After watching the end of the first version of the Elimination Chase play out, I was reminded of a conversation I had when the Winston Million was announced back in 1985.
For those who don't remember that, Winston offered up a $1 million bonus to a driver who could win three of the crown jewels: the Daytona 500, first Talladega, Coke 600 and Southern 500 at Darlington.
An official said to me, "the best thing that can happen is if we give it away the first year. That will be proof it can be done." They knew that it would continue to generate tremendous attention in subsequent years, if fans knew it was possible. That first year, Bill Elliott won the million.
This season, we saw what this new Chase format can be. Will it be this riveting every year? Only time will tell. But, because we've seen how exciting it can be, we'll continue to tune in for years to come, because we won't want to miss it if it is.
We now have a sample size of one. As far as I'm concerned the one thing we don't need for the next few years is to change anything about it. That would have the potential to drive away the very folks you may be getting back.