NASCAR News and Rumors 2016: Chase Format to Be Extended to Xfinity, Truck Series
Unveiled in 2014, the Chase format was an obvious success for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, which is why Brian France, NASCAR's chairman and CEO, announced that the same will be extended to the XFINITY Series and the Camping World Truck Series.
Last year's edition of the Chase was one of the most successful in NASCAR's history, thanks to the highest viewership for a season finale in almost 10 years, not to mention the record-breaking number of page visits in the official website, NASCAR.com.
With this new development, both the XFINITY Series and the Camping World Truck Series will now feature a seven-race Chase, in order to determine the corresponding championships. France, for his part, reiterated the success of the Chase format in NASCAR. "Fans, partners, and the industry have embraced the new Chase format like nothing we've seen in the sport's industry," he said. He added that the excitement they've seen in the past couple of seasons in the Sprint Cup Series is the reason why the Chase format will now by integrated in the three different events.
It is unclear what impact the new format will have on XFINITY and the Camping World Truck, but one thing is for sure — competition will be increase twofold and new drivers will get their equal opportunities to prove themselves and become stars.
In the end, all three events will have a pretty similar conclusion to their respective seasons, with a championship 4 race to be held at Homestead-Miami Speedway for determining the champion. Of course, the events will be held in different tracks. The Sprint Cup Series stays in Chicago, the XFINITY Series in Kentucky, and the Camping World Truck Series in New Hampshire.
As for the drivers, they will have to figure out which series they want to join and earn points. After that, they will be restricted to that particular competition for a championship.