It's Winner-Take-All In NASCAR's New Chase

WFAE | By Michael Tomsic

Published February 21, 2014 at 4:00 PM EST

Jimmie Johnson, celebrating a win in July, is a six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ. He says the playoff changes should still result in a top driver taking the title.

NASCAR's old point system was a mathematical labyrinth concerned with consistency: Drivers didn't have to actually win a race to make the playoffs, as long as they were in the top 10 often enough.

Even NASCAR CEO Brian France has joked that fans needed a computer next to them to figure it out. Take this announcement at a race in Richmond, Va., last year:

"Joey Logano is still barely clinging to that 10th spot in points, but he's 25th two laps down. Jeff Gordon only 2 points behind him."

Now, says France, it'll be simple: To make the playoffs, starting this season, a driver basically needs to win a regular season race.

"We now have arrived at a format that makes every race matter more," France says. "It'll promote compelling competition for wins all season long."

The season will finish with a sort of Super Bowl, in which there's still a full field of drivers, but only four will be racing for the championship. The first of those four to cross the finish line wins.

The changes will make NASCAR's playoffs, casually called the Chase, more like other sports. Driver Kurt Busch isn't sure if that's a good thing.

"In 2004, the Chase was implemented with the thought of trying to create a playoff format or an atmosphere that is similar to other types of sports that are mainstream. And NASCAR is mainstream," Busch says.

So, he asked, do we need to be so influenced by the media, fans and other sports?

Fellow driver Danica Patrick says yes.

"At the end of the day, it's all about our fans," Patrick says. "It's getting people to watch so that our sponsors are happy that people are watching on TV, millions and millions of people. That's what drives the sport."

TV ratings and attendance at many of the premier tracks have dropped significantly since peaking in the mid-2000s. Brad Keselowski, who won the Chase two years ago, says NASCAR has to adapt.

"If we stay stagnant as a sport, none of us are going to have any jobs," says Keselowski. "As long as we can acknowledge that the sport has to change, I think we can find common ground that way."

This particular change will make it much easier for NASCAR to attract casual fans, according to Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports. The old playoff system was too complicated.

"I don't think it built the kind of excitement that you see in playoff formats for the major leagues — baseball, NFL," Pilson says. "[The new format] will definitely help with TV ratings and viewership."

One guy you'd think might not be a fan of the changes is the driver who's mastered the old system, six-time champion Jimmie Johnson. Asked if this feels like an attempt to stop him from winning, he says, "It's crossed my mind, I'm not going to lie."

But the changes should still result in one of the top drivers taking the title, Johnson says — not necessarily the most consistent one, but certainly one of the best.

At a preseason event in Charlotte, N.C., some racetrack executives said the overhaul should help sell tickets.

"The fan knows when he comes to the race that whoever wins that race is going to be in the Sprint Cup race for the championship. And that's a big deal," says Chris Powell, general manager of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

It's such a big deal that NASCAR's France expects more drivers to bang fenders as they go for the win.

"We expect some contact. Will this bring more of that? I'm sure it will to some level, but that's NASCAR," France says.

Race officials will have to work harder to regulate the action and prevent more wrecks and injuries, says a NASCAR executive, starting with the Daytona 500 on Sunday.