Chase should emulate hurling, wallyball

The best driver in the Nextel Cup Series isn’t competing for the title in NASCAR’s playoff – the Chase for the Championship – but Tony Stewart is still beating the tar out of his rivals.

How can that be?

In football, the best teams make the playoffs, as they do in baseball, basketball and hockey, mostly. Well, okay, everyone makes the playoffs in hockey.

At the Olympics, the best runners, swimmers, cyclists, boxers, gymnasts and air-rifle competitors are represented in the finals. They do so by competing in first- and second-round heats or matches, quarterfinals and semifinals, or something similar.

The same is true in soccer’s World Cup, at Wimbledon and in hurling, which is one of Ireland’s favorite pastimes. I’d go so far as to say not many wallyball or elephant polo matches are conducted without the best in the sport being there at the end.

So why is it that Stewart, who may be the best driver in the universe, is ineligible to win NASCAR’s showcase event but can still run in it?

On Sunday, Stewart toyed with the Chasers and the non-Chasers at Texas, winning in a trot. He could have put his No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet into cruise control and lapped the field.

During the Chase, Stewart has won three of eight races. That’s a high percentage in auto racing. He also placed second at New Hampshire and fourth at Martinsville.

Look, I do know why Stewart, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, isn’t officially in the Chase. He didn’t make it under the rules NASCAR instituted in 2004. He wasn’t in the top 10 in points or within 400 points of the leader after 26 of the 36 races.

But here’s my beef. There were still 10 points-scoring races left in the season, for Chasers and non-Chasers alike.

In the NFL or baseball, you make the playoffs based on your full regular-season performance – after all games are played and all points are tallied.

If NASCAR thinks a playoff series is the fairest way to go, do it with 10 or 20 competitors at five or more tracks following the regular race schedule, be it 36 races or fewer. Allow people to make a late run at the playoffs.

For instance, why not a playoff (or drive-off) at a superspeedway such as Daytona, a short-track like Phoenix, a road course at Homestead or Infineon and two intermediate tracks – say, Atlanta and Texas?

If that makes the season too long, trim a few races from the schedule.

I believe the NASCAR champion should be crowned on his or her efforts over the full complement of races, not a portion.

But if that’s outdated thinking, let the best driver be judged on a real postseason competition. Perhaps NASCAR can afford to have Stewart and crowd-pleasers like Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Brian Vickers and Kurt Busch driving around in circles, sometimes getting in the way, while others run for a championship.

As my kids tell me, I’m a relic, a member of AARP and should hand over the keys to my car.

But I think TV and fans might go for a five- or perhaps seven-race, postseason drive-off, with up to 20 cars beating on each other for a title.

Hey, in Afghanistan, they do it in their national sport – buzkashi – for as long as the goat lasts.