Drivers in the chase for the Nextel Cup use the same points system as the rest of the field. Thus a driver can lose or gain as much as 156 points a race on another competitor. Such big point swings spread the points standings out - creating the opposite of what NASCAR intended. Series officials created this championship chase to give more drivers a chance for the title deeper into the season, increase TV ratings and lure more fans.

Going into Saturday night's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway - the fifth of 10 races in the title chase - Jeremy Mayfield, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman had all but been eliminated from championship contention.

Of course, what would happen if the three competitors out of it early included the sport's most popular drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon? NASCAR can't afford for that to happen with a TV contract expiring after the 2006 season and TV ratings unimpressive so far during the chase.

"The only way you're going to make it exciting ... in the last 10 races is you're going to have to create a separate points system for the guys that are in it," Waltrip said. "It's back to business as usual. One guy can get hot or two or three or whatever and they're going to pull away from everybody else."

Dale Jarrett, one of the leaders in the garage, said he recently spoke with NASCAR president Mike Helton and chief operating officer George Pyne about changing the points system in the final 10 races to make the chase more exciting.

Jarrett proposed a separate points system for the title contenders. Under Jarrett's system the top-finishing contender would get 180 points, the second-highest finishing contender would get 170 points. Jarrett would drop the points so that the most anyone would lose in a race would be 50-55 points instead of 156.

"So, you're going to keep everybody closer for the extended period of time," he said.

Gordon has another plan. Gordon says he'd like to see a larger gap in points between positions and that any driver finishing 30th to last should receive the same amount of points.

"So, when you have a 36th-place finish, it's not going to be detrimental and if you come back the next weekend and finish in the top five you're going to gain and make up a lot of those points," Gordon said. "Now, if you get a team that's positioned in the top five, they could run away with the points. That's the downside of that."

Minority fans protest

Eighteen protestors, many high school aged, marched outside Lowe's Motor Speedway before Saturday night's race for the National Association for Minority Race Fans.

The group first appeared at a track two weeks ago at Talladega. The group was not at Kansas Speedway last weekend. Jirard Brown, director of the NAMRF, and Shawn Griffith, who is filming a documentary that depicts racism and other ills among NASCAR fans, also were at the track Saturday.

Brown said the group's goals are to make race events safe for minority fans, more inviting to minority fans by reducing the number of Confederate Flags flying above campers and to see results from NASCAR's diversity program.

Griffith said that he and Brown next will go to Washington, D.C., on Monday for the National Minorities Supplier Development Council Conference. Neither Brown nor Griffith would comment on if they would organize a protest at Martinsville Speedway, where the series heads for next weekend's Subway 500.

NBC and NASCAR?

The New York Times quotes the chairman of the NFL's broadcasting committee as saying that NBC is interested in broadcasting NFL games again. NBC is broadcasting the final eight races of the Cup season.

The NFL's contract with TV partners CBS, Fox, ESPN and ABC ends after the 2005 season. NBC's contract with NASCAR ends after the 2006 season, while Fox has an option to broadcast NASCAR races through 2008.

Should NBC return to the NFL, it could leave a spot for another network to broadcast NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch series races. Another option would be for NBC to carry only Sunday night NFL games while retaining NASCAR.

The New York Times reports that Fox's NFL ratings are up 3 percent this season, but the NFL ratings are down 8 percent for CBS, down 5 percent for ESPN and down 3 percent for ABC.

Pit stops

Stuart's Jon Wood tested at Kansas earlier this month with ST Motorsports, a Busch team at Ford's request and fared well. ... Eighteen drivers have been selected to participate in the Drive for Diversity on Monday and Tuesday at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va. ... Evernham Motorsports announced Saturday that Stanley Tools will sponsor Bill Elliott in four Cup races next season. Elliott will race at California, Texas, Indianapolis and Charlotte. Evernham says he hopes to have Elliott drive 10 to 12 races next season.