Proposition

We call the 2009 AMP Energy 500 from here on out The Race That Will Never Be Mentioned. I like it.

Kyle Busch Getting New CC For 2010

Actually, the last few races of 2009 as well.

Dave Rogers, from the dominant JGR Nationwide team, will take over as the new Crew Chief for Kyle starting at Texas. Hey, as I've said before, if there's anyone thats earned a promotion it has to be this guy. He propelled the #20 to the Nationwide Owner's Points title last season, a feat that got surprisingly little attention. Rogers has worked with guys like Kyle, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Joey Logano and has won with all of them. Kyle will get back to his winning ways in Cup soon.

Attention Martinsville!

The Catfish Show is going mobile, and for the first time, your blogger will be a credentialed NASCAR Media member. With a big, big thank you to On Pit Row, I'll be at Martinsville live all weekend. To follow me at the speedway, follow me on Twitter - @mattmercer if you haven't done so already. Also, be sure to follow @onpitrow and @benchracing. They have been nothing but fantastic and I cannot thank them enough for letting me write for them and giving me these kinds of opportunities.

NASCAR Changes Part 2 - Points System

Previously, I decided to change the format of the Chase. Now I'm going to tackle the tricky world of points and points racing.

The biggest complaint about the points - winning doesn't pay enough - will be taken care of with this system. Some favor awarding the winner as inordinate amount of points, but that's not feasible or necessary. However, there are fair points to make: winning deserves a nice bonus.

Other changes I think that need to happen are for the top 5, top 10, and top 20 to be awarded a better percentage of points., top 5, top 10, top 20 receive higher points – 35th through 43rd receive same amount of points, something that's been a popular position to take. It's now reality.

Another complaint as the years have gone on has been the devaluing of qualifying. Back in the old days, qualifying was important. Qualifying was fun. Guys wanted to be the one that sat on the pole and led the field to green. Honest ask yourself, is qualifying as important as it used to be? The answer, of course, is no. That's going to change, because the polesitter will now earn an extra 5 points. Come Chase-time, that's going to be big. Also, I'm keeping the 5 points for leading and leading the most laps in place.

To sum up, I think these changes will be good for the points because you can't rely on the same thing for decades upon end. They need to be updated with the times. Now, you can win the pole, lead the most laps, win the race, and take home 215 points while second place takes home 180 if they don't lead a lap.

Finish Points

Pos. Current TCS proposal

1st - 185 - 200

2nd - 170 - 180

3rd - 165 - 170

4th - 160 - 160

5th - 155 - 150

6th - 150 - 145

7th - 146 - 140

8th - 142 - 135

9th - 138 - 130

10th - 134 - 125

11th - 130 - 121

12th - 127 - 117

13th - 124 - 113

14th - 121 - 109

15th - 118 - 105

16th - 115 - 102

17th - 112 - 99

18th - 109 - 96

19th - 106 - 93

20th - 103 - 90

21st - 100 - 87

22nd - 97 - 84

23rd - 94 - 81

24th - 91 - 78

25th - 88 - 75

26th - 85 - 72

27th - 82 - 69

28th - 79 - 66

29th - 76 - 63

30th - 73 - 60

31st - 70 - 57

32nd - 67 - 54

33rd - 64 - 51

34th - 61 - 48

35th - 58 - 45

36th - 55 - 45

37th - 52 - 45

38th - 49 - 45

39th - 46 - 45

40th - 43 - 45

41st - 40 - 45

42nd - 37 - 45

43rd - 34 - 45

Standardized Start Times A Win For Fans

Check out my latest post at On Pit Row.

Motorsports Authentics On Verge Of Bankruptcy

Story from Reuters.

I guess when you make crappy products, this sort of thing will happen. In all seriousness though, I remember saying years ago that this was a bad idea when you a complete standardization of racing apparel and diecasts. The market worked better when there were competing companies that actually made items worth buying. Maybe it's because I stopped collecting, but the diecast business doesn't seem to be as booming as it was. I haven't bought a new racing hat in over a year because the older ones I have are better. I think it's time to declare MA a failure. My fear was oversaturation of a few certain drivers, and that's what happened. There really are fans of drivers other than the top 5 most marketable and when those fans can't find anything to buy to support their drivers, they go away. Add to that less people watching and paying attention to NASCAR now, this really shouldn't surprise anyone.