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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Tony Stewart doesn't put the trophy he won under the Chase format in 2005 any higher on a shelf than the one he won under the old format in 2002.
He doesn't believe one means any more than the other.
He's never thought of it, to be honest.
"You know what it is and you know what it takes to do it," said Stewart, who enters this year's Chase 80 points back of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch. "It doesn't matter what the format is, you just want to win it. That's all you want to do at the end of the day."
Stewart can say that. He's the only driver who has won the Sprint Cup title under the old points system and new playoff system. He's one of only two drivers whose Chase title would have translated into a championship under the old format.
Jimmie Johnson in 2006 was the other.
So is the system working as NASCAR hoped it would five years ago?
"It doesn't matter to me," Stewart said.
He's in the minority. Most drivers and owners agree the 10-race Chase, tweaked from 10 to 12 drivers in 2007, is good for the sport. They agree it has renewed interest at a time of the year when the attention span turns to the NFL and college football.
It has created the type of drama that was there for David Ragan, Kasey Kahne and Clint Bowyer as they battled for the final playoff spot Sunday afternoon at Richmond International Raceway.
"It gave us a playoff atmosphere that people get excited about," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said of the Chase. "I do recall how sort of boring the last portion of the year was even when you did have a title chase among two to three guys. It's definitely more exciting, and I think it's done the sport a lot of good.
"It's kind of took us to the next level as far as being able to compete for new fans and interest new fans with a new format and a new way and a new, exciting style of finishing the season. We could have maintained, but we decided to try to improve the sport and make it more interesting. They did that."
Jeff Burton is a "big fan" of the Chase.
"It creates excitement," he said. "As in any playoff-type system you can always say, 'Well, that team won 20 games and they should have won whatever and they didn't because they lost in the first round of the playoffs.' It's about being right at the right time of year.
Two-time defending series champ Jimmie Johnson says it was more difficult to win a title under the old format because momentum had to be sustained the entire season -- not just the final 10 races.
"It's about positioning yourself and getting it done when it counts, and that's who the champion is. It's the best way to do it. It's the most exciting way to do it. If there's a way to make it more exciting, I'm all for it. I'm a big proponent of it."
The biggest debate seems to be not whether a champion under the old or new system is more legitimate, but whether it is tougher to win the title under one format.
Johnson, who won the past two championships, argues it was more difficult to win under the old format because you had to sustain momentum for an entire season. He believes it's easier under the playoff format because a driver that did little during the first 26 races can get hot at the right time and win.
Johnson did that in 2006, entering the Chase in second place and falling 156 points out in eighth with six races to go. He then went five straight weeks with a win and four seconds and wrapped up his first title with a ninth at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In 2007, under the old format, Johnson would have been in fourth place, 410 points behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon going into the final 10 races.
But based on bonus points given for wins for seeding, he entered first -- 20 points ahead of Gordon. He then went on a tear that saw him collect four wins, eight top-10s and no finish worse than 14th to win the title by 77 points.
"If you talk to Jeff Gordon he will say the opposite," Johnson said of this debate on which format is tougher.
He's right. Gordon firmly believes it's harder to win under the new system. Perhaps that's because he won four championships under the old format and would have two more -- leaving him one shy of the all-time record held by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt -- had the system never been changed.
He's 0-for-4 in the Chase, missing the playoff altogether in 2005.
"I looked at the guys who won championships, and they were good everywhere, and they were great at some places," Gordon said. "So that's what I focused on, was trying to be good everywhere that I possibly could.
"Now it's you'd better be good at those 10 races, and you've got to get yourself into the Chase, so your team has got to be solid. But to be on your game for those specific 10 races, not have any problems -- there's just a lot of factors in there, and to win it I think is very, very challenging. That's why I respect it and why I want one really bad."
Gordon reminded that Busch, who has dominated this season with eight wins, would be almost a lock for his first title under the old format with a 207-point lead over Carl Edwards and a 302-point lead over Johnson.
Under the Chase format, the field is reset, and that cushion is only 30 over Edwards and 40 over Johnson.
"There's a very good chance he's not going to win this championship just because of the Chase format," Gordon said. "Maybe it being easier or harder is not the right terminology. Certainly you can't compare the history of the old championship versus the new one."
Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president of corporate communications and resident historian, said there's no doubt winning the title is more difficult today. He recalled the countless times drivers entered the final 10 races with a huge lead and no motivation to take chances for wins
No season better exemplified that than 2003. Matt Kenseth had a 418-point lead after 26 races and won the title by 90 despite three finishes of 33rd or worse, including last in the season finale, over the final 10 races.
Many say that season was the genesis for the Chase.
"With this new format, you've got to race, and that's good for the fans," Hunter said. "It's done what we wanted it to do."
But consistency counts as well. Stewart didn't win a race during the 2005 Chase but won the title by 35 points over Greg Biffle and Edwards. Johnson won twice over the final 10 races and had seven top-10s, but was fourth after wrecking and finishing 40th in the last race.
"We just weren't brilliant like Jimmie was last year, winning four of the last five weeks," Stewart said. "We were just solid in 2005."
That gives Gordon, who has failed to win a race this season and would be 657 points out in the old format, reason for hope.
"The one thing I've taken out of this is I've had the big leads and seen that go away in the Chase, and I wish it had not," said Gordon, who like Stewart is 80 back of Busch. "And now I'm on the flip side of it, where those guys have the big lead and that got washed away, and now we at least have a shot."
That's the beauty of the Chase. Twelve drivers still have a shot, when it might have been over under the old format.
And while Stewart can take it or leave it, Johnson and others love it.
"It has taken me a long time to sit up here and say that," said Johnson, who enters this year's Chase as he did last year's, with two straight wins. "But I as I have watched our sport grow, watched it pull in new fans, see what the Chase has done, the excitement, all of those things -- I am a firm believer in the Chase now."
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.
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