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The NASCAR Owners’ points are one of the least discussed, yet most important aspects of the sport. Jeff Gordon even went onto Sirius XM NASCAR Radio last week and said that the owner’s points battle should get more attention because “That’s where the money comes from.” Should there be more attention given to the owner’s championship, and why should the fans care?
As Jeff Gordon mentioned, the Owner’s Points matter because, at the end of the day, that is what pays the bills of a race team. As he mentions, the driver’s standings does get some money for the race team, but a lot of money also goes to the driver, the crew, etc. The owner’s points go directly to the race team.
Not only that, but the owner’s points also give drivers something to race for when the regular season comes to a close. Such is the case this season with Chase Elliott and the number 9 Cup Series team.
Despite no wins and missing six races, Chase Elliott and his number 9 team have raced well enough with the combination of replacement drivers to get into the Round of 8 in the Playoffs. Martin Truex Jr.’s 19 team is not in the Round of 8 in the owner’s standings, so, if Truex Jr. wins the driver’s Championship, Elliott has a chance to take the Owner’s Championship.
Bubba Wallace’s 23 team is also out of the top 16 in the Owner’s Standings because Elliott made the Owner’s Playoffs in place of the 23 team. So, it does give the fans something to watch for in certain instances if their driver is out of the Playoffs.
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Quite frankly, fans do not generally watch to see which multi-millionaires can earn the most money at the end of the season. It’s just not as interesting to the casual to see which race team is going to get more money at the end of the season. At the end of the day, that is what players in sporting events are battling for anyway.
However, a large cash prize can be used as a promotion for an event. The NASCAR All-Star Race is promoted for its cash prize of $1 million. NASCAR does not disclose prize money anymore like they did in the past, so, that makes it even harder for fans to relate with cash prizes because they don’t know how much they are racing for.
At the end of the day, however, this money could make a big change for an organization. Winning a race and getting a surprise top-16 Playoff spot could mean extra cash for a race team to invest in better performance, and, sometimes it can jump-start a race team.
Then again, a lot of the time, the driver’s points tend to reflect the owner’s points, so, the fans can easily see these types of storylines most of the time because of the driver’s points. Therefore, it can be tough to promote the owner’s points just because a lot of times, they reflect the driver’s points pretty well. Seven of the eight drivers in the Round of 8 are also in the Owner’s Points Round of 8.
Other motorsports have Owners Championships as well. Formula One has the Constructors Championship where they combine the points by each car on each team throughout the season. NASCAR could implement something like that and have the TV partners discuss it more throughout the season.
Since not every team has the same number of cars, maybe they can put together some aggregate system based on the average finish of an owner’s race team on a weekly basis. The team with the best average finish gets the most points, and maybe they get bonus points based on the highest-finishing driver on the team.
There has to be some way to make it fair for all race teams. It allows the owner’s points to be separate from the driver’s standings, and it adds an extra thing to watch out for throughout the season. Formula One does it, so why not NASCAR?
Maybe NASCAR could also make the money earnings public, which gives the fans something else to watch for. As opposed to hearing about teams earning things, they can see exactly what teams are earning based on their finishes.
The owner’s points are very important, and there could be some way to make it more appealing to the fans. Maybe changing things up like this could make it more appealing to fans, and it could incentivize NASCAR and its TV partners to give it more attention.
