Looks like NASCAR has plunked another event on the calendar the past couple of weekends. Some folks call it the 24 Hours of News Cycle Saturation, others the Market Share 500, but either works for the honchos in Daytona Beach. Long as the TV suits and sponsors are happy, Bill France U. will revise its offerings quicker than a 14-second pit stop.

The teasers and bombshells in question landed one after another in Daytona and Joliet, Ill. -- venues for Tony Stewart fence-climbing and Jeff Gordon spin cycles, respectively.

First, NASCAR alterations manager Brian France announced he was contemplating unspecified changes to the circuit's playoff makeup. Next, Formula One specialist Juan Pablo Montoya revealed he'd make the switch to Nextel Cup in 2007. Finally, Danica Patrick's daddy/manager went public with his wish to shift his daughter from the IndyCar Series to Cup.

My, my. NASCAR is becoming one big tent, and doesn't it just bring tears to your eyes (or dollar signs, whichever come first)? With Montoya and Patrick, NASCAR would boast more glamour than a Milan fashion show, not to mention cover the Latin and Gucci markets. Put Reggie Bush behind the wheel of an 850-horsepower Toyota, and the stockers might even take aim at the NFL.

It was just three years ago that France orchestrated NASCAR's 10-race playoff -- a departure from five decades of determining the circuit's champ over the course of a full season. This artificial sweetener is known as The Chase for Nielsen Points -- a push for viewers and advertising dollars during the organization's annual autumn pursuit of football.

Now, with the ink barely dry in the rule book, France aims to tinker anew. Why the rush? It's all about those remotes, baby. Or, as France so eloquently put it, "We'll have a new television partner in ABC and ESPN coming on board, so the ideal time for us to make adjustments . . . will be in the offseason this year."

Put yourself in ABC/ESPN/Disney's shoes. You're about to shell out bazillions to beam NASCAR into the nation's bars and living rooms -- and you notice how Gordon and Little E. didn't even reach the playoffs last season and how Gordon is precarious this year and the likes of Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards might not make the cut. Think you wouldn't lean on your new partner for a little, umm, adjusting?

So France trumpets expanding the Chase's field beyond 10. The Cowboys didn't make the playoffs -- but the NFL somehow coped. The Red Sox or Yankees might not crash the postseason -- but baseball probably will manage. But here's NASCAR 2½ years into its new look and already proposing cosmetic surgery.

Reactions? Gordon, who could lose out for a second straight year, opposes allowing more than 10 drivers in the playoffs. Dale Earnhardt Jr. stumps for status quo and consistency and said that "to keep tweaking it and keep twisting on it, it's finally going to wear thin on everybody's patience."

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