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Sunday at Homestead-Miami NASCAR fans could witness history, NASCAR could crown its first winless-champion. Entering the chase finale this upcoming weekend Ryan Newman is without a win in 35 starts this season. In fact, during those 35 starts he has only managed to finish inside of the top-five on four different occasions. However, none of that will matter for the No. 31 team on Sunday because it doesn’t change the fact that they could win a championship.
Not only has Newman not won this season but he really hasn’t even come close to winning having only led 41 laps in 35 races. Those 41 laps led rank him 21st of all the drivers who have led laps in the 2014 Sprint Cup season. Newman’s 41 laps led is just 25 more than the likes of Justin Allgaier and Danica Patrick. Those same 41 laps led are just 26 more than that of Ryan Blaney who only led 15 laps in 2014 but did so by only running in two races. But again, none of that matters because on Sunday Newman and his team can win a championship.
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What happens if Newman does win a title on Sunday? Is it the end of NASCAR as we know it? Will NASCAR make sweeping changes to assure that something like that never happens again? Will the chase be abolished forever? The answer to all of those questions is a simple ‘no.’
If Newman wins a championship without winning a race one could argue that it’s a more impressive accomplishment. The fact that Newman hasn’t even contended for a win shows that his car isn’t on the same level as some of the other cars out there. With that in mind wouldn’t it make him winning a title over them all that much more incredible? Every top-15 finish that the No. 31 team has gotten that have had to truly work for. In the case of Harvick, Logano, Gordon, Keselowski etc. they are given top-15 cars pretty much every race and are expected to tune and adjust those cars to make them a top-five.
NASCAR fans also have to remember that every driver has been on the same footing all season long. If your favorite driver won a race in the chase they were rewarded by advancing to the next round. Newman hasn’t won a race which means that he has had to have solid finishes every race of the chase because he hasn’t earned any free passes. Moreover, if Newman is running a car every week that most likely isn’t going to win where other guys like Gordon, Keselowski and Harvick are; you could argue they have had a major advantage over Newman for the entire chase and simply haven’t taken advantage of it.
Newman has the potential to become one of the most hated drivers in NASCAR if he wins a title in 2014. The interesting part there is that the hate will not be directed at him as a driver and it will also not be deserved. That hate will come in the form of fans devaluing his championship. Fans will say that he doesn’t deserve it and that NASCAR is a joke. All of this hatred will fall down on Newman and for what reason; all because he played by the rules and rightfully won a championship?
The other reason that Newman is being hated on even now is because of the fact that he falls into that kind of boring category. Newman is consistent and is proving that consistency can put you in a spot to win a title. However, sports fans generally speaking are not a fan of consistent as they want to see the flashy stuff. Take the New England Patriots for example, the only thing consistent about them is their coach and Quarterback. Aside from that they have no known receivers and a mostly unknown defense and yet they win 10+ games a season and are always in the championship mix. The Patriots are consistently consistent and hated as a result. In MLB teams who do the little things right are the ones that fans get down on. Teams who have good pitching, manufacture runs, bunt, hit SAC flies and win games 3-2 are the ones that are shunned in favor of those that hit the long ball and have characters on their team and win games 12-6. In the NBA it’s the San Antonio Spurs who play defense and team-ball and don’t have one star who takes all the spotlight. The Spurs are shunned for flashier teams like the Heat in 2013 or this season for the likes of the Cavs.
It doesn’t matter the sport because each league has a system to crown a champion and there are always going to be different ways to make it to the top. A 125+ win baseball team could lose in the World Series to an 85 win team whose pitching just had a great series. An undefeated Patriots team can lose the Super Bowl to a scrappy and red-hot Giants team who was lucky to be in the playoffs and caught fire at just the right time. A winless NASCAR driver in Ryan Newman could win the 2014 Sprint Cup as long as he takes the checkered flag ahead of three other driver this weekend.
The odds of Newman winning a title in the manner in which he is attempting to do so are by no means in his favor. That doesn’t mean that it’s not possible and that certainly doesn’t mean that defying the odds would somehow make the accomplishment mean less. If Newman pulls this off his story will most likely become the exception to the rule over time and his spot in history shouldn’t be lessened because he became the exception too soon. History is history and in less than a week NASCAR could be witness to Newman and the No. 31 team making history and in the end it may not be a bad thing after all.
Christopher Olmstead is the Editor of BeyondTheFlag.com on the FanSided Network. Follow us on Twitter @Beyond_The_Flag and “Like” us on Facebook.