Helton Discusses NASCAR Changes

January 21st, 2011

NASCAR President Mike Helton speaks to the media about the upcoming NASCAR season at Daytona Int'l Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Friday. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images Photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR President Mike Helton held court Friday afternoon at Daytona Int’l Speedway, discussing a number of topics and potential changes the sanctioning body is considering during what was dubbed a competition update.

The two most popular topics of discussion were the potential changes to NASCAR’s point system and the decision to limit drivers to racing for only one championship in NASCAR’s three national touring divisions.

Helton stopped short of confirming any potential changes to NASCAR’s point system, but he did say the sanctioning body is exploring several different models and discussing those potential changes with teams and drivers.

“In regard to the points, I think where we’re at today is we’re in the middle of the conversations of telling the competitors where our mind is,” Helton said. “The goal was, and has been for several years, to have a more simple points system.”

The point system that NASCAR is rumored to be considering is a 43-1 point system, with the winning driver earning 43 points and the driver finishing last earning one. It is considerably different from the current system, which awards 185 points to a race winner and decreases in varied increments from there. No matter what the change, Helton said the new point system would be used in all three national divisions.

“If you look at all of motorsports, and even other sports as well, it’s sometimes complicated,” Helton said. “Even for us we have to occasionally go to the rulebook and look at what position got what points. The goal for sometime has been to create a point system that is easy to understand, easy to explain, easy to be talked about, but also is credible at the end of the season.

“We’re close and we’re getting a lot of great input from the drivers about the tweaks that would go along with something like that,” Helton added.

Helton also detailed the change that will prevent drivers from earning championship points in more than one division. He acknowledged Nationwide Insurance, the title sponsor of the Nationwide Series, expressed an interest in grandfathering drivers like former champions Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski into the series so they could contend for the championship.

“It was considered and Nationwide had expressed that to us as well as some of the drivers. Particularly Carl and Brad had expressed this,” Helton said. “We stuck to the decision once we made it and felt like it was better for everybody concerned to go ahead and draw the line and not have any lingering affects to it.

“On this particular one, and we’ve been talking about this topic for a few seasons, we decided it’s in the best interest of the industry even through there were some that get caught up in it,” Helton said. “It is the best overall decision to go ahead and make that call and go ahead and draw the line and say no, it starts and stops right here.”

He noted that while NASCAR did not want to prevent drivers from competing in the Nationwide Series or Truck Series, but wants both divisions to have their own identities.

“The most important element was for NASCAR to maintain its open policy for anybody that wants to compete and has the credentials to compete can compete in any series they want to compete in,” Helton said. “We don’t restrict a Cup driver from participating in another form of racing, including other forms of NASCAR racing.

“At the same time there is also a desire for the Truck Series, the Nationwide Series to have a more specific identity of its own and not be confused with the Cup Series or vice versa,” Helton said. “The hope for this is that in the Truck Series when you have Cup drivers participating in it, which you will, and the Nationwide Series when you have Cup drivers participating in it, which we hope and think still will, there is a level of focus and a level of exposure offered to younger drivers who have personalities that deserve to get attention and be developed along the way as well.”