Time to correct the Chase's greatest flaw: unfairness

It is time to stop playing the "what if" game. Entering its sixth edition, NASCAR's year-end Chase championship format has become an entrenched part of the sport. It's likely responsible for increased television ratings the past two weekends, exactly what it was designed to do.

No question, there are some purists out there who despise the thing, who wish it would go the way of bias-ply tires and the hemi engine. They're spitting into the wind. Seasons like this one, overloaded with drama and intrigue over who will get in and who will fall out -- in lieu of what would otherwise be a runaway championship race -- only serve to justify its existence.

Tony Stewart leads all drivers in 2009 in top-fives and top-10s and is tied for second in wins, but come the Chase his big lead will dissipate.

So enough of pining for something that will never happen. Enough of Monday-morning quarterbacking the day after the Homestead race, when plenty of fans shake their heads and point to the traditional points format and say, well, we all know so-and-so should really be the champion.

Enough of acting like Jimmie Johnson has somehow lucked his way into three consecutive titles because his rise has coincided with the Chase era, and he plays by the rules he's given better than anyone else. You don't hear baseball fans harping on the fact that the Boston Red Sox wouldn't have won their skid-snapping World Series in 2004 without the implementation of the wild card. Yet racing fans do the exact same thing every day.

So stop it. Five years ago, maybe, when the Chase was new and no one really knew how long it might be around, direct comparisons between the two playoff formats held a little merit. Not anymore. Now, such arguments seem as bitter and pointless as those waged by defeated party loyalists in the aftermath of a presidential election.

Does the Chase have its flaws? Absolutely. But there are no indications that NASCAR is going to change its championship format anytime soon. The Chase appears here to stay. Like Kyle Busch winning races or a Sprint Cup event in Southern California, it's something that fans are eventually going to have to come to grips.

Of course, embittered race fans are only part of the equation. The system could help itself. Every year in which a driver builds a large regular-season points advantage only to come up short in the final 10 races, the Chase loses some credibility in the eyes of NASCAR's most ardent fans. If hardcore racing supporters are really going to embrace this format, if they're truly going to accept the year-end champion as legitimate, then a driver who dominates over the first 26 races is going to have to finish the job. (Continued)