BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Fort Worth, Texas — NASCAR will not adopt a separate points system for the drivers in the Chase for the Nextel Cup next year, according to Chairman Brian France, who was on hand Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the Dickies 500.

What is likely to change, France said, is the 400-point threshold for drivers outside The Chase being eligible for it. And he said NASCAR is on its timetable to re-evaluate The Chase after the completion of its third running.

“Listen, if you look at history in sports, playoff formats are adjusted quite a bit over many years,” France said. Teams are added, conferences are changed around, teams are moved in and out. It all affects who makes the playoffs. Baseball went to another round of playoffs. Lots of changes happen. It should not be looked at as unexpected [in NASCAR].

“Right now, we have a good [points] battle. That’s why we never said we were going to do a big change. We just said we were going to look after three years—it was enough time to look at how three years had unfolded and see if there were any adjustments we could make to the format.”