If there never was a Chase/playoffs...

[Chewbaccer]

Your champions would have been:

2004- Jeff Gordon instead of Kurt Busch
2005- Tony Stewart(won CHase as well)
2006- Jimmie Johnson(Won Chase as well)
2007- Jeff Gordon instead of Jimmie Johnson
2008- Carl Edwards instead of Jimmie Johnson
2009- Jimmie Johnson(won Chase as well)
2010- Kevin Harvick instead of Jimmie Johnson
2011- Carl Edwards instead of Tony Stewart
2012- Brad Keselowski(won CHase as well)
2013- Jimmie Johnson(Won CHase as well)
2014- Jeff Gordon instead of Kevin Harvick
2015- Kevin Harvick instead of Kyle Busch
2016- Kevin Harvick instead of Jimmie Johnson
2017- Martin Truex Jr(Won Playoffs as well)
2018- Kyle Busch instead of Joey Logano
2019- Kyle Busch(won playoffs as well)

So had we kept the old championship format, Jeff Gordon would be a 7 time champ, Jimmie Johnson would be a 3 time champ, they'd already be engraving Kevin Harvick's 4th championship trophy, Carl Edwards would be a 2 time champ, Tony Stewart would only have 2 championships, and Joey Logano and Kurt Busch wouldn't have any championships.

I use this as a way to rank the modern drivers. It's the reason I rank Jeff Gordon ahead of Dale Earnhardt even though I absolutely hated Gordon and loved Earnhardt, and it's why I rank Harvick as high as I do on my all time list, and why I don't have Jimmie Johnson as high as most people.

 

[Chewbaccer]

And with the old points system in use, last year's championship would have gone to Kyle Busch by one point over Kevin Harvick. We were robbed of a season long epic championship battle.

 

[wildturkey]

Unrelated but since I saw his name it made me think me think, I've always felt it kind of surprising how Carl Edwards just totally disappeared. Not so much that he retired when he did. I mean its not unheard of for people in sports to retire in their prime. But moreso the fact that he completely fell off the Earth considering how engaging on camera he was. You normally don't see people with that kind of public charm just fade away

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Unrelated but since I saw his name it made me think me think, I've always felt it kind of surprising how Carl Edwards just totally disappeared. Not so much that he retired when he did. I mean its not unheard of for people in sports to retire in their prime. But moreso the fact that he completely fell off the Earth considering how engaging on camera he was. You normally don't see people with that kind of public charm just fade away

I always admired him for that. Retire while you still are healthy and still had the talent to do it instead of hanging on too long. Recently, that happened to Stewart (that dirt track incident I believed messed him up mentally more than he was leading on) and I believe we've been witnessing it with Jimmy Johnson as well.

 

[Chewbaccer]

I always admired him for that. Retire while you still are healthy and still had the talent to do it instead of hanging on too long. Recently, that happened to Stewart (that dirt track incident I believed messed him up mentally more than he was leading on) and I believe we've been witnessing it with Jimmy Johnson as well.

It happens to most. Hell, RIchard Petty raced 8 non competitive years at the end of his career.

Really, the only ones that raced forever and never had a great falloff in performance that I can think of are Gordon, Earnhardt and Bobby Allison.

Kevin Harvick is still going strong now, but he signed a multiyear extension, so we'll see how his career finishes up.

 

[pachyderm]

Funny.

I do the same thing, although not as thoroughly as you @Chewbaccer , in my head all the tim with NASCAR and F1.

I can't stand the Chase or the points system in use now in either sport.