Latest on possible Chase changes

NASCAR is examining several options at altering the Chase format. The options include increasing the number of Chase drivers to 15, turning the 10-race Chase into an elimination tournament, going to some different tracks and creating a separate points system for the Chase drivers separate from the rest of the field. "We're going to make changes in the Chase that we think would serve us well for many, many years," NASCAR chairman Brian France said earlier this year. "If that means it's not something we're reacting to, whether it's lower ratings than we want & we look at these things annually. We looked at it very hard last year & but we didn't think the timing was right. But whatever we do, it will be with the industry having lots of chances to weigh in, and us in the end thinking this is something that we can build around that enhances winning, enhances the championship, gives us more of a playoff field than we currently have now, if that's where we end up."

One proposal that has been suggested by ESPN, which televises the Chase, is an elimination format where drivers are eliminated from contention each week until two remain going into the season finale at Homestead. Whoever finishes highest in that race would be declared the champion.
Another suggestion is the separate point system for the Chase drivers in which they're credited points as if it were a race within a race. That system would keep all 12 Chase drivers in contention as opposed to now when, for all intents and purposes, the last four drivers in this year's Chase are already out of the running after two races Kansas City Star