iNSIDE SCOOP: Format Worked in 2014

By Ron Lemasters Jr.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Well, the new and improved Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is in the books, and I can say, from someone who has seen every Chase unfold, that it was a smashing success.

When NASCAR went to the elimination-style format last January, it was greeted with some speculation that it was going to bite NASCAR in the posterior, especially if the right four finalists weren't in it to win it at the end.

Phooey.

Yeah, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski weren't in the final group. Nor were Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards or anyone else with a huge fan base. Didn't seem to matter much, did it?

The final four of Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin was quite good enough, and the race they put on over 267 laps last Sunday was one for the ages.

That the race went to a green-white-checkered at the end was sort of expected. It was that kind of season. Newman made the final four with a last-lap Hail Mary at Phoenix, and he nearly pulled it off again on Sunday, losing out to Harvick by a half-second at the checkered.

That Harvick won the race was a secondary point; he was first among the final four to cross the line. Newman, who had not won a race all year, was second, followed by Hamlin and Logano farther back.

Hamlin was the victim of late-race cautions after staying out with 17 laps remaining. Had it gone green all the way, we could have had a different ending. We'll never know, though, and that is what makes it delicious.

When the new format was announced, I immediately thought that a Chase finale without a six-time champ, a four-time champ and sentimental favorite, and the perennial Most Popular Driver would be a disaster.

I was wrong.

It was compelling, full of twists and turns, and ran all the way to the checkered flag.

Hamlin got caught out on older tires. Logano had a jack slip on his final stop and came out 29th. Newman took two on his final stop, and Harvick took four. Perfect strategy from all four contenders set up a clear run to the flag and for the Cup.

Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

Would it have been better to have had Johnson, Gordon and Earnhardt in it at the end? Probably, but I will take what we had Sunday morning: four drivers with a chance, and only one could come out on top.

That would be Harvick, who was consistently the fastest driver all season with the notable exception of the two Team Penske cars. It was a new team, too, the old No. 39 that Newman drove last year, with a new crew chief in Rodney Childers.

That Childers was able to guide Harvick to the title first time out vindicates Tony Stewart's decision to release Newman and install Harvick and Childers for a run at the crown.

Well, that and the fact that Harvick brought Budweiser and other sponsors to the mix.

It validates Newman too, because he went to Richard Childress Racing and nearly toppled his old team in the end.

But most of all, it validated NASCAR's choice to make its title run an elimination format.

That took stones, and to NASCAR's credit, it stuck with it and made it happen.

While I've got you, please join me in thanking Rodney Wise for all his years of service to NASCAR. His last race ended with him waving the checkered over the first elimination Chase winner. He's retiring, along with his wife Janet, who runs NASCAR's garage check-in office. You'll never meet two nicer people, who have given so much to the sport we all love.

Congratulations to Harvick and his team, SHR, and all that made this year's Chase one of the more special in its history.