Chase may be altered by NASCAR

By JENNA FRYER

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

NASCAR fans are reluctant to change, even when tweaks are made to grossly outdated policies and procedures. They like how things were done “in the old days” and are quick to criticize new ideas.

So there’s been a decent amount of consternation about the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, the 10-race, title-deciding format adopted in 2004 and altered three years later.

Now NASCAR chairman Brian France is again considering a tweak or two, and it’s imperative that he keep in mind just how fans will react. After all, every move of late has been made with a focus on stopping the slide in both attendance and television ratings.

And while many recent changes have greatly improved the on-track product, NASCAR is not receiving an overwhelming return on its investment.

“There’s always a number of things that are working against you or for you at any one time,” France said last week at Daytona International Speedway, where he cited competition against the Winter Olympics, the World Cup and the economy for underwhelming attendance and ratings so far this season.

What France didn’t address is the faction of race fans who simply have lost interest in the sport. Although NASCAR has in past years received favorable feedback from its “fan council,” there remains a large group of one-time enthusiasts who just don’t like what’s become of the stock-car series.

Time and time again they rail against the Chase, which they blast as manufactured entertainment. After 29 years of crowning a champion based on a season-long accumulation of points, NASCAR devised a 10-driver, 10-race “playoff” that would create excitement when auto racing goes head-to-head with college football, the NFL and the World Series.

In 2007, France expanded the field to 12 drivers and tacked on a “seeding” system that ranked drivers based on 10-point bonuses they earned by winning “regular-season” races.

The results under both formats have been mixed: The inaugural year had five drivers in mathematical contention heading into the season finale, and Kurt Busch edged Jimmie Johnson by eight points. In the first year of the expanded field, Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon waged an epic championship battle that resulted in Johnson beating his mentor by 77 points.

Those two years were the exception, not the rule, and Johnson’s reign of four consecutive championships hasn’t helped drum up excitement for the Chase.

So now NASCAR is taking another look at what could be done differently, and ideas being bandied about are a 15-driver field, elimination rounds, different Chase tracks and a system that could send a handful of drivers into the season finale for a winner-take-all situation.

“The big design is to have playoff-type moments that only can be, in any sport, created when there’s a lot on the line at any one moment, right? That’s what the essence of Game 7s, eliminations, and all that are,” France said. “What we’re talking about is enhancing it in a way that will bring out more of the winning moments, the big moments that happen in sports.

“And if there’s a way we can do that — and there are a couple of ways — we’re going to give that a lot of weight.”

It’s absolutely the right thing to do, even if the initial reaction to France’s remarks wasn’t overly positive.

But France needs to make decisions right now based on what’s best for the sport. He’s got to get it right this time around, once and for all.