Brian France was right to bring playoffs to NASCAR
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Spoilers, tension, a sense of urgency. Heroes, villains.
The NASCAR playoffs are playing out with all the drama Brian France envisioned for the elimination-style playoff system he helped launch in 2004.
After multiple tweaks and changes since then, the NASCAR postseason now has what France liked to call “Game 7 moments,” the kind of I-shouldn’t-miss-this attraction for fans that comes with, say, the Final Four, the NFL playoffs or October baseball. This year, this tension has been building since the playoffs began six weeks ago and the elimination race at Kansas Speedway over the weekend, with a wild finish that went into double overtime, did not disappoint.
Chase Elliott basically had to win Sunday to keep his title hopes alive; short of that, he needed a total collapse from someone ahead of him in the standings. Well, he nearly won the race but finished second to Denny Hamlin and still advanced because Brad Keselowski fell apart.
As Elliott was charging to the front of the field, Keselowski was literally falling backward in a fascinating split-screen showcase of the drivers’ push for the final spot in the round of eight.
Neither driver was predicted to be in that position — both Keselowski and Elliott went into the playoffs as legitimate championship contenders — but Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney both
Brad Keselowski (2) pits during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., on Sunday. grabbed slots in the next round and entertainment landscape. with surprise victories. The winand-advance France was correct, even if the model rolled out system was contrived. The sport in 2014 has thrown Larson and needed its version of walk-off home Blaney into the mix and ended a runs or last-second touchdown potential title run for one of the passes to spice up the action. strongest teams from the regular France is now far removed from season. this system and the sport itself,
This is everything France wanted his departure from the family when he first launched the Chase business becoming officially official — what the system was called Friday when NASCAR and in 2004 — and he made major sister company International changes four different times trying Speedway Corp. merged into to get it right even as some one organization with NASCAR longtime fans stopped watching. chairman and CEO Jim France Critics called it a gimmick continuing in the same role. ISC and manufactured drama, and chief executive Lesa France Kennedy grumbled the old season-long was named executive chair title march was the preferred and NASCAR president Steve method to crown a champion. Phelps tabbed president in charge
It has taken all those tweaks of overseeing day-to-day operations and years to settle in to show that of the merged companies. France’s vision was the right one Brian France, who stepped for NASCAR, with its relentless, away as CEO of NASCAR following 10-month season and events that his August 2018 drunken-driving run three-plus hours, to remain arrest, is not named relevant in the fast-changing sports in the new leadership structure.