Is Brian France tipping his hand at Chase changes?

The buzz lately has been what will NASCAR Chairman Brian France do to the Chase to create the drama he says the sport needs. His actions in the past might indicate what he'll do even though some driver and fan opinions have been sharp: They don't like some of the ideas being tossed around.

Hmm, it almost sounds like 2004 again when NASCAR created the Chase, determining the champ over 10 races instead of the entire season.

You know that sometimes the past can predict the future. In doing some research for a story, I went back to 2004 and found notes on some things Brian France said before the Chase was announced. Here's some of what he said then and I'll compare it to what he said earlier this month, discussing possible changes for next year's Chase. Think of this as going inside the mind of Brian France to possibly get a sense of what he might do to the Chase.

BRIAN FRANCE in Jan. 2004 (before the Chase was announced):

"I have said all along that if we do something, we're going to do something dramatic because we have a good system. If we can make a good system great, that takes a dramatic move, we'll look at it and we'll do it and we'll announce it shortly.'''

Brian France in July 2010

"We're happy with the Chase. It just means that if we can enhance it in a pretty significant way, we may do that. ... What we're talking about is, you know, enhancing it in a way that will bring out more of the winning moments, the big moments that happen in sports. And if there's a way we can do that, and there are a couple of ways, we're going to give that a lot of weight.''

BRIAN FRANCE in Jan. 2004 (before the Chase was announced)

"What I think is interesting is if more drivers have an opportunity to win a championship every year, that's a great thing. If we put a plan in place that promotes harder racing -- what we do now is we've got a system that's too much balanaced on consistency. We want consistency. We've got a long year. We've got a lot of different tracks. It should play a big role. We think it plays too much of a role, and that's the balance that we're after now. We think that this, whatever new plan we come with, its going to be effective.''

Brian France in July 2010

"We're looking at (the Chase) pretty carefully. The main reason is we want to make sure it's giving us the biggest impact moments it was designed to do. Everything to us means pushing the winning envelope to mean what it needs to mean in our sport.''  

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Here's one area where there seems to have been some change in how Brian France looks at things.

BRIAN FRANCE in Jan. 2004 (before the Chase was announced) when asked if his new idea was like a playoff, he said:

"Certainly it's not a playoff system. No matter what we do, it will not be a playoff format. ... A playoff implies a lot of things, notably best 2-out-of-3, single elimination. We're not talking about something like that.''

Brian France in July 2010 (asked about liking the basic structure of the Chase but might look at additional points for wins):

"Here is the thing, we like a playoff-style format for sure. It distinguishes us in motorsports, number one, distinguishes our national divisions, number two. And, number three, the big design is to have playoff-type moments that can only be, in any sport, created when there's a lot on the line at any one moment, right? That's what the essence of Game 7s, eliminations and all that are.''

"We've always had in motorsports a challenge with that because there's a continuity issue because there's 43 teams. Nobody can win a winner-take-all scenario. And we have to balance sort of the body of what you've done as a driver across the board. So continuity will always be a factor in our playoff-style format.''

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More from Brian France in January 2004 on how he went through the process of deciding on adding the Chase to the sport.

"I, more than anybody, want to reach out where we make big decisions to get input. But you've got to remember the competing interests that everybody has. The drivers, they're all competing with each other, so they have different things when they evaluate a move we make. Sponsors have a competing interest, our television networks. Everybody has. Licensees have a point of view that is selfish to them, and that's the way it should be.

"Somebody has to pull all of that together and say, "OK, we've heard from everybody, but you know what? What's good for everyone? Not just a few people. Everyone." That's what we're supposed to do. That's what race fans want us to do. And we also know that. I'm a huge sports fan on all kinds of sports and when any change is made, I typically go, "Gosh, I wish they wouldn't do that.' It usually works out fairly well. That's a natural reaction to say. Nobody wants their sport that they love to change and go backwards.''

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