NASCAR playoff format change was announced Thursday, drastically changing the way the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship will ever be.

A new elimination format was created that first will now allow a NASCAR-high 16 drivers to advance to the Chase. The new change to the playoff format will be that after every three races during the 10-race playoff, four drivers will be eliminated. This means there will only be four eligible at the final race of the season. The first of those four to cross that final finish line will be crowned the new champion.

NASCAR chairman Brian France told reporters Thursday the new playoff format has change and changes has no math and no bonus points and is "simple as it gets."

This will make it tougher for somebody like Jimmy Johnson, who has won six of the last seven Sprint Cups. At his press conference, he admitted that he questioned it a little bit, but that no racer is bigger than the sport.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. even said that all the other professional sports have a playoff-elimination system, so why not NASCAR?

Here are the complete listed of changes with the emphasis on winning, reported by ESPN.com"

"A victory in the first 26 races all but guarantees a berth in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup -- a change that will put an unprecedented importance on winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race all season long;

• Expanding the Chase field from 12 to 16 drivers, with those drivers advancing to what now will be known as the NASCAR Chase Grid;
• The number of championship drivers in contention for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship will decrease after every three Chase races, from 16 to start in the Chase Grid; 12 after Chase race No. 3; eight after Chase race No. 6; and four after Chase race No. 9;
• The first three races of the Chase (27-29) will be known as the Challenger Round; races 30-32 will be known as the Contender Round; races 33-35 will be the Eliminator Round and race No. 36 will be the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship;
• A win by a championship-eligible driver in any Chase race automatically clinches the winning driver a spot in the next Chase round;
• Four drivers will enter the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship with a chance at the title, with the highest finisher among those four capturing the prestigious NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship."