Is The Chase Ruining NASCAR For Me?

Am I losing interest in NASCAR?
As you know, I am an avid NASCAR fan and even bigger Jimmie Johnson fan. I attend the Daytona 500 every year and dedicate most of my Sunday’s to NASCAR racing once the season begins! I was one of those who paid close attention to the score board. Wanting to know who is where in the points. What does Jimmie need to do this week to win the Chase. It was FUN!
Up until 2 years ago, the Chase was all points based, you didn’t have to win a race to make or win the Chase. It was really about consistency. That made fans a little uneasy I guess. Your driver wins 3 races and doesn’t win the Chase because of one DNF – yet the guy who never won a race wins the chase? I can see it. So maybe we need to tweak things a little. And boy does NASCAR love tweaking the Chase format.

NASCAR announced in 2010 that The Chase would be focused on winning! Driver need to win. In 2014. The made it more about winning with the current format. Win and your in automatically now. Win any additional round and you advance. So, I get that. It’s important to win.

I think for me, that all changed in 2014.

Todays format of win and your in is great. Hey, once you win the Daytona 500, the rest of the season is easy! Right? Cause you are in? So, that’s where I am. I find myself watching NASCAR until Jimmie wins. Then I am like…ok I’ll wait to the the chase. You know? Cause now for me, sure Jimmie winning again its great, but it’s just gravy!
I mean football gets such high rating because no matter how good or bad your team is EVERY game matters at least until the very end of the season. So, fast forward to the start of The Chase. I am all in once again. Here we go! 4 races and BAM Jimmie is out. He did not get the top 12 of the 16 drivers. So now, I don’t even watch anymore. ( It used to be if you had a great season and a lot of points one bad race in the beginning of the Chase wouldn't mean you are out of it.) Now, you know I do. I take a peek here and there, I am a NASCAR fan. But, my devotion to the sport has definitely decreased.
Does this make me a bad fan? I don’t think so. I am still going to be watch the sport and attend races. I still REALLY want to rent that RV and camp in the infield.
But, again, I think the new Chase format is causing me to lost interest in NASCAR, especially during the long season.
Does anyone else feel that way? Am I the only one?