France pleased with second season of Chase

NASCAR CEO expects tweaks to be made to system

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) -- NASCAR chairman Brian France is pleased with the second season of his Chase for the championship format, but suspects there will be tweaks to the system.

	NASCAR CEO Brian France Credit: Autostock
	ALSO In 2006, team owners would be limited to four Nextel Cup Series teams per organization. On Friday, NASCAR CEO Brian France said that doesn't mean that multicar teams aren't crucial to NASCAR's continued success. However, there has to be a limit to ensure the future of the sport.  •   Complete story,  click here

"We are going to look at the Chase when the season clears, but my sense of it is that it isn't going to be anything more than a small adjustment," France said Saturday.

France would not elaborate on plans, although he ruled out the possibility of a separate points system for the drivers racing for the Nextel Cup title.

Under the current format, the top 10 drivers in the standings after the 26th race and anyone else within 400 points of the leader qualifies for the Chase. Their points are reset and they compete against each other for the title over the final 10 events of the year.

But their scoring is based on the entire 43-car field, leading some to call for a separate system. A year ago, five drivers went into the finale with a chance to win the title and Kurt Busch ended up winning it by eight points over Jimmie Johnson in the closest championship finish in NASCAR history.

Only four drivers have a chance to win it in Sunday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but in reality, it's Tony Stewart's title to lose. Stewart has a 52-point lead over Johnson and needs to finish ninth or better to clinch the championship.

"We'd always like it to be closer, but it really is close enough for us," France said. "The perfect scenario would be all 10 guys within 25 points of each other. But I don't think we would go to a separate points system because part of the beauty of this is that you still have to beat 33 others."

This season, half the eligible drivers were eliminated from title contention long before Sunday's race. Even Rick Hendrick, owner of Johnson's car, said Saturday that the contest lacked drama.

"This format, to me, has taken a little of the bloom out of the championship deal," Hendrick said.

France still believes it's exciting, and it will get better. But he has options: The field could be expanded to include in-season race winners, bonus points could be awarded to Chase race winners, the 10-race schedule could be shortened, drivers could throw out their lowest finish of the Chase. Or, in the most radical idea, the lowest driver in the standings could be eliminated each week, creating a two-man race in the finale.

"We hear ideas all the time that we could consider," France said.

Other issues France addressed Saturday:

• He expects negotiations on NASCAR's new TV deal to be completed before the end of the season. Although NBC executives have said they have ended contract talks because of NASCAR's asking price, France hasn't ruled the network out of remaining involved with the sport in some capacity. He also said nothing would change next season, and FOX and NBC would continue splitting the schedule.

Inside the Chase Standings after Phoenix Rank Driver Pts. Behind 1. T. Stewart 6,415 -- 2. J. Johnson 6,363 -52 3. C. Edwards 6,328 -87 4. G. Biffle 6,313 -102 5. M. Martin 6,253 -162 6. R. Newman 6,208 -207 7. M. Kenseth 6,187 -228 8. R. Wallace 6,016 -399 9. Ku. Busch 5,974 -441 10. J. Mayfield 5,939 -476 • Cup Standings, click here

• A decision on the location of the Hall of Fame will not be made by the end of the year, as NASCAR had planned. Five cities are vying for the rights to host the Hall, but France said the bids won't be heavily scrutinized until after the first of the year.

• Efforts to expand into Canada with either the Busch or Truck Series are ongoing, with Montreal and Toronto in contention to land a race date. "We just need to find a market in Canada that works," France said. "We know we have a tremendous fan base up there."

• NASCAR could have attempted to keep Jack Roush from kicking Busch out of his car for the final two races, but chose not to. "But it never came to that because from the very beginning we felt that should have been a team decision, and we stand by Jack calling it," he said.

• Despite Roush's claim that he has at least until 2009 to fall in line with NASCAR's new car cap rules, France said that isn't a hard number. Roush has five teams and is required to eventually scale back to four. "We have not developed a runway for him to get down to the cap, and we want to work with him, but nobody is talking about 2009," he said.