ESPN NHRA

READING, Pa. -- After rain extended the Toyo Tires Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway to an agonizing seven days, the NHRA POWERade Series' Countdown to the Championship finally concluded Wednesday.

Only one driver outside the top eight going into the event made his way in. Top Fuel driver Doug Herbert entered the event 53 points out of the coveted eighth position but rose from the ashes to land the final Countdown spot by beating points leader "Hot Rod" Fuller in the final. Herbert supplanted Australian Dave Grubnic, who could only wait to find out whether he had made the Countdown, having lost in the second round to Morgan Lucas. Lucas was coming off a first-round win over teammate Melanie Troxel, who had entered the event only two points behind Grubnic.

"Wow, nothing like a little drama, huh?" Herbert said. "I was ready for this race. It was the biggest round of my life, and I didn't want to have any regrets. I was ready, the team was ready, and we went out there and got it done."

Funny Car racer Del Worsham had an outside chance to get in, but he lost to Tony Pedregon in the semifinals, clinching the final spot for Jim Head.

In Pro Stock, Vieri Gaines also failed in his bid to make the Countdown, losing to Dave Connolly in their semifinal race. Gaines spun his tires down low and was forced to give up, advancing Larry Morgan, who held on to the eighth position by 11 points.

It was the same story in Pro Stock Motorcycle. There, Chris Rivas missed the Countdown field after losing to Matt Guidera, 6.945 to 6.977. Craig Treble held on to the final Countdown spot.

"The Countdown to the Championship was designed to bring extra excitement to the sport, and it's definitely done that," Herbert said. "Grubnic is my buddy, and I hated that it knocked him out, but he already called me to say congratulations. Now if we can get our act together, we can make a real run at the championship. There is no team as fired up as this one, I promise you that."

But Herbert might be wrong about that.

As rain fell Sunday, Don Schumacher's three Funny Car drivers were relaxed and joking as they gathered in a team hauler for a group interview.

Gary Scelzi, driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger; Ron Capps, driver of the Brut "Test Drive" Dodge Charger; and Jack Beckman, driver of the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger, were far removed from any drama on the racetrack. The tension of making the cut to the Countdown was already behind them, with all three having secured berths before the Maple Grove event.

But that doesn't mean Schumacher's three Funny Car drivers are thrilled with the new Countdown format.

"It's not NASCAR," Beckman said. "The thing that defines our sport is its sudden eliminations. When you lose, you're done earning points. You load up and go home. NASCAR's point system is very much different than ours. They have 12 cars competing in 10 races, but then it becomes an absolute deal for them. If you get a flat tire on the 30th lap, you change the tire and you might be a lap down, but you get points the entire rest of the day. Because it's sudden elimination in drag racing, not only do we not have that luxury but, because they're 8,000-horsepower cars, we're prone to having some unpredictable stuff happen."

"It used to be the person who won the most rounds -- in theory, because qualifying and national records count -- who won the championship," he added. "And my thought is if the guy wins the first 17 races of the year, he should be able to sell his equipment and move to the Bahamas and he'd still be the champion. But I get why NHRA wanted to make it exciting down to the last race."

Capps said he is a fan of the new system -- sort of.

"As much as it's going to probably hurt us a little bit, it's still going to be exciting," he said. "We've lost it by really small margins in the past and it hurts, but it's been cool that we're down to the wire. It's been down to the last day of the final race of the year to figure out who the champion is, and to go that far and have that much credit for your sponsors, just everything's been real cool. I'd never have changed any of that.

"But I think it seasoned me for the pressure stuff that we're going to see all these guys going through down to the wire, where one round means so much. Starting in Indy, now we're down to the eight guys. It's a pretty elite group, so to take the top eight out of a group of talented teams, and there's some big teams not making it. … But now we go four races and then it's just four? That's one thing different from the Chase. NASCAR takes the top 12 and runs it to the finish at Homestead, but we're going to take four. And then you're going to have two races with just the top four guys in the world. Man, you talk about pressure!"

On the plus side, Capps said that knowing he already had clinched a playoff berth meant he was able to use the Reading race as a test session.

"We brought a new car out here," he said. "First run Friday, it had never been on the track, and it went right down the track, straight as an arrow. It did everything it was supposed to do. So it was such a relief. And it couldn't have come at a better time, because it's here, and Indy. And you'd better have your act together in two weeks, because if you don't, and you have a couple bad races, I don't care how good you are. You're done."

Suddenly, Top Fuel defending champion and teammate Tony Schumacher walked in the hauler to make an announcement.

"We at Schumacher have been doing this whole thing wrong, and I'll tell you why," he said, dripping sarcasm. "I came in here like 170 points back, in fourth. I qualified No. 2. I got drilled on the start line and got beat the first round, but I gained two spots. I'm leaving here in second, 10 points out."

So is that a good thing or a bad thing?

His father, team owner Don Schumacher, had an answer.

"Well, I think it's wrong," he said. "I mean, it's good for the team right now, but it's wrong. I mean, realistically, we really don't feel it's fair.

"The Countdown has created excitement in the sport and around the sport. There are things that I like about it and things that I thoroughly dislike about it. You have a team that's worked for the championship all year long, as they have in the past years. They're leading the points by 300 points, and yes, it's removed the excitement because they've already locked up the championship under the old format.

"Well, now, under the new format, they're 70 points ahead of the car that's in eighth place coming in. They've worked all year long. It's not right -- not the way it should be. You do it with only eight teams or eight cars. What about the other six or eight fully sponsored cars out here that their sponsors didn't make it into the Countdown? OK, one year, that happened. You do that two years, you do that three years … where do you think the sponsor's going to be? What are you doing to the business that these teams have?

"And then the final step, in Las Vegas, where it's reduced down to four teams and all of the previous part of the year doesn't matter, you're now separated by 30 points from first to fourth place. If you get unlucky in Vegas, you're out of there. If you pull to the starting line and hit the throttle and break the blower belt, it doesn't matter what you've done all year long. You're done."

Scelzi said any change by the NHRA is better than no change.

"Yeah, it all comes down to two races," Scelzi said. "It's bad enough the way it is. But I criticized NHRA for doing nothing, for making that plain baloney sandwich every week and sticking it down your throat. So they did something. Whether I believe in it or I don't, I have to applaud them for doing something. But two races and four cars is baloney."

Whatever the format, Tony Schumacher said, the championship trophy should go to the team that produces consistently all season.

"I hope and pray that whoever gets the championship gets the championship because they were the best team throughout the year." he said.

Added the elder Schumacher: "I agree with the change to the Countdown. I don't agree with the last race prior to going to the Countdown is the race before Indy. Indy is the biggest race and that should be the race that's the last race that you can get into the Countdown. It would create, I believe, more excitement, more fans, news media, excitement."

Ellen Siska is a freelance contributor to ESPN.com.