Oreovicz: Gordon. Yes, the new Chase rules were the same for everybody, but they probably hurt Gordon and the No. 24 team the most. They will learn and react.
Turn 4: Who now is the best current driver without a Sprint Cup title?
Craven: Because of my response in Turn 3, I suppose I've already answered Turn 4. Honorable mentions go to Carl Edwards, Hamlin and Joey Logano.
James: Kyle Busch lacks marquee wins in NASCAR majors and has been much more oppressive in collecting trophies in under series. But the question said 'best,' not 'most accomplished,' so the ubertalented and perennially frustrated younger Busch is the pick.
McGee: Talent-wise it's Kyle Busch. But legacy-wise Ryan Newman's résumé keeps quietly rewriting itself and getting better.
Oreovicz: For now, it's Kyle Busch. Lots of talent, lots of wins, but no top-tier title. They say championships define a driver, but Busch may be one of those guys who finds that a bunch of comparatively small victories is more satisfying than landing the big prize that everyone else covets.
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