[illiNOISE]

I wish most announcers would do a better job of explaining whatever the track or series formula is. The fact that they often don't leads me to wonder if THEY don't even understand it.

As long as you're not dealing with a super large car count (think Chili Bowl), I think a compromise system could be devised. Say you have three or four heats. Take the top two finishers from each to a dash. To line the dash up, refer to those competitors pill draw numbers. Then invert them. (So someone who wins their heat from the pole would likely start the dash from near the tail, while a racer who finishes 2nd after starting way back in their heat has a shot at the pole.) This basically would yield very similar results as using points, but with FAR LESS MATH.