The 2017 Winston Cup Series: Final Classic Standings

     So there we have it. The 2017 season is in the books, and Martin Truex Jr. is our champion. If you've been following this alternate format, you know he basically had it locked up a month ago. But Truex had to go a step further, and prove it at Homestead. This year, I've kept track of the full driver standings, using the old, "classic" format. Here were the guidelines:
--2016 points structure for finishes, where the winner gets 40 points, 40th place gets 1 point.
--Winning the race gives you 3 bonus points
--Leading a lap is 1 bonus point, leading the most is a 2nd bonus point
--Most points a driver can earn in one race = 45
--No Chase/Playoff points reset. If a driver is as good as Dale Earnhardt in 1987, they're that good.
--No stage points
--Point penalties treated the same.
--All drivers receive points, regardless of their primary series

With that, here's your full 2017 standings. Actual points finish is on the right (Click for a closer look):

     Some thoughts on the final 'classic' standings...
----Interesting enough, after all my speculation that this would look radically different than the actual format, the top four drivers finished exactly the same. The fact all four of this season's most consistent drivers even made the final-four is surprising enough. While I expected some sort of fluke race would eliminate one of the top drivers and give someone else the championship, that was not the case, much to my delight!
----After this season, you're very wrong if you think Chase Elliott is 'overrated.' Elliott's 21 top-ten season is gold for a driver that turns 22 next week. Aside from failing to win his first Cup race, how much better can you ask him to be? Chase finished 2nd a total of five times this season. His first win is coming...

By Kyle Larson's June win at Michigan, it looked like he would cruise to his first title. Everything slowly unraveled from there

----It's hard to believe Kyle Larson had such a collapse as the season came to a close. There was a time the #42 led in classic points, before a 35-point penalty at Kentucky, several poor finishes in the summer, then four straight DNF's this fall. For the first half of 2017, Larson stole the show.
----Jamie McMurray didn't run near the front for most of the year, but still ended up with a 9th in this format. That's because his B+ consistency gave him 17 top-tens, but only 3 top-fives. McMurray is winless in his last 148 races, and doesn't seem any closer to breaking that streak.

----For how disappointing his season was, Joey Logano still managed to finish 10th overall. That's a nice surprise, after Logano ran around 15th in the standings for much of the year. He never fully recovered after his encumbered win at Richmond... Logano had previously finished 2nd in classic points for three straight seasons, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Ryan Blaney's first Cup win at Pocono was one of the feel-good moments of 2017.

----While it was a breakout year for Ryan Blaney with his win at Pocono, Blaney didn't do as well as you'd think. Blaney only had 4 top-fives, and finished 17th overall. Not having the playoffs hurts his cause.

----32 drivers competed in all 36 races in 2017. Of those, only three failed to garner a single top-10: Ty Dillon, Landon Cassill, and Cole Whitt. While Cassill has received much fan support for a ride, not having a single top-ten this season doesn't really help his cause.

----It's pretty apparent who the lower-tier teams are in the Cup series,,, JTG Daugherty's cars finish 25th and 26th, followed by Leavine Family Racing in 27th... Front Row Motorsports follows in 30th and 31st place, with drivers David Ragan and Landon Cassill, then Go FAS Racing with Matt Dibenedetto in 32nd.

----With how Paul Menard has done recently in NASCAR, I was very surprised when the Wood Brothers announced he would replace Ryan Blaney in the #21. Menard only has 11 top-tens in the last 3 seasons. What is he bringing to the Wood Brothers? I'm stunned they didn't go for Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, or another veteran driver. In the past, this team has had several old-timers drive the #21: Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott and Ken Schrader to name a few.

Jeffrey Earnhardt had a rough first full season in the #33 car. Here is one of his many wrecks of 2017, when he plowed into a spinning Jamie McMurray at Talladega.

----Jeffrey Earnhardt is your 2017 "Lastcar" champion. Earnhardt competed in all but the road course races, with an average finish of 33rd in 34 starts. His best finish was 26th, three times. Let's hope Circle Sport-TMG can gain some ground in the offseason. He's certainly got a large fanbase heading into 2018...

     That's a wrap on 2017. Stay tuned for my preview of the 2018 season in February...