It was designed as a twist on the playoffs held in stick-and-ball sports and was meant to ensure the title race ended dramatically each season, effectively grasping hold of the ever-diminishing attention span of NASCAR's audience.
Instead, the implementation of the Chase has become yet another decision by NASCAR that has fragmented the fan base, with those who despise it arguably making up the vocal majority.
Detractors believe that the Chase makes it too easy for teams that were middling during the regular season to suddenly contend for a title, cheapening the accomplishment. They argue it was more difficult to become a champion under a straight-up 36 race format, with drivers and teams having to be great for an entire year.
Another argument is that it places too much emphasis on the championship itself, rather than on the individual races. Cheapened races, of course, would be solid reasoning for why attendance and ratings have sagged over the past few seasons.
On the other hand, supporters of the Chase enjoy the drama it adds to the final ten races, as well as the added emphasis placed on the events that lead up to the ten-race shootout for the championship. The fall 400-miler at Richmond, the final race before the Chase begins, has become must-watch TV to witness who qualifies for the field of 12 drivers and who has to spend the rest of the season racing for pride.
Defenders will argue that it's actually more difficult to win a championship in this format than in the old "straight-up" version; teams have to be near-perfect for ten weeks while competing against the theoretical 11 best teams in stock car auto racing.
But no matter what side of the fence fans sit on, whether they love it, hate it, or are even — if this group even exists — completely indifferent towards it, each and (almost) every single one should be doing one thing: thanking their lucky stars that the Chase exists in 2013.
Without NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup, the championship would already be over.
(Full disclosure time: I myself am an avid supporter of the Chase — a word I'm getting as tired of typing as you probably are of reading.)
Maybe it's presumptuous thinking, but there doesn't seem to be any way that Jimmie Johnson would lose the 75 point lead he's built up on the rest of the Sprint Cup field.
Sure, it isn't inconceivable or wrong to believe that Johnson could relinquish his points lead; earlier this year in the Nationwide Series, Regan Smith saw a 58 point advantage all but disappear over a span of just two races after consecutive poor finishes.
But this isn't the Nationwide Series, where a thin pool of true competition magnifies every accident and engine failure. This isn't Smith, a driver who has never won a championship in one of NASCAR's national touring series and who works for an organization (JR Motorsports) that is similarly without a championship.
Johnson, crew chief Chad Knaus, and the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 team have won five championships together in the past. This season, they have been a well-oiled machine that has performed at a level well above the competition this year.
With the points his team has scored, Johnson could simply top-15 his way to a sixth title with little-to-no resistance. Of course, with that group's mentality, it's assured that they aren't done loading up on top-5s, top-10s and wins, all in an attempt to step on the throats of their competition.
Short of an injury or some other unforeseen circumstance, the trophy might as well have Jimmie Johnson's name on it.
But it doesn't, thanks to the Chase.
Instead, the only points Johnson gains that actually matter over the next six weeks are the three bonus points that he could earn for each win along the way. Once that time has passed, the points standings are shuffled and 11 other drivers are brought back to within striking distance, he will have to match his regular season performance and be the juggernaut that has terrorized the Sprint Cup Series to this point.
Does the Chase mean that the No. 48 Chevrolet won't walk away with the title? Of course not. They have been the best the team this year and have positioned themselves as unquestioned favorites to win the trophy.
It does, however, mean that they will have to fight tooth and nail for it, and fending off their very hungry competition won't be an easy task.
The Chase doesn't only benefit the title race.
Consider that, in addition to the two drivers ranked between 11th and 20th with the most wins who qualify via the wild card, only ten drivers earn a spot in the Chase based on points.
Now look at the drivers ranked eighth through 19th. They are separated by merely 45 points. 48 points is the maximum amount that can be earned in any given event.
In other words, if Paul Menard (19th) were to win this weekend at Pocono and Greg Biffle (eighth) were to finish last with a blown engine, two drivers who are separated by ten other competitors could pass each other in the standings.
Now that happening is highly unlikely, but the fact that such an outcome is even possible at this point in the season is both remarkable and a little bit ridiculous.
This traffic jam, centered around crucial positions in both the points and wild card races, makes things more than fun. That huge names like four-time champion Jeff Gordon and defending-champ Brad Keselowski are involved in this brawl-on-wheels just adds to the intrigue of the point race that is all but assured to build into a frantic night in Virginia when the Chase field is finally decided.
Without the play-off, these drivers would be all but irrelevant.
Then throw in other drivers with huge fan bases that are all but assured qualification into the Chase and a shot at the Sprint Cup — Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, etc. — and there is reason for a lot of fans to be truly excited about the rest of the season.
Maybe that does cheapen the title. Maybe that does deemphasize the individual races. And maybe that does create an excitement that is nothing more than manufactured buzz.
But in a year when one driver would otherwise be running away with the title and an entertaining race is shaping up amongst the guys in the middle, the often-maligned Chase for the Sprint Cup is buzz that racing fans could and should be more than accepting of, if just for this year alone.
Unless of course they are Jimmie Johnson fans.
