The Chase is back, which means NASCAR's new championship format is a play out of an old book. It's not mainstream, but it's just fine for motorsports.
CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR fans say goodbye to the terms 'playoffs' and 'walk-off win.' Those terms were popular in the version of NASCAR postseason from 2014-2025. They are no more, as NASCAR returns to a 10-race 'Chase' format instead of one with eliminations.
And it seems like that is a good thing, according to the sport’s most popular drivers for the last couple decades: Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 'We grew as a sport without mimicking what we're seeing in the stick-and-ball world. And we never really needed to do that. We never really needed to go chase after that. People are going to love motorsports or they're not. I don't know that we need to try to acquire all these unique features from stick-and-ball sports,. You're wasting your time trying to attain a fan that doesn't exist.' Chase Elliott: 'One mistake that we have made as an industry, and not just in this regard, but in other areas, too, is trying to be like every other mainstream sport that's out there. And I just think it's super important to remember that we're not. And that's OK. Because what we have can be really, really entertaining and really fun to watch.' And that’s probably the best thing about what NASCAR announced Monday in going back to the format that existed from 2004-2013. Come Daytona in August, Bristol in September, the Charlotte road course and Martinsville in October, part of me will miss the elimination, knockout moments of playoffs past and now the unlikely possibility of a win-and-in moment to make the playoffs. Jeremy Mayfield had that type of moment at Richmond in 2004, but the walk-off moments of the revised playoff format will be few and far between. Trying to create moments that can go viral while staying true to how fans view the purity of its competition is NASCAR’s biggest challenge. Figuring out how to stay relevant while competing with other sports while figuring out which elements to employ from other sports while also deciding what to keep to maintain a level of uniqueness is hard. What NASCAR went for in drama in the old format impacted the way racing fans looked at their champion more than they could stomach. So NASCAR has scrapped the elimination rounds and gone back to pretty much its original 10-race Chase, with entry into the 16-driver playoff field determined by points. The one-race championship round was the biggest hurdle and for good reason. In other sports, the ball doesn’t deflate during a championship game, the way a car piece could break. While baseball fields can vary, there are more differences in racing circuits, meaning a driver could have a distinct advantage in a one-race playoff — especially if the championship spot is the same year after year. The three-race rounds were too short for one primary reason: One questionable judgment call by NASCAR could cost a driver so much. There was little time to make up for a bad call. Now with 10 races, a driver can make up if the driver gets the raw end of a NASCAR call or a mistake of another driver. It also should reduce the potential for race manipulation because there are fewer opportunities where the points are cut off . As Ryan Blaney said, hopefully this means less incentive for lame dive bombs that were never going to work. So there’s a lot to like about the 10-race Chase format. But here’s the reason to like it the most: It was probably the most difficult to win. A driver could have a bad race — maybe two — but likely needed at least eight strong races among the 10. Jimmie Johnson’s five consecutive titles in this format remains one of the most amazing feats in the sport's history. He engaged in some epic battles for the title, often needing to average somewhere between a fifth-place finish and sixth-place finish in the 10 races. 'It's a big enough sample size that someone can't get lucky,' said NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Mark Martin. 'If you're going to get on a 10-race hot streak, you probably were hot before those 10 races.' So what happens if a driver does get on that hot streak and clinches the title a race early or just needs to cruise in the finale? It might not be as dramatic. But motorsports fans will probably view that as a well-deserved championship. 'I've heard drivers say things like, ‘Well, the hardest part is getting to Phoenix ,' Earnhardt said. 'Or ‘I did all I could. Whatever happens today happened.’ It’s like, what are we doing?' What NASCAR was doing was trying to create moments that fans can see in other sports. What NASCAR will be doing is creating moments that fans want to see in motorsports. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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