The NASCAR Hall of Fame, scheduled to open in May 2010 in Charlotte, N.C., includes a "ribbon" that wraps around part of the building in its design, invoking the speed of a racetrack. Eventually, lighting embedded in the stainless steel walls will appear to move along the curve.

A private office building on the site is closer to completion. It is scheduled to open in the spring of 2009 and house NASCAR's media group as well as other tenants.

The $209.8 million Hall of Fame construction project - which does not include the office building - includes $195 million from the city, paid for mostly through a hotel/motel tax. Lauth Properties, a private developer, is paying $14.8 million for the parking deck. Through September, about 28 percent of the total budget had been spent, according to a monthly construction update produced by the city.

Chase ratings flat, up for Nationwide, Trucks

      ABC's telecast of the Sprint Cup Series season finale at Homestead, Fla., received a 4.0 national rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. That would amount to a decline of 5 percent compared with last year, when a 4.2 was recorded. The race averaged 6,598,877 viewers.

Ratings for the 10 races in the Chase this season averaged a 3.8 rating on ABC, the same as last season.

ESPN2's coverage of the Nationwide Series season finale at Homestead received a 1.6 national rating, up from the 1.2 a year ago - a gain of 33 percent. In 23 Nationwide races carried by ESPN2 this season, the network averaged a 1.5 rating, up seven percent from 2007.

Speed Channel's coverage of the Truck Series finale earned a 0.96 national rating, an increase of 136 percent from one year ago.

I have never truly liked the idea of a Chase for the Sprint Cup format that puts everything on the final race to pick a champion.

Some people do. One of the ideas that keeps popping up is to "eliminate" a driver from the Chase each week. The driver among those qualifying for the Chase who finishes lowest at Loudon in the first Chase race would be knocked out. The next week at Dover, the driver among the remaining 11 with the worst finish would be out.

That would continue until there are only three drivers left for the final race at Homestead. Then, the driver among those three who finishes best would be the champion.

I hate that for two reasons. First, and fundamentally, the championship should not hinge on who beats who in one race.

That would create a "race for the championship," no doubt, but it would do so in a much more arbitrary and artificial way than the current format tries to do.

This year, for instance, the championship would have come down to Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick at Homestead. While Jimmie Johnson had the most Chase-race points, he would have been knocked out when he finished 15th at Texas.

My second problem with this "last man out" approach is it would turn the focus in the first nine Chase races to who's running poorly, not who's running well. I am always trying to put the

spotlight on who wins races because that's what should be important.

So, if you insist on having it where you have to earn your way into a chance for the championship at Homestead, there'd be a better way to do that.

Instead of saying the worst Chase finisher is eliminated, how about saying anybody who qualifies for the Chase has to win a Chase race to earn his way into the championship finale? Only Chase drivers could qualify this way because your regular season has to mean something.

However, to appease all of those who think the Chase "excludes" people who didn't qualify for it from being part of the final 10 races, let's add this wrinkle. The driver who earns the most points in the first nine Chase races without winning one of those races - regardless of where he stood in points