Chase expansion has diluted championship field

The late summer event at Richmond International Raceway is always fascinating, regardless of what happens on the race track. Watching the point gaps between those potential final Chase berths rise and fall, and waiting to see if any drivers swap positions in the standings, can be entertainment in and of itself. No wonder reporters in the track's media center keep their eyes on the scoring monitors and live standings as much as the race.

This year, though, the level of drama that traditionally surrounds NASCAR's regular season finale has been diluted by events leading up to it. Oh sure, there are still five drivers still technically vying for two available Chase spots, but in all reality Atlanta essentially decided the 12-man playoff field. Greg Biffle needs only to finish 42nd to wrap up the 11th spot, something that will happen the instant the first start-and-parker pulls into the garage. And to clinch that final position, Clint Bowyer needs to finish at least 28th -- on a track where he's never placed worse than 18th. When the No. 1 car lost a lap with a flat tire Sunday, the only people more disappointed than Jamie McMurray were those trying to sell tickets at RIR.

It should still be a good show, though, as night races at Richmond usually are, with both ends of the Chase field -- those already locked in, and those with only a very slim possibility of getting in -- going all-out for the victory. There will be a lot of guys on the race track with nothing to lose, and they should drive like it. And at the end of the evening, two drivers will feel the relief of having secured those last two Chase spot, even if history tells us they have little chance of winning the championship itself.

It may occasionally make that wild cut-off race at Richmond a little wilder, and it definitely allows two more teams to claim a successful season, but the expansion of the Chase field from 10 to 12 drivers four years ago has yet to have an impact on the championship race. In theory, it sounds good -- let in two more teams, give hope to two more fan bases and make an exciting time of year even more exciting. In practice, it's been somewhat underwhelming. Widening the Chase field has only opened the championship hunt to two teams that aren't strong enough to really pursue it, programs that rarely rise above the bottom half of the standings. Instead, they often sneak in on the periphery of that 12-man bubble, and remain there the entire time.

This isn't a knock on Biffle and Bowyer, likely the final two men to get into this year's Chase; they're playing by the rules of the system they're given. But with one win between them, they're not exactly enjoying the same type of year as points leader Kevin Harvick, seventh-place Jimmie Johnson, or even 10th-place Denny Hamlin. No question, anything can happen once the playoff begins at New Hampshire -- several top contenders could get caught up in an accident, Bowyer could win the race (as he's done there before) and the driver who got in last could suddenly be first. But if the past three years are any indication, Biffle and Bowyer are in for a frustrating slog that will only remind them of the gulf that separates their programs from those of the title contenders at the top.

Since the Chase expanded to 12 drivers prior to the 2007 season, one of the last two men to get in has finished in the top half of the playoff field exactly once: 2008, when Bowyer wound up fifth overall. Granted, there have been circumstances, like the blown engine at Kansas that sunk Brian Vickers to the bottom of the playoff standings last season, or the crash at New Hampshire that doomed Matt Kenseth two years ago. And no question, the front-runners are just as vulnerable to accidents or breakage as anyone else -- just ask Kyle Busch, the top seed in the 2008 Chase who wound up 10th because of mechanical issues the first three weeks. But in most cases, those last two drivers to get in spend 10 consecutive weeks staring up at everyone else. (Continued)