NASCAR Chairman Brian France was a guest on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Tuesday, December 9th with SiriusXM Speedway hosts Dave Moody and Angie Skinner. One question concerned the 2015 Chase rules:
Dave Moody: ‘Do you anticipate any changes or tweaks or massaging of the Chase format for next year?’
Brian France: ‘No, I don’t. We’re obviously pleased with everything. And there may be some adjustments down the road. They’ll be very small. Nothing, for ’15, nothing anybody would notice. But if we can make an already great thing better we will always look at that but we are very content that we have the right positioning of elevating the drivers to have moments as I just described, and then also balancing this whole thing in auto racing, which is very difficult to balance, which is how do you balance winning and consistency? And they don’t necessarily always go together. And how do you have any kind of a championship run that represents that? I think we’ve done the best job that we think we can do to balance that.’
In the interview (which lasted about 15 minutes) France also talks about;
– The elevation of competition.
– Kevin Harvick pulled him aside in Las Vegas and said he wasn’t a big fan of the new format when it was announced but once they got into it, it made them dig up talent and effort they never thought possible.
– The prospect of having a winless champion. Would not have bothered them at all if Newman won.
– Truck and Xfinity series formats – Will look at it in offseason. Doesn’t anticipate a big change.
– Bubba Wallace – As puzzled as anybody else that he has trouble attracting sponsorships, tells you the market is difficult. What NASCAR does to help.
– Drop in gas prices is a welcomed development, hopes it stays that way.
– Building on the momentum for 2015.(link to interview at SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)(12-10-2014)
