The latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast provided a glimpse into the NASCAR playoff committee that held its first meeting two weeks ago at Daytona International Speedway.
The panel of more than two dozen members included active and Hall of Fame drivers, series executives and representatives from manufacturers and the media industry.
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Forde said there was no agenda for the opening discussions and described the tenor of the room as civil, educational and wide-ranging.
“You’re looking at about 25 people on the panel from all walks of life, and I was kind of interested to see how it would start,” Forde said. “The first to speak was a retired NASCAR Hall of Famer who had a bunch of very well prepared research, and his idea or pitch was to go back to the 36-race season championship. Others went the opposite direction and said, ‘Well, I like the playoffs. I think that it is important to have eliminations but how will we do it a little bit differently? Is it a seven-race lead-in to a three-race championship?’ That was one idea that was kicked off. And do we reduce the field from 16 drivers to 12 or 10, as we did in prior iterations of the Chase and playoffs?
“So there was a lot discussed. Step one of the meeting was to really just throw ideas out there good or bad. The goal is a playoff system, whether it’s keeping it or changing it, that crowns a deserving champion but also maintains or elevates fan engagement, whether from a digital or social perspective, or butts in the seats and eyeballs on the television. We want the competition for sure, but we want fans to be really engaged as well.”
— NASCAR.com —