Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Please help me understand how passing points are assessed/calculated. 
 

If a car starts on the pole and wins his heat he gets what? 10 points? And the guy who starts 8th passes 6 cars to finish 2nd. 8 points for 2nd and 6 for passing? Sure he passed more but when you start at the front you can't pass. So what is the real math?

Driver usually gets like 52 points to win and other finishing positions get points accordingly. Then it's like 2 or 1.5 per car passed. Don't think anyone can get more points than the winner.  Most tracks I've been to that used the passing points ran 4 heats with top 20 in passing & finishing points going to the A. Never saw more than 1 heat per night where the 6th place finisher in a heat made the A. The rest of the heats saw the top 5 finishers make the A. Ascs at one time had a chart on their website that showed how they awarded finishing and passing points. Maybe still do, I have not looked at it  in a long time.

Passing points is a bit of a misnomer.  It's actually finish points. You get points for where you finish based on where you started. Each oganization has their own chart they use.  They all show start and finish position and points for it.  You can see many of the charts online if you look up passing points chart.  The father back you start, the more points you get for finishing any given spot. Finishing first when starting second will get you more points than finishing first when starting first.  But finishing 3rd when starting tenth may get you more points than finishing first after starting first.  Seeing the chart should help it make sense.

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As Eric Smith says it makes more sense when you see one of those charts, below is what the Chili Bowl uses

In this case you score pointss for heats, The top 40 cars will then run qualifier races based off of the points the have gotten during heats in order to get more points added, the rest run C mains to try and tag the B Main. The final points determines if they are in the A or B Main and the postion they start in, in that Main.

Probably the most fair way to handle races with very large field of cars, I do prefer it over the more qualifying heavy based formats for these large major events.

Its confusing when you watch the race, but I like it too...

Passing points formats suck.

Thank you for posting the chart. I did not think anyone got more points than the winner. Thanks for the correction. But with as little passing as there is in winged sprint car racing heat races I doubt anyone going from 10th to second happens very often.

This! ^ I don't think I've ever seen a passing points show that produced a good A main. 

A

Unless you like to see cars pass each other, then it is great.  

So you've never watched the Chili Bowl?

Passing points formats are very draw dependent. If all of the fast guys draw front rows by some odd chance than yes they can be bad. Other times they have fast guys everywhere in the backfield and they really have to work for it making some of the best heat races out there. A good time trial show that inverts starters (like Nationals) almost guarantee a good heat where as a standard WoO show starting quickest times on the pole usually results in poor heat races. Now even though WoO heats are typically pretty uneventful the A mains have not suffered a bit i feel. A knock of the Knoxville weekly format is that the heat races are practically meaningless with their point format. Quick time can drop out of the heat and still have a respectable A main staring spot. Another guy can have mechanical failures during time trials, start the tail of his heat , and then go out there and go from last to first and smoke the field all to be rewarded with a B main front row starting spot. What best and fair is always up for debate but whatever the formst it's the same for all drivers and they know the rules going into the event. I love good heat races with national heat races being the best races of the year but we really only remember the good main events which is what we are there for.

In other words, Passing Points suck!

I hope they never change the Nationals format.....it is simply the best!

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!

You generally don't see much passing with a format that puts the fastest car on the pole. That's exactly what passing ponts does.

A

Haven't watched it in years. Midgets wrecking each other on a go-kart track never appealed much to me. Where did the winner start this year? Passing points may be neccessary for multi-day shows with huge car counts but for one night shows, it's the absolute worst.

A

Idk about that as a general rule but if you want me to sum it up here you go:

Best heats for racing - Nationals

Worst heats for racing - WoO

Most pointless heats - Knoxville Weekly

Somewhere in the middle of all of those: Passing Points

Pick your poison. WoO heats and mains tonight were both pretty "ehhh" but it's nice to have racing sprints back!!!