Damn, I wish a lot of the old crew was still around because I want to see what others think of this...

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2014/1/30/chase-for-the-nascar-sprint-cup-championship-format-changes.html

I guess I haven't entirely made up my mind about it just yet.

I guess I don't like expanding the field to 16, and I feel like even though guys will get bonus points for wins in the "regular season", you can pretty much win a race and go into coast mode.  Top 30 in points to qualify...a bit/a lot lenient.  With all of my grumblings I'm interested to see how it plays out.

It seems gimmicky but I'd lost all interest when they invented the Chase in an effort to make it interesting.   Either that or the generic COT killed it.   Either way, I'm part of the mass exodus that NASCAR has had.

Maybe, come race 27, the new format will rekindle my interest.

They just keep making it worse. They changed the point system a few years ago, which made consistency matter even more. I always thought they should just stop awarding points after place 25 or 30, get all the cars 20 laps down off the track. Also it seems most these races you hear, "well track position is going to be key" meaning you're in for a follow the leader race because no one can pass.

I don't necessarily mind the win and you're in platform, but good god can they please stop the "well football does x, so Nascar can do x" garbage.

Thanks for the input guys...would like to hear others opinions if they have them too.  Jweb1510 used to pitch the kind of format that is currently in place, however I wanted to go in a different direction.

I would have basically expounded on the most recent Chase format, however I would give out bonus points before the Chase started for POINTS STANDING at the end of the regular season, so along with the 3 per win...

1st - 12
2nd - 10
3rd - 9
4th - 8
5th - 7
6th - 6
7th - 5
8th - 4
9th - 3
10th - 2
11th - 1
12th - 0

I had a problem with a format where the team/individual that finished first at the end of the regular season could/would start 12th in the standings and vice versa.  Going for wins is important, but to essentially disregard points in the process...I don't like it.  Like I said, I don't really love or hate the new format right yet, but it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Might just be me but it seems like teams are more likely to say "Pack up the truck" when they have car issues rather than work for two hours, get back out there and run laps to gain a point or three.     Which certainly isn't a bad thing for anyone but sponsors.