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HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- I dont know about you, but Im ready to see a racing championship resolved the old-fashioned way.Im tired of the artificial elements that have been introduced to the sport in an effort to create or maintain excitement instead of letting things take their natural course.Nothing happens organically anymore. So much effort is put into creating the ultimate finish -- whether its for a race or a championship -- that things are rarely allowed to evolve naturally.Take the overtime rule. Without it, last weeks NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix would have ended under yellow, and Matt Kenseth would have been the winner. Its a system that worked well for decades.Same with season-long championships. How do you think William Byron feels right now? The talented 18-year-old rookie won seven Camping World Truck Series races this year, yet it was Johnny Sauter hoisting the championship trophy Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.Make no mistake, Sauter put together a quality season with three wins, 12 top-5 and 19 top-10 finishes in 23 starts.But Byrons numbers are arguably better. There are those seven wins, plus he nearly matched Sauter with 11 top-5s. Byron led 727 laps over the course of the year compared to Sauters 130.The title was decided in Sauters favor because this is the first year NASCAR thrust a Chase format into the Truck Series championship. Sauter earned two of his three wins late in the season when only six drivers were eligible for the championship. ?Byron was eliminated from contention when his Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota blew an engine while he was leading with a handful of laps to go at Phoenix a week ago in the race that cut the Truck Chase field from six to four.I just feel so bad for William and the way this point situation worked out this year and not having an opportunity to come out here and race for the title, said team owner Busch, who successfully negotiated the Cup Series Chase eliminations to make the Final Four for the second year in a row.The bitter part is this kid is the champion, and hes not going to get the big trophy, added Rudy Fugle, crew chief of Byrons No. 9 KBM Toyota.???It could happen again today in the Xfinity Series. Erik Jones claimed nine poles, won four races, scored 15 top-5s and has led 624 laps to date this year. Yet thanks to an elimination-style Chase, also in its first year in Xfinity competition, Justin Allgaier (no wins, and just 28 laps led) could emerge as the champion.Of course thats ignoring the fact that despite notching up nine poles and leading 2,052 laps on the way to 10 wins (in just 17 starts), Busch is flat-out ineligible for the Xfinity championship.Ironically, NASCAR created the original Chase in 2004 for this very reason. Ryan Newman won eight Cup Series races in 2003, claimed 11 poles and led 1,173 laps, yet finished a distant sixth in the championship standings to Matt Kenseth, who never started from pole once, had six fewer top-5s and led just 354 laps.That statistical imbalance, and the perception that Kenseth was somehow a less worthy champion than Newman, was what pushed NASCAR into action. Since then, the Chase has grown -- to 10, 12, 13, and finally 16 drivers, with the additional artificiality of a series of eliminations intended to mimic the format successfully used in stick-and-ball sports.To NASCARs credit, there has not been an unworthy champion during the Chase era. The Chase created the classic 2011 championship battle between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart, which Stewart would not have been in if the traditional season-long format had been used.But its going to happen in the Cup Series one of these days. Newman nearly pulled it off in 2014 in the first year for the elimination Chase -- and wouldnt that have been the ultimate demonstration of poetic justice?What it all comes down to is a philosophy of managed competition, and NASCAR has long been the industry leader in that regard.You hear a lot of talk in America today about too much government, and that certainly applies in NASCARs case.?From making small adjustments to cars to ensure that no manufacturer gains the slightest advantage, to instituting increasingly gimmicky ways to guarantee the season championship goes down to the wire, NASCAR has always had a heavy hand when it comes to artificially spicing up the show.Its not worth going back to add up the points the old way to figure out who would have been any Chase years moral champion -- though it can be fun -- because the advent of the various forms of the Chase fundamentally changed the way people raced throughout the season. It changed the entire dynamic of racing for a championship.And thats what is so frustrating. These days, once a team locks itself into the Chase, the rest of the regular season becomes pretty much irrelevant. The focus shifts to preparing for the final 10 races of the year rather than putting in 100 percent effort trying to be competitive and build a points cushion throughout the summer.One or two bad races used to be a bump in the road for a championship contender. But now, if it happens at the wrong time, it can ruin a whole years worth of work.I look back at 2007, my final year at Hendrick [Motorsports], and we were running pretty good, Busch recalled.?I think we were third in the Chase at the time, and we were either leading or running third at Kansas, and I think Junior [Dale Earnhardt Jr.] came off of 2 and wrecked me. From there on, that killed the rest of our mojo, our momentum, the things that we had going for us in that season.Then in 2008, right the exact year after that, we got into the Chase as the top seed, Busch continued. We won eight races, and then boom, right out of the gate in the Chase we tried to start doing things a different way. It messed us up, and we totally lost what we were doing and what our focus was. That killed us there.Im not saying that going back to a season-long championship slog is automatically going to make racing great again.But it would at least do a better job of recognizing greatness over the course of a calendar year rather than through a smaller sampling of a few weeks.This years Cup Series Final Four is representative of the best the 2016 season had to offer because there was a fair amount of parity throughout the field and no driver won more than four races. But that wont always be the case, and even this year, some drivers could argue that the system has been unfair to them -- among them, four-time winners Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr.Busch and Joey Logano would still be in the top four in the standings using the classic point standings, but Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson would rank seventh and ninth respectively. Points leader Kevin Harvick would theoretically clinch the championship Sunday with a top 20 finish under the old system, but hes not title-eligible.Time moves on, and sports gradually evolve, but you can be certain that NASCAR will never backtrack and revert to a classic, season-long championship format -- even though the advent of the Chase is the number one reason fans cite when asked about their declining interest in stock car racing.The Chase is here to stay, and if the drivers dont necessarily like it, they still generally respect the results it produces.Weve worked really hard to get here, said Logano.?I dont think its ever easy, and everyone is here for a reason.?These are the four best teams this year. Its been proven that theyve either been consistent, or can win when they have to.?If they had some troubles earlier in one of the rounds, everyone was able to get through. Theres not many guys who are able to do it, and obviously it was so close.?Theres a lot of pressure thats been put on these race teams, and these are the race teams that were able to handle it, he added.?A lot of people can go a different way when theres pressure put on them, but these teams here seem to be the ones that are best this year, and one of them will prevail at the end. Authentic Custom Packers Jersey . -- Hunter Smith scored the winner with just 12 seconds remaining in the third period as the Oshawa Generals edged the host Sarnia Sting 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Custom Packers T-shirts . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. http://www.custompackersjersey.com/custom-rashan-gary-jersey-large-72r.html . Tracey comes to the Blue Bombers after spending over a decade with Queens University. Most recently he was the schools assistant football coach. Custom Packers Jersey China . Miller reached right to deflect Mikhail Grabovskis attempt with just over 2 minutes remaining in regulation, and then made two more saves in the shootout Sunday to give the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. Cheap Custom Packers Jersey . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The rematch of last years AFC championship this weekend will once again feature Tom Brady trying to avoid Von Millers grasp and Aqib Talibs reach. Theres a new wrinkle to the Patriots-Broncos rivalry this year, though.Both teams have players who have hurdled the long snapper to block kicks this season, and while odds are slim itll happen again Sunday, these players athleticism will be on display in the kicking game or on defense.Neither linebacker Shea McClellin of the Patriots (11-2) nor safety Justin Simmons of the Broncos (8-5) had ever blocked a kick at any level before pulling off the feat this season.McClellins block came Monday night and ended Justin Tuckers streak of 28 field goals without a miss. It helped the Patriots grab the early momentum in a 30-23 victory over the Ravens.Simmons block of an extra point at New Orleans last month resulted in the first game-winning 2-point play in NFL history when fellow rookie Will Parks scooped up the blocked ball and raced to the end zone for a 25-23 win.The play is growing in popularity as teams seek to either capitalize on the longer extra point attempts or figure its faster to go over the top than around stocky lines on field goal tries.Its all about the timing and athleticism.Arizona coach Bruce Arians was livid when Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner jumped over the Cardinals snapper to block a Chandler Catanzaro field goal attempt in Week 7. He suggested it should be eliminated from the game in the name of player safety because centers who try to counter the leap by lifting their heads higher risk getting kicked in the face.Its bad for football, said Arians.Its bad for his team, countered cornerback Richard Sherman.And its been good for the Seahawks, Broncos and Patriots.While Wagers left shoe brushed the snappers back -- allowable so long as the contact is incidental -- both McClellin and Simmons cleared the snapper with the help of some big D-linemen putting their hands on the long snapper to prevent him from rising up.Denver special teams coach Joe DeCamillis eyes widened when the Broncos drafted Simmons in the third round out of Boston College after he had a 40-inch vertical leap at the NFL combine.Hey, I heard you can jump, DeCamillis told him.And that was the genesis of the play the Broncos dubbed Leaper, and the start of Simmons new hurdling career.The Broncos practiced the play every week, waiting foor the right opponent and time.dddddddddddd.Every team is different, Simmons said. Sometimes certain holders will give the signal and the long snapper will wait a second or two because they know that their signals being looked for and so theyll switch it up a few times. Thats why youre always careful throughout the game and you make sure youve got their snap count down and you just do it from there.When the Broncos played in New Orleans on Nov. 13, DeCamillis told Simmons to silently time the snap-hold-kick sequence.He did just that on two extra points and a field goal.I was timing it up in my head, jumping, visualizing the jump before it even happened, Simmons said.Simmons reported back to DeCamillis: each time the signal was the same, the count was identical.So, when the Saints tied it with 1:22 remaining and Will Lutz trotted out for the go-ahead extra point, DeCamillis approached Simmons.Hey, were running Leaper.Lining up off the line of scrimmage, Simmons timed his leap perfectly.He cleared long snapper Justin Drescher, then stretched his 6-foot-2 frame as far as he could.He squeezed his eyes.I could tell I blocked it, Simmons said, because my right arm was throbbing.Both Simmons and McClellin said they couldnt have pulled it off without help from the big guys.Adam (Gotsis) and (Jared) Crick did a great job with that center, Simmons said. Everyones talking about my `vert, but he was low. He was literally on the ground: path clear, jump right over.McClellin also credited his linemen for his first block, saying, (Alan) Branch and Malcom (Brown) did a great job of keeping those guys down.Both teams are well aware of each others hurdling prowess, so theyll be hard-pressed to pull it off again Sunday.Were very conscious of our signals and self-scouting and making sure that were not giving the same look every time, because it makes it that much easier to time up, Simmons said. And not only for the leaper but the outside guys can get a good jump on the ball, too. It just causes a whole list of problems. So, you want to make sure youre on top of it.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower contributed. Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton ' ' '