NASCAR looking to make winning a necessity with eliminations in Chase and winner-takes-all finale

NASCAR is planning a vast restructuring of the points system in its premier Sprint Cup Series that would greatly emphasize winning races and feature eliminations in its Chase playoff system, according to multiple sources briefed on the plan this week.

In addition to expanding the Chase field from 12 to 16 drivers, a win in the seasons first 26 races would virtually ensure a driver entry into the championship Chase. If there were more than 16 winners, the 16 with the most wins and highest in points would gain entry.

Once the Chase field was set, a round of eliminations similar to the NCAA tournament would take place after the third, sixth and ninth race of the Chase, culminating with the championship determined by a winner-takes-all season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Under the proposed system which could still change before an expected announcement later this month winning would become virtually a necessity to make the Chase and win the championship.

In an interview on Motor Racing Network earlier this month, NASCAR Chairman Brian France said he was not satisfied with the current points structure.

We think we can make some tweaks that continue to incentivize risk-taking, racing harder and so on, he said.

NASCAR vice president and chief communications officer Brett Jewkes would not confirm the changes shared with the Observer but offered the following statement:

NASCAR has begun the process of briefing key industry stakeholders on potential concepts to evolve its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship format. This dialogue is the final phase of a multi-year process that has included the review of extensive fan research, partner and industry feedback and other data-driven insights, he said.

NASCAR has no plans to comment further until the stakeholder discussions are complete. We hope to announce any potential changes for the 2014 season to our media and fans very soon.

According to sources briefed on the proposal on Friday, 16 teams would make the Chase, with positions first going to full-time series contenders who won a race through the first 26 races of the season. Should 16 drivers not win races, the remaining slots would be filled by the drivers highest in points.

Once the field is set for the Chase and re-seeded, the four lowest in points among Chase contenders would be eliminated from title contention after the third, sixth and ninth race in the Chase.

The four remaining contenders would enter the season finale reset with the same amount of points. The driver who earned the most points in the season finale would be the series champion.

Participants have been told changes could still occur in the format but the proposal addressed this week was the direction NASCAR was now seemingly headed.

NASCAR has used a consistency-based points structure for the most part since its inception, determining the season champion by a season-long accumulation of points through the 2003 season.

The 10-race Chase format to determine the series champion was adapted in 2004 and has been used with some variations including bonus for wins ever since.

updated by @stars-radio: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM

Very interesting. I'll have to give this one some thought.

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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.

Not sure about this proposed change. If ,in fact, It comes down to 4 drivers with the same points in the last race and the winner takes all, why not just make the champion the winner of the last race...??? I sure hope they are not trying to make nascar look like the road warrior movie. I dis-trust them so much it makes me wonder if they are trying to ensure Johnson wins another or preventing him from tying or beating the record...interesting...

I'm encouraged, winning, and racing for wins during the season, will generate more interest. It's been totally arbitrary for all of these 60-some years that "consistency" was the greater value. But, champions could have been determined by the number of wins, etc. etc. There's nothing holy, or set-in-stone about consistency. I'd have to applaud the thinking behind this idea.

I don't like it but have no better suggestions.I don't see a problem with determining the champion on who ran best for the entire year. The winner gets double the points of 2nd place. Pay the whole field but only award points for the first 25 spots. I didn't like it last time they changed the points structure but they seem to have been right because we've had good championship battles.The danger in determining the champion based on the whole season is that it will become obvious with five or ten races to go. So what. Be happy with dominating the Summer and put on a decent show so the fans will hang with you to the end. Nobody can beat football, so stop sweating it. This new plan may make the championship closer but people are still going to watch football instead. Maybe you boost viewers on the last race, but more likely people will just keep flipping back and forth.