NASCAR on Monday announced that it is returning to a version of The Chase championship format that was used from 2004-2013.
The top sixteen drivers in points over the first 26 races will qualify for the 10-race postseason that will decide the champion.
There’s no more “win and you’re in” to the postseason, it is entirely based on points. In order to reward race wins NASCAR has updated the points structure so that a win is worth 55 points, up from 40, while second place is worth 35 points.
The points are reset for The Chase with first place getting a 15-point advantage over second, with first starting with 2,100, second with 2,075, third with 2,065, fourth with 2,060 and each spot getting five fewer points down to 16th at 2,000.
The stage points system remains, but there are no longer any playoff points, as there were under the previous multi-round elimination system.
NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell said the goal was to reward winning, consistency and letting the fans know it has been listening to them.
“We’ve got the best of both worlds where every race matters,” O’Donnell said during a press conference announcing the return of The Chase. “We’ve talked to a lot of folks in the industry. We’ve run a lot of different models and believe this is the best place to land really to get back to who we are.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was on a panel of drivers, team owners, media and others that advised NASCAR during its deliberations and was an advocate of a return to a full-season points format, like NASCAR used prior to the original Chase, but he thinks where it landed is a good compromise.
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” I was really excited to hear the news that we were getting a little closer to a full 36-race format. This is as close in my opinion that you can get without going all the way,” he said.
“So with the way that they’re going to stack the bonus points and everything else, it’s critical that these drivers have success every single week. Every single race, every single lap will have more importance. I think it’s fun for the drivers to have a more clear objective for how to get to the championship and easier for our fans to follow.”
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series will use the same format with 12 and 10 drivers qualifying for The Chase, which will be nine and seven races-long, respectively.
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