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HOMESTEAD, Fla. — NASCAR Chairman & CEO Brian France reaffirmed his endorsement of stock-car racing’s postseason format Sunday, saying he “wouldn’t change a thing” about the spirited competition created by the elimination system.
France’s remarks came Sunday in his annual “State of the Sport” question-and-answer session at Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) that will determine the champion of its premier series.
NASCAR adopted the 10-race Chase playoff system for its top division in 2004. After 10 seasons of determining a series champion by cumulative points in the postseason, NASCAR competition officials introduced the current format with three rounds of eliminations and a four-driver championship shootout in the season finale.
That format was adopted this year by NASCAR’s other two national tours, a move that France said produced worthy champions this weekend in Daniel Suarez (XFINITY Series) and Johnny Sauter (Camping World Truck Series).
“That’s a big deal for auto racing. We’re bold enough to do that,” France said. “Anywhere in the world, that doesn’t always happen. Our drivers have been great because it requires a different mindset to compete at this level. They’re up to it. They may have had some reservations early on, but they’re up to it, so it’s great.”
France also addressed potential enhancements to the postseason structure, including the notion of greater incentives or rewards for regular-season performance.
“I think that’s a fair thing for us to consider, to make sure that the regular season is as important as it is,” France said. “So I don’t know exactly how we’ll do that, but we’ll look at that.”
MORE: Suarez makes history | Sauter claims Truck Series title
Among the other topics discussed in France’s 17-minute interview session:
— France lauded Sprint, the outgoing sponsor for NASCAR’s premier series, for its contributions over a 13-year association with the sport. The chairman and CEO said the search and negotiations for a new entitlement sponsor were ongoing.
“It’s taken a little longer than I thought, but it’s also a big agreement and an important agreement,” France said. “It’s not just dollars and cents, but it’s a fit for us. We don’t want to announce anything certainly around this weekend. We’re in a good spot with that, I believe, but we’ll have to see how it finally plays out.”
— France singled out Suarez’s accomplishments in clinching his first national series title as an affirmation of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity efforts.
“We’re very proud that it validates our diversity plan in a significant way,” France said. “All kinds of conversations on what we’ve said through the years is these things take time to find the kind of talent that can actually compete at a high level on the biggest stages, and he’s done that.”
MORE: Suarez’s road to title
— Regarding the charter system that NASCAR introduced this season in the hopes of providing team owners a return on their investment in the sport, France said that completing the deal during the offseason was part of a longer process.
“The things that we’re going to be able to do are going to take many, many years to achieve our end goal,” he said, “which is to really lower costs in the industry by working with our interests better aligned with the teams, that’s number one, which will affect their values going forward.”
— France said that recent guidelines designed to limit premier series drivers’ participation in XFINITY and Truck Series competition were a welcome addition to the NASCAR Rule Book. The rules, introduced last month ahead of the 2017 season, took effect to a lesser degree in those series’ finales this weekend, something France said worked “on a lot of different fronts.”
“Cup drivers obviously were able to compete in events, but you saw the championship get settled down to the series participants,” France said. “I think it worked perfectly. We talked about it for a long time. I’m glad we did it.”