But this system looks OK. Once a team knows it's going to make the top ten, the 27th race is going to be like another Daytona 500 and they may cruise through the 23rd, 24th, 25th, and 26th races to prepare big-time for the 27th. They need to make the 27th race at a prestigious track like maybe the Brickyard. Like someone else said, it'll be like the playoffs and sometime wildcard teams knock off the #1 seed. A seven race shootout. Sounds good.
Sylvania 300 @ New Hampshire (yes, the new "Daytona 500" is a 300-miler up in Yankee country)
MBNA America 400 @ Dover
EA Sports 500 @ Talledega
Banquet 400 @ Kansas
UAW-GM Quality 500 @ Lowe's
Subway 500 @ Martinsville
Bass Pro Shops 500 @ Atlanta
Checker Auto Parts 500 @ Phoenix
Southern 500 @ Darlington (note; I'm surprised they didn't make it 12 races to really give California Speedway an advantage)
Ford 400 @ Homestead
Next item; the coasting. Instead of being just years where you have one dominatingly consistent driver (like last year), it's going to be every year among more teams. It's just going to be during the middle of the year instead of the end because "seeding" won't really matter, what with only 5 points separating each spot and each win being worth 10 points.
On sum, they simply should have made winning more valuable (I like a spread of 20-25 points between 1st and 2nd instead of the old 5 points + 5 for a lead lap or the new 10 points + 5 for a lead lap) and tweaked the lead lap bonus (don't count yellow-flag laps, perhaps require 2-3 laps led before getting it). It still rewards consistency, but it gives due reward to winning (and not just the last 10 races). It also makes winning each race matter for a contending team, not just the last 10 and just enough of the "pre-season" to make it in the top 10 (or be within 400 of the leader) after 26.
Oh well; we'll see what happens. We can contrast it with Busch, which still runs a full, meaningful schedule but otherwise adopts the new points rules.