Is knockout-style Chase format a double-edged sword for NASCAR?

The scuffling and flared tempers at the end of the Charlotte race Saturday night prompted many observers to say that this is exactly what NASCAR wanted with its new format for the 10-race Chase title playoff.

It’s a knockout-style format, with four of the 16 original Chase drivers being eliminated every third race until only four remain in title contention at the season finale.

So small wonder that emotions boiled over for Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and others as the Charlotte race ended because they’re all desperately trying to stay in Chase contention, and that’s the added excitement NASCAR wanted. Or so the thinking goes.

But is the new format a double-edged sword for NASCAR?

When the dust settled at Charlotte (where Kevin Harvick won), three of NASCAR’s most popular drivers -- Dale Earnhardt Jr., six-time champion Jimmie Johnson and Keselowski, also a former champion -- were in danger of being eliminated after the next race.

About the only way those three can advance to the next round is to win this weekend at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, the sixth race in the Chase.

But Talladega is a crapshoot, a high-banked track where the cars travel in massive packs, multicar crashes are the norm and nearly anyone in the 43-car field can win.

If Earnhardt, Johnson and Keselowski don’t win at Talladega and get kicked out of the Chase, will that affect their fans’ interest in the remaining four Chase races?

Only time will tell, of course, and it’s distinctly possible that even if some Earnhardt/Johnson/Keselowski fans tune out because their drivers can’t win the title, the drop would be more than offset by the heightened excitement surrounding what other drivers survive to make the “final four” at the last race at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.

It’s also true that even under the old Chase format, there were years when Earnhardt and other popular drivers were all but eliminated from title contention when the Chase was only half over.

Still, amid lukewarm television ratings for the Chase races so far this year when compared with a year ago, it would seem NASCAR could use every bit of star power possible throughout the remaining Chase races.

Instead, don’t be surprised if much of the coming drama reflects not so much which of NASCAR’s top drivers are still in the Chase, but whether those who remain keep fighting both on the track and afterward in the garage.

Speaking of which, keep your eye on Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford at Talladega. No doubt some other irked drivers certainly will.

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