According to various sources, including the Charlotte Observer’s Jim Utter, NASCAR’s plan for the 2014 Chase is taking shape and it will have a new format. According to these sources, 16 teams would make the Chase with positions going to full-time participants who won a race during the season of 25 races. If there were not 16 teams with wins, the remaining positions would be based on the point finishers according to the standings at the end of the “regular season.”
There has to be a catch, right? Well there is one. The lowest four teams in the standings after the points are reset, which has always been the case since the beginning of the Chase, will be eliminated after the third, sixth, and ninth races in the final 10 Chase races. This would leave four teams and drivers to fight it out in the final race at Homestead next November. The “Final Four” would have their points reset to make them all equal in the final race. Whoever scored the most points in the final race would be the champion.
According to some sources, this might not be the final plan. Changes could still occur in the format, but it seems this is the direction NASCAR is headed. Details are expected to be announced at the annual Media Tour in Charlotte in about a week.
This is a radical change in the consistency based points structure created by the late Bob Latford, 39 years ago. It would virtually assure that the champion would be a winner and not sneak into a championship through consistency. Details will soon be known.
