=From Daytona International Speedway:
Vice President Dick Cheney will attend the 48th annual Pepsi 400 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race scheduled for Saturday, July 1, at historic Daytona International Speedway, Daytona International Speedway President Robin Braig announced.
Vice President Cheney will speak to race fans during pre-race ceremonies for the mid-summer classic as well as meet NASCAR drivers, teams and executives during his visit to "The World Center of Racing."
"We're honored that Vice President Cheney will visit Daytona International Speedway and participate in Pepsi 400 pre-race festivities," Braig said. "Vice President Cheney continues the tradition of high-profile elected officials that have visited the 'World Center of Racing'."
In the 1984 Pepsi 400, the late President Ronald Reagan gave the starting command from Air Force One. Reagan, who became the first sitting President to attend a NASCAR race, witnessed Richard Petty earn his 200th NASCAR win.
President George H.W. Bush attended the 1992 Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, and current President George W. Bush served as the Grand Marshal for the Pepsi 400 during his 2000 presidential campaign.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld attended last year's 2005 Pepsi 400.
Info courtesy Jayski's
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Greg Biffle knows firsthand the difference between being in the Chase for the championship and sitting on the sidelines during NASCAR's title hunt.
"If you're not in the Chase, you're a nobody," Biffle said. "Those are kind of harsh words, but that's what everybody wants. You get recognized. They talk about you. You're part of the series. Those 10 drivers are the top level of the sport."
The Chase has raised the interest NASCAR hoped for when it was launched in 2004. Now chairman Brian France wants even more, promising Thursday to tweak the system in 2007.
"What I have always said about the Chase was we needed a few years under our belt to see how it evolved, how it changed the strategy, see how the actual formula we have really works," NASCAR's chairman said Thursday.
"Now we're in our third year, starting to get that sense, and my view is we will make some adjustments going into 2007."
France didn't reveal what specific changes he'll make to the Chase, which uses the first 26 races of the season as a qualifier to set up the title run. The top 10 drivers in the standings automatically make it in, and any drivers within 400 points of the leader also are eligible.
They then compete over the final 10 events to decide the championship.
The first season was a rousing success, with five drivers mathematically eligible to win the title heading into the season finale. The next year lacked the same punch, with Tony Stewart using a dominating run to make the end result anticlimactic.
There were also several flaws in the system.
_Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon, the sport's two biggest stars, both failed to make the Chase last season and left NASCAR without a marquee name during the final 10 events.
_The 400-point mark has yet to come into play, so only 10 drivers have made the Chase each year. The current point standings show that is unlikely to change this season.
_Under the current format, a driver can be eliminated from title contention with one or two poor finishes — particularly at the start of the Chase. It happened to Stewart, Ryan Newman and Jeremy Mayfield in 2004 when they were wrecked in the first Chase race.
France didn't reveal specifics about what he'd like to change in the Chase format. Among the things he said he was considering was increasing the number of guaranteed spots in the Chase, changing the 400-point mark and possibly altering the points structure for the 10 Chase races.
"We'll be looking at nothing new — everything that we'll be looking at has been brought up by various people the last couple of years," France said. "Just various things that we think will build what we're hoping for, which are big moments and a bigger stage for the drivers.
"That's what the Chase has always been about. It's about showcasing their skills."
Despite the lack of details about the changes, drivers were pleased to hear that alterations were coming.
"I still think they could do a bonus for the winners, the top five or 10, spread those points out to where it makes it more important to finish first, second or third rather than finishing 11th or 12th every week," said Gordon, who won four titles under the old format.
But Gordon didn't want wide-ranging changes.
"They don't need to go too far off what they've got," he said. "You start going to things like that and then we're sitting here in a circus."
Car owner Richard Childress, who has two drivers in contention to make the Chase this year, wanted to see a system that included more cars in the hunt. His teams failed to qualify the first two seasons.
"I think what they've got is a pretty good deal, but I think letting 15 cars in would be good," he said. "There should be some sort of system that lets guys in who win a bunch of races or something."
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