France: “modest to zero” changes Chase format changed planned

For better or worse, Brian France is committed to the 'elimination' Chase

In Brian France's estimation, the new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format introduced this year has struck a perfect balance between winning and consistency in determining the series champion. At the same time, France said, the new system, featuring an expanded 16-driver field and eliminations after every third race, has elevated interest in the sport.

"It's exceeded what I had hoped for, and it's done precisely what we thought we wanted to do, which was recalibrate competition-or winning, rather-and still have a strong place for consistency and all the rest, but recalibrate that balance," NASCAR's chairman and CEO said Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway in his "State of the Sport" question-and-answer session with reporters.

"It's only year one, but clearly we're on our way." France said any changes to the format would be "modest to zero," and he doesn't have an issue with the possibility of Ryan Newman winning the Sprint Cup championship in Sunday's Ford EcoBoost 400 without winning a race. "Well, we would like that," France said.

"The best team will win on Sunday. What I mean, though, is any format that we've ever had always has the possibility that somebody might win the championship without winning an event, short of us-which we're not going to do-making it a hard prerequisite that you have to win a race to qualify. That takes it out of balance, frankly."

(Editor's note: Despite what he says above, you can rest assured BZF does not want Newman winning the championship. France's legacy, for better or worse, is largely tied to hokey format he drew up. And a Newman win would greatly undermine NASCAR's credibility with the national media.)