Jeff Gordon doesn't resent 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase format

Gordon believed second at Phoenix would be enough to secure progression to the four-car battle for the crown at Homestead, but an aggressive pass by Ryan Newman on Kyle Larson rewarded Newman with 11th place, and just enough points to bump Gordon out of the final Chase round.

Newman's presence in the shootout has raised eyebrows as he is win-less in 2014 and the new Chase system was intended to put a stronger emphasis on race victories.

Gordon has four wins through the 2014 season; Newman's best result is a third place.

But although he goes into this weekend unable to finish higher than fifth in the points, Gordon told AUTOSPORT that he considers the new format to be a success.

"I like it," he said. "I think that there are some potential improvements that could be made, but it certainly created a lot of attention, it has made it more dramatic and intense, and I think that was the goal.

"I don't like that we didn't make it in to the final this year, but if we had to do it all over again I think we could be there, now that we know the format and what you've got to do."

GORDON MOOTS CHASE-FOCUSED POINTS

While the four-time Cup champion is a fan of the format, he believes that there is scope for improvement by making Chase contenders less vulnerable to being derailed by non-contending rivals.

"The thing that I've been running through my head - and this wouldn't necessarily have helped us out this year - is that I would really like to see a system where just the cars in the Chase are competing against one another as far as points are concerned," he says.

"I understand that all 43 cars need to be out there, but say you have 16 cars [in the Chase], you have a points system where the worst you can be is 16th in a race and then as they narrow it down it would be eight, then four.

"It's not going to be about leading the most laps, and who is going to have the best average finish over a run. It's who is the absolute best out of those four cars.

"When you are racing against the other competitors that are not in the Chase, they have a lot on the line for themselves as well and that's fine, but if you finish 29th, like we did at Texas, there are other factors that are playing into that rather than just the race that you have going on with the other Chase competitors.

"In the second round that wouldn't have helped us, because of our finish at Talladega [26th] and the finish we had at Kansas [14th].

"But overall I like this format, because as tense as it is and as much as there is on the line, I think that it is the fairest and makes the most sense for all of the competitors, to get the best four teams to that final race."

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