Gluck: Drivers put point on reward for regular-season success

CONCORD, N.C. – In the only sport in which a competitor can clinch a playoff spot on opening day, NASCAR has come across a problem: There’s little incentive to go all out for the rest of the regular season.

With the win-to-get-in Chase for the Sprint Cup format now in its third season, teams have figured out it’s smarter to go into testing mode in preparation for the 10-week playoff than race hard for the three bonus points that accompany each victory into the first round.

So the drivers, through their second-year council, have been pushing for a change. They want some kind of reward for the points leader after the first 26 races.

Many ideas have been tossed around, but there’s one in particular that would carry the most meaning: A first-round bye in the Chase. That would get the regular-season leader into the round of 12 drivers, which starts Saturday night with the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, NBC).

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“Twenty-six weekends is a long time to be the points leader after all that,” Joey Logano said this week. “If we finished second (in a regular-season race after already clinching a spot), what’s that mean? It didn’t do anything for us. If you do it (with a reward), maybe it kind of means something and you can possibly get a bye through the first round.”

NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O'Donnell told Sirius/XM Radio this week the sanctioning body is open to such a reward, which still is being discussed.

Drivers speak with reverence about the meaning of consistent excellence. After all, that’s what NASCAR was built on – the champion used to be the driver with the most points after 36 races.

Kevin Harvick, the regular-season points leader the past two years, said drivers and teams want to see an incentive that reflects that accomplishment.

“There are millions of dollars and hours spent by the race teams, and there needs to be a reward for the first 26 weeks,” he said. “The bonus points for wins -- that’s great, but there needs to be some emphasis put on the first 26 weeks to reward the person who is ultimately leading the points at the end of that time.”

Here’s why a first-round bye is the best option, over incentives like a cash reward or preferred pit stall selection: It gives teams something else to pursue after they’ve already been locked in.

It also works in other sports, which NASCAR tried to emulate by creating a playoff in the first place. In the NFL, a team that already has clinched a postseason spot needs to keep winning if it wants homefield advantage or a first-round bye.

You don’t see the New England Patriots sit their starters while a first-round bye is on the line. Teams only let up in other sports after they’ve checked every possible box in the regular season.

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NASCAR should do the same. It wouldn’t dramatically change the feel of the regular season, but it would provide a nice little storyline for fans to follow without seeming too gimmicky.

“It’s so difficult to be the points leader at the end of the first 26,” Martin Truex Jr. said Thursday. “I think there’s definitely something there. What that should be, I’m not sure.”

Truex, who won two races in Round 1, then broke into a grin.

“I also think if you win more than one race in the first round, you should get a bye in the second round,” he said.

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck