Brian France says no changes coming for NASCAR's Chase

Jeff Gluck | USA TODAY Sports

CHARLOTTE – After a successful first edition of the revamped Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff, NASCAR is standing pat.

NASCAR CEO Brian France opened the sport's annual preseason media tour Monday by announcing there will be no changes to the Chase for the Sprint Cup — not the format, not the points system, not how drivers qualify for the races or the playoff.

The announcement was quite a change from the dramatic overhaul France announced in the same speech last year. But citing the fans' happiness with the elimination-style playoff and a desire to help fans continue to understand how the new format works, France said there was no need to change anything this season.

"(The Chase) is overwhelmingly popular with the most important stakeholder – our fans," France said. "… One of the things they really liked is that we weren't going to change anything, and they strongly suggested we didn't. And we're not going to."

France said NASCAR officials discussed "a tweak or two" — possibly including a separate points system for Chase drivers — but ultimately decided the simplicity of the format was too important to muddy.

Under the second-year format, 16 drivers make the 10-week playoff and four are eliminated every three races. Then a one-race finale between four drivers decides the title, with whoever finishes the highest among them becoming the champion.

"We made it as simple as we possibly could, and any change we would make — even if it were helpful and reasonably easy to understand — it would still be something different," France said. "Our view is, 'Let's keep exactly what we have now.' It's going to take a fair amount of time for even our avid fan base to sort out the strategies."

NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell said officials were satisfied with the Chase at the end of the season and determined no changes should be made, even if winless Ryan Newman nearly won the title in what was supposed to be a format that emphasized winning.

"It is a new system and we need to give it time to grow," O'Donnell said. "That hasn't always been our M.O., I know, but it was something we felt was the right spot to be (in) and evaluate it again for this year."

Among the other topics addressed by France and O'Donnell:

-- The flared side skirts which drew much attention during the Chase will now be illegal. If a team is caught intentionally pulling out the sheet metal during a pit stop – the move creates more downforce — then NASCAR will require the car to come back down pit road, O'Donnell said.

-- NASCAR is trying to give teams the rules package for 2016 earlier than ever — with the All-Star Race in May as a possible deadline.

France said the rules package – which includes car specifications like spoiler size — will continually evolve in the search for more competitive racing.

Teams received the 2015 rules in September last year, but the 2014 rules were not set until last January.

PHOTOS: 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule

-- NASCAR is still considering changing the format of some races to include the heat races seen at short tracks around the country.

"It is still something that is on the table for the future," O'Donnell said. "We just thought with everything going on in the sport – with the Chase being in its second year, with the (new) rules package — we wanted to let that play out for this year. But there is certainly dialogue going on within NASCAR and the industry looking at race formats and what may continue to grow the sport.

-- France has been meeting with the owners and teams separately, but is not speaking with the Race Team Alliance — an organization which includes almost every team — as a separate entity.

The RTA was formed last year and has said it wants to help members get better deals on travel and insurance.

"Our position is we hope they achieve their stated goals," France said. "We don't have a lot to do with that. They're on their own timeline with all of that. We're doing what we want to do, which is to get input from everybody so we can make really good decisions."

-- O'Donnell said NASCAR "would not rule out" making its rulebook public for the first time, possibly through an app.​

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck