By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer with wire reports

As the preparations for the Daytona 500, the first major race of the NASCAR Nextel Cup season, get into full swing, fans and teams alike find themselves at the starting line of a new era for NASCAR.

It's an era of change unlike any NASCAR has seen in its past 28 years - and it's not just the change to the new sponsor and series name, Nextel.

The most talked about shake-up is, of course, the implementation of a sort of 10-race playoff system called the "Chase for the Championship," unveiled Jan. 20 by Brian France, the new NASCAR chairman since September.

The change calls for an adjustment of points of the top 10 drivers after the season's first 26 races, which start Sunday at Daytona. The points of the leader at that time, after the Sept. 11 race in Richmond, will be reset at 5,050, and the rest of the top 10 drivers' totals will follow in five-point increments - so second place would have 5,045, and so on. Any driver within 400 points of the leader will also have their points totals adjusted.

Drivers not in the Chase for the Championship will still compete in the races, but will not be eligible to win the Nextel Cup Series Championship. But the adjustment makes the Championship wide open for any drivers within 400 points at the time.

"Our goal is to create more interest in our sport. Our goal is to make racing better. Our goal is to get more drivers a Championship," France said in a press conference announcing the change. "I will tell you this - and I've talked to almost all our drivers - they want the opportunity, they want the ball in the last two minutes. They want a chance to win. This plan is going to do this."

Perhaps the driving force behind the change was to spice up the NASCAR races in the fall, during which the sport has its highest level of competition from the NFL, Major League Baseball playoffs and college football. While NASCAR president Mike Helton said NASCAR has "more fans than ever before," France also said that ratings numbers were down "a little bit" in the competitive fall period.

The "Chase" has been met with some criticism by drivers and fans, who wonder about the system's fairness, sponsorship ties after the 26th race, the possibility of a favorite driver not in the Chase and how different the results will be with this system. For example, last year's winner, Matt Kenseth, would not have won the championship, and Helton said that "maybe two or three" of the last 10 champions would have been different.

"I'll race with whatever system they use, but my concern is that they have changed something that didn't really need fixing," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said at a recent press conference. "I mean, it's almost a slap at Matt (Kenseth) that he did so well last year and now everyone wants to make a change.

"I wonder about the new system, and whether any championship I win - this year or in the future - will be judged in the same way that my dad's seven championships were judged. I mean, if I win it, will it be judged less worthy? More worthy? I don't know right now."

But France has maintained that he thinks the fans will warm up to the system once they understand all the rules.

And he said that the possible heightened interest will benefit all drivers and sponsors - even the ones not competing for the championship in the end.

NASCAR also made one other change to the points system, awarding an extra five points to the winner of a race to help ensure the winner receives more points than the runner-up in a given race.

Along with the points twists, NASCAR also has been working on technical changes to the cars to help tighten competition. Among the changes are reduced spoiler heights to help make cars less aero-dependant, and Goodyear research on softer tires that will wear faster, so races are decided less by fuel mileage.

While the results and reactions to the changes of the face of NASCAR remain to be seen, there is one organization locally that says, "Shake it all up."

Although most of the new changes won't directly affect Kentucky Speedway, general manager Mark Cassis sees all the change in NASCAR as a positive for his facility, which has been trying to land a Winston/Nextel Cup date since opening in 2000.

"As soon as Brian France sat down in that chair a new era began," Cassis said. "NASCAR has an obligation to Fox and NBC and Nextel and an obligation to the sport to continue to grow, to find new ways to get into new markets."

At a glance

NASCAR has undergone some of its biggest changes in recent history this racing preseason. Here's a look at just some of the differences in its premier racing series:

The name: After 32 years as the Winston Cup sponsored by RJ Reynolds Tobacco, NASCAR's premier series changes its name and sponsor to Nextel.

The points system: The Nextel Cup Series Champion will be decided by a 10-race playoff system, replacing the former 28-year-old system. The top 10 drivers and those within 400 points of the leader will be the only ones in contention for the Championship after the first 26 races of the season.

The points system II: Race winners will earn five extra points.

The fuel: Sunoco becomes the "Official Fuel of NASCAR," replacing Unocal in all three NASCAR series.

The tires: Goodyear has been working to produce softer tires so they will wear faster and races will be decided less by fuel mileage.

The spoiler heights: With the exception of Daytona and Talladega - the Nextel Cup's two restrictor-plate tracks - spoilers have been ordered to be shortened to make cars less aero-dependant.

The provisionals rules: 38 cars (instead of 36) will now make the 43-car fields via qualifying time, and only five (instead of seven) will make it by provisionals, which are qualifying spots used when drivers do not meet a fast enough qualifying time.

And more: Testing regulations and the addition of hand signals for officials are among other minor changes.

---

E-mail ckane@enquirer.com