FYI WIRZ: NASCAR's Joe Gibbs and Brian France Review Chase Elimination

Three Super Bowl rings and three NASCAR Sprint Cup rings are all within the championship world of Joe Gibbs. Coach Gibbs has delivered plenty in the NFL, and in NASCAR, he and his motorsports team have performed significantly as well.

When NASCAR announced an elimination format in January for its Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff, team owner Gibbs was among many others pondering the change. It was obvious that NASCAR wanted to focus on winning, but the implementation of the adjustments had unknown consequences.

Coach Gibbs recently shared his surprise about the unexpected intensity. 

"I think for all of us when we heard that it was so radically different—it was so different that I don’t think we knew what to expect," Gibbs said. "So when we all get in there, we get in the 16. I found out that’s as much pressure as you can get in a three-race playoff." 

Any change any place will often create resistance. That’s human nature. It often takes familiarity with the impact of the changes for people to decide if they support it.

Quite simply, the new Chase had to go through three elimination rounds and to the finale before fans and officials could assess the results. For many fans, it will require even more time and experience. 

Brian France, CEO and chairman of NASCAR, commented on the early impact. 

"Even though the format is relatively simple," France said, "what we're all finding out is the strategies that are associated with competing in this new format are different, and they're unknown and untested."

Gibbs assessed elimination results after experiencing the new format.

"I think it’s put the interest level way up," Gibbs said. "For an owner, it’s a lot of pressure. You go three races, and you’re holding your breath, and then you go three again. It’s a lot to go through. We said it’s going to take wins—it really took being really consistent.”

France emphasized the essence of NASCAR racing that plays well with elimination changes.

"Everybody has got a right to have their own style of driving out there," France said. "If you go through NASCAR's history, that's what we're about. I say it all the time: Late in a race, we expect—there are limits and lines, but we expect tight, tight racing that sometimes will have some contact. It's in our DNA." 

Kevin Harvick, the 2014 NSCS champion, was honest in a recent teleconference.

"It's probably going to end up shortening my career," Harvick said. "It's definitely been probably some of the most stressful 10 weeks I've had to deal with in my racing career just because of the intensity that it's created."

NASCAR and Brian France have to be happy with the results of their new format. They sold out Homestead-Miami Speedway, and the final race was exciting. In time, it’s likely more fans will take to a playoff scheme that will sometimes take out favorite drivers.

The season message for NASCAR on how the elimination experiment functioned, like the final four drivers charging for the last checkered flag of the season, might be described in four words.

The NASCAR DNA worked.

Harvick summed it up well.

"It was very easy to follow, and in the end you knew how those cars finished: That was going to be your champion, and that was going to be your top four in the points," Harvick said. "I think the racing world has enjoyed it, and that's what it's all about in the end."

Credit: Dwight Drum

FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of topics by Dwight Drum at Racetake.com. Unless otherwise noted, information and all quotes were obtained firsthand or from official release materials provided by sanctioned and team representatives.