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2B – Daily News – Wednesday, February 9, 2011 NASCAR has few answers for issues NASCAR CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR entered its brief offseason with sev- eral nagging problems, intending to fix as many as possible. What top series officials emerged with is a new scoring format that sim- plifies the convoluted points system used since 1975. Left unchanged are sagging television ratings, alarming attendance drops and apathy from new and old fans alike. After 2010 produced one of the most competitive and dramatic seasons in memo- ry, it was competition issues — the new points system, a tweak to the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship — and not the overarching threats to the sport’s success that NASCAR chairman Brian France addressed last month in his 2011 preview. ‘‘Look, we’re very satis- fied with the most important thing: the level of competi- tion,’’ France said. ‘‘It’s easy to pull out one thing or another. We’re 63 years old; every sport is going to have periods where, for lots of reasons, you’re in a peak or a valley. ‘‘But over the long-term, we’re very confident that ... we’re setting ourselves up to work through any issues that we have, take the sport in a smart direction over many, many years and make sure the business models for all of the NASCAR communi- ty work properly.’’ Five-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson said simply chang- ing the points system wasn’t enough to fix NASCAR’s larger issues. ‘‘I don’t believe (the points change is) a huge strategy to engage the fans more from an attendance standpoint or a viewership standpoint,’’ Johnson said when asked what effect the new points system will have. ‘‘I think, in my opinion, there are other areas to focus on for that.’’ Those other areas — ris- ing costs, a difficult sponsor- ship market, fading stars, failure to entice the coveted 18-to-34 demographic and overall fan malaise — remain status quo as NASCAR heads into a new season. The unofficial kick- off is this week when Day- tona International Speed- NCAA Tuesday’s Top 25 results No. 6 San Diego State 85, Utah 53 No. 14 Purdue 67, Indiana 53 No. 18 Kentucky 73, Tennessee 61 Today’s Top 25 games No. 3 Texas at Oklahoma, 6 p.m., ESPN2 No.5 Duke vs.No.20 N.Car., 6 p.m., ESPN No. 7 BYU at Air Force, 7 p.m. No.8 N.Dame vs.No.16 Louisville, 4 p.m. No. 9 Villanova at Rutgers, 5 p.m. No.11 G’town at No.12 Syra., 4 p.m., ESPN No. 13 Wisconsin at Iowa, 5:35 p.m. No. 17 Florida at South Carolina, 5 p.m. No.21 Utah St.at Idaho, 8:05 p.m., ESPN2 No. 22 Texas A&M at Colorado, 6 p.m. No. 24 Temple vs. Fordham, 4 p.m. Today’s other televised game Marquette at South Florida, 4 p.m., ESPN2 way opens in preparation of Saturday night’s exhibition Budweiser Shootout. The season-opening Daytona 500 — NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl — is Feb. 20. Last year’s Daytona 500 was marred by a pesky pot- hole in the racing surface that caused two delays total- ing more than two hours, a debacle that some believed set the tone for another year of decline in NASCAR interest. The television audi- ence was down 10 percent last season, and ratings dived almost 21 percent dur- ing the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Atten- dance was down almost everywhere, and 13 tracks suffered drops of at least 10 percent. Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s most popular driver, and Rick Hendrick, the most successful team owner, both recently called for shorter races and a short- er season. Each said they’d accept less money for the cutbacks. And Fox Sports chairman David Hill, whose network broadcasts the first 13 races of a 38-race season, said the events should run three hours and fit into a four-hour broadcast window that includes 40 minutes for prerace and 20 minutes for postrace. But as France and president Mike Helton detailed their upcoming NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL OT Pts GF GA Dallas 30 18 5 65 152 150 SHARKS 29 19 6 64 152 144 Phoenix 27 19 9 63 156 156 Ducks 29 21 4 62 146 150 Kings 29 22 2 60 150 129 Central Division WL OT Pts GF GA Detroit 32 15 6 70 176 156 Nashville 28 19 7 63 141 129 Chicago 27 22 4 58 168 150 Columbus 26 22 5 57 145 163 St. Louis 24 20 8 56 140 154 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA Vancouver 35 10 9 79 183 127 Calgary 27 21 7 61 157 161 Minnesota 27 20 5 59 135 138 Colorado 25 22 6 56 164 175 Edmonton 16 29 8 40 133 180 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA Philadelphia 35 13 5 75 180 137 Pittsburgh 34 17 4 72 165 126 N.Y. Rangers29 23 4 62 155 138 New Jersey 20 30 4 44 116 156 N.Y. Islanders17 29 7 41 131 174 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Boston 30 16 7 67 161 119 Montreal 30 19 5 65 139 131 Buffalo 25 22 5 55 152 153 Toronto 23 26 5 51 143 169 Ottawa 17 29 8 42 119 178 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Tampa Bay 33 17 5 71 168 169 Washington 29 16 10 68 150 136 Carolina 26 21 7 59 161 167 Atlanta 24 22 10 58 162 183 Florida 23 24 6 52 141 143 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. ————————————————— Tuesday’s results San Jose 2,Washington 0 Buffalo 7, Tampa Bay 4 Columbus 4, Pittsburgh 1 New Jersey 3, Carolina 2, OT St. Louis 2, Florida 1 Toronto 5, N.Y. Islanders 3 Today’s games San Jose at Columbus, 4 p.m.,CSNC Montreal at Boston, 4 p.m., VS Nashville at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Colorado at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Phoenix at Dallas, 5:30 p.m. Chicago at Edmonton, 6:30 p.m. Ottawa at Calgary, 6:30 p.m. Anaheim at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Monday’s late results Calgary 3, Chicago 1 Phoenix 3, Colorado 0 Vancouver 4, Ottawa 2 tweaks in a news conference at the sparkling — albeit attendance plagued — NASCAR Hall of Fame, neither offered specific solu- tions to any of the pressing issues facing the series. Instead, they unveiled a new 43-to-1 points system that should be easier for fans to understand, plus the addi- tion of two wild card spots to the 12-driver Chase field that are designed to place an emphasis on winning. Indeed, another strong season of competition could go a long way toward solv- ing NASCAR’s ailments. The 2010 season was highlighted by the relaxed ‘‘Boys, have at it’’ approach of letting drivers show their personalities and settle their disputes without NASCAR meddling. It led to wild acci- dents and confrontations, from Carl Edwards sending Brad Keselowski’s car sail- ing toward the fence at Atlanta in an act of retribu- tion, to mild-mannered Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton nearly coming to blows after an accident at Texas. The Chase finally developed the way France had envisioned, with a nail-biting three-dri- ver championship battle between Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick that went down to the clos- ing laps of the season finale. NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL Pct GB Lakers 36 16 .692 — Phoenix 24 25 .490 10.5 WARRIORS 22 28 .440 13 Clippers 19 32 .373 16.5 KINGS 12 36 .250 22 Southwest Division WL Pct GB San Antonio 43 8 .843 — Dallas 36 15 .706 7 New Orleans32 21 .604 12 Memphis 28 26 .519 16.5 Houston 25 29 .463 19.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB Okla. City 33 18 .647 — Utah 31 22 .585 3 Denver 30 22 .577 3.5 Portland 28 24 .538 5.5 Minnesota 13 39 .250 20.5 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL Pct GB Boston 38 13 .745 — New York 26 24 .520 11.5 Philadelphia24 27 .471 14 New Jersey 15 37 .288 23.5 Toronto 14 38 .269 24.5 Southeast Division WL Pct GB 38 14 .731 — Miami Atlanta 33 19 .635 5 Orlando 33 20 .623 5.5 Charlotte 22 29 .431 15.5 Washington 13 37 .260 24 Central Division WL Pct GB Chicago 34 16 .680 — Indiana 21 28 .429 12.5 Milwaukee 20 30 .400 14 Detroit 19 33 .365 16 Cleveland 8 44 .154 27 ————————————————— Tuesday’s results Memphis 105, Oklahoma City 101, OT Miami 117, Indiana 112 Milwaukee 92, Toronto 74 Minnesota 112, Houston 108 Orlando 101, L.A. Clippers 85 Philadelphia 117, Atlanta 83 San Antonio 100, Detroit 89 Today’s games Dallas at Sacramento, 7 p.m., CSNC Denver at Golden State,7:30 p.m.,CSNB Charlotte at Indiana, 4 p.m. Detroit at Cleveland, 4 p.m. Milwaukee at Washington, 4 p.m. New Orleans at New Jersey, 4 p.m. Orlando at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. San Antonio at Toronto, 4 p.m. L.A.Clippers at New York, 4:30 p.m., NBATV Chicago at Utah, 6 p.m. Monday’s late results Phoenix 104, Golden State 92 Utah 107, Sacramento 104 Portland 109, Chicago 103