Calling 2004 a year "of remarkable change and success," NASCAR chairman Brian France said he doesn't foresee a whole lot more change for 2005.
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France, finishing his first full season as the man in charge of NASCAR after taking the reins from his father, Bill France Jr., was the architect of the new Chase for the Nextel Cup points system that put its unique stamp on the past season.
Shelving the points system in place since 1975 after years of mostly runaway champions and waning late-season interest by fans, NASCAR split its season into two parts in 2004. The first 26 races determined 10 drivers who would race for the title over the last 10 races in a playoff-style championship format.
"I really liked one particular newspaper headline that said, 'It wasn't broken, but NASCAR fixed it.' That kind of said it all," the younger France noted. "The interest was tremendous, particularly the last few races."
There was some criticism that the new points system did not reward victories enough, with runner-up Jimmie Johnson finishing eight points behind champion Kurt Busch despite winning four of the 10 Chase events and a series-high eight races during the season. Busch won three times, including the first race of the Chase.
"The entire team at NASCAR will review the type of things they think can make it better," France said. "If there was anything, it would only be an adjustment, a small adjustment. I pretty much liked the way things turned out.
"We have momentum this offseason like we've never had before. Ratings were swelling big in the last three or four races, the energy level was so high down in South Florida (for the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway). That's a great thing for us heading into next year."
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CHIEF CHANGE: Steve Addington has been named crew chief on Bobby Labonte's No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet for the 2005 season.
Addington, 40, will work with Labonte after a year as crew chief for JGR's Busch Series entry that was driven by Mike Bliss to fifth place in the season standings. He helped Bliss to his first Busch win and 14 top-10 finishes.
Before working with the Gibbs team, Addington was crew chief for Jason Keller in the Busch Series, first at KEL Racing from 1990-96 and then at PPC Racing from 1999-2003.
Addington becomes only the fourth crew chief in the 13-year history of the No. 18 team. Jimmy Makar served as crew chief for Dale Jarrett (1993-94) and then Labonte (1995-2002) before being promoted to senior vice president of racing operations for JGR. Michael "Fatback" McSwain was crew chief for the 2003 season and 18 races of the 2004 season before Brandon Thomas took over as interim crew chief for the final 18 races of the season. Thomas will continue with JGR in the engineering department.
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GOOD GUY: Team owner Rick Hendrick is the latest winner of the Buddy Shuman Award.
Shuman was a popular NASCAR driver in the early 1950s who died in a hotel fire in 1955. The award has been given annually since 1957, honoring someone from the NASCAR community for contributions to the sport.
Hendrick, a popular figure in the garage area, lost his son, his brother, two nieces and two key team officials among the 10 persons who died in an Oct. 24 crash of a team plane on the way to a race in Virginia.
Hendrick's team has won five Cup championships and fields cars in both the Cup and Busch Series.
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NASCAR HDTV: NBC and Turner Network Television will televise their portion of the 2005 NASCAR schedule in high-definition.
NBC and TNT will televise the second half of the Nextel Cup and Busch Series seasons, beginning with the Daytona races July 1 and 2.
NASCAR in HD debuted on NBC in this year's Daytona 500 on Feb. 15 and on TNT on Sept. 11 for the race at Richmond.
Dick Glover, vice president of broadcasting and new media for NASCAR, said it is a big step for the sanctioning body's TV coverage.
"HD's sharper and more detailed race coverage brings our fans closer to the action than ever and the format's high production values are a true showcase of our sport, sponsors, tracks and partners," Glover said.
