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147-669: The NASCAR playoffs, formerly officially known as the Chase for the Nextel/Sprint Cup ( Nextel from 2004–2007, Sprint from 2008–2016), is a championship playoff system used in NASCAR 's three national series. The system was founded as The Chase for the Championship on January 21, 2004, and was used exclusively in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2004 to 2015. Since 2016, NASCAR has also used

294-793: A merger agreement in 1979 that saw the WHA cease operations while the NHL absorbed the Winnipeg Jets, the Edmonton Oilers , the Hartford Whalers , and the Quebec Nordiques . The owners initially rejected this merger agreement by one vote, but a massive boycott of Molson Brewery products by Canadian fans resulted in the Montreal Canadiens, which was owned by Molson, reversing its position, along with

441-607: A new team in Salt Lake City , Utah . Two months after Utah's foundation, the Coyotes ceased their efforts to re-activate within the five-year window granted to do so, bringing the NHL back to 32 franchises. There have been four league-wide work stoppages in NHL history, all occurring after 1992 . The first was an April 1992 strike by the National Hockey League Players' Association , which lasted for ten days but

588-466: A pulled goaltender ). Since 2013, the league has used hybrid icing , where a linesman stops play due to icing if a defending player (other than the goaltender) crosses the imaginary line that connects the two face-off dots in their defensive zone before an attacking player is able to. This was done to counter a trend of player injury in races to the puck. Fighting in the NHL leads to major penalties while IIHF rules, and most amateur rules, call for

735-471: A time-division multiple access (TDMA) technology. Some of the special features the company utilized included its push-to-talk feature, which simulated the half-duplex operation of a two-way radio. Nextel was one of the few carriers to have adopted iDEN around the world, although the technology has gained traction through NII Holdings in Latin American countries. iDEN (Motorola) is also utilized in

882-456: A bruised ankle, Team USA's Kendall Coyne Schofield competed in the Fastest Skater competition in his place, becoming the first woman to officially compete in the NHL's All-Star festivities. The attention led the NHL to include a 3-on-3 women's game before the 2020 All-Star Game . Rheaume returned to perform as a goaltender for the 2022 NHL All-Star Game 's Breakaway Challenge. From

1029-516: A caution. After the race, rumors abounded that Bowyer had deliberately forced a caution in an attempt to manipulate the finish of the race so as to help his Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) teammate Martin Truex Jr. clinch the second of the two wild card spots ( Kasey Kahne had already clinched the first spot) over Ryan Newman , who had been leading at the moment of caution. That Bowyer's spin had been deliberate had been further suggested by several things:

1176-503: A feature on some of their phones, marketed as DirectTalk . The technology uses the 900 MHz ISM band and provides ten FHSS channels for an off-network push to talk communications between individual phones that are not necessarily in range of wireless towers. In 2003, prior to its merger with Sprint, Nextel had announced plans for its next generation 3G network. It was reportedly to use an extension to iDEN called WiDEN , developed by Motorola. Nextel upgraded their network to support

1323-496: A few changes were added to the design touches on the cars involved in the playoffs. For the 2018 season , NASCAR collaborated with the Race Team Alliance and Twitter to unveil customized hashtags and emojis for the top 16 drivers entering the playoffs. Each driver will have their hashtag and emoji displayed on the sides of their cars until they are eliminated from contention. Non-playoff drivers can have their hashtags and

1470-465: A greater emphasis on winning races. Winning is what this sport is all about. Nobody likes to see drivers content to finish in the top 10. We want our sport – especially during the Chase ;– to be more about winning." The chase format was again modified for the 2011 season, as was the point system for winnings. After 26 "regular season" races, the top 10 drivers, as determined by points accumulated during

1617-572: A large customer base. Nextel was the first company to implement a nationwide push-to-talk system similar to a walkie-talkie, marketed as DirectConnect. Unlike other cellular networks, the Nextel network operated in the Specialized Mobile Radio band, and Nextel was one of the first providers in the United States to offer a national digital cellular coverage footprint. The company was the first in

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1764-500: A legal battle in June 2003 over Verizon's advertising for their push-to-talk feature. The companies reached a settlement in early 2004. Initial advertising for Verizon's service was heavy, but it became almost nonexistent fairly quickly, possibly due to poor reviews of the service. The push-to-talk feature, with which Nextel has gained popularity, was made interoperable with the QChat technology on

1911-426: A major issue in the NHL, with concussions resulting from a hard hit to the head being the primary concern. Recent studies have shown how the consequences of concussions can last beyond player retirement. This has significant effects on the league, as elite players have suffered from the aftereffects of concussions (such as Sidney Crosby being sidelined for approximately ten and a half months), which adversely affects

2058-592: A player safety lawsuit. From 1952 to 1955, Marguerite Norris served as president of the Detroit Red Wings , being the first female NHL executive and the first woman to have her name engraved on the Stanley Cup. In 1992, Manon Rhéaume became the first woman to play a game in any of the major professional North American sports leagues, as a goaltender for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a preseason game against

2205-537: A preseason consisting of six to eight exhibition games . Split squad games, in which parts of a team's regular season roster play separate games on the same day, are occasionally played during the preseason. During the regular season, clubs play each other in a predefined schedule. Since 2021, in the regular season, all teams play 82 games: 41 games each of home and road, playing 26 games in their own geographic division—four against five of their seven other divisional opponents, plus three against two others; 24 games against

2352-467: A result of Kenseth's championship in 2003, the year prior to NASCAR adopting the playoff system. In 2003, Kenseth won the championship with just one race win (the third race of the year, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ) along with 25 top-ten finishes with him leading the championship for 33 races throughout the season, while also being perceived as having a clean, unexciting and boring personality around this time. Ryan Newman won eight races that year (22% of

2499-526: A result of these efforts, and what was reported to be a strong focus on customer satisfaction across the organization, Nextel was known for industry-leading customer retention rates, average revenue per user , and customer lifetime value . Nextel had long worked closely with a single vendor, Motorola , on both equipment and standards. The close relationship had yielded the Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) protocol, which uses

2646-408: A second positive test, and a lifetime suspension for a third positive test. At the end of regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the game. If a game is tied after regulation time, overtime ensues. During the regular season, overtime is a five-minute, three-on-three sudden-death period, in which whoever scores a goal first wins the game. If the game is still tied at the end of overtime,

2793-496: A significant investor in the company. Other early investors and employees include Mark Warner , now a United States Senator from Virginia, and Jack Markell , the former Governor of Delaware. The founders chose the name "FleetCall" because the company's network used the 800 MHz Specialized Mobile Radio frequencies designated by the Federal Communications Commission for use in fleet dispatch. The core of

2940-541: A spectrum auction. On June 19, 2003, Nextel and NASCAR announced a sponsorship agreement to rename NASCAR's top racing series to the Nextel Cup Series beginning in 2004. Nextel replaced R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company cigarette brand Winston after it spent 33 seasons being NASCAR's Cup Series title sponsor. In 2008, however, the series was renamed the Sprint Cup Series due to Sprint Nextel's plan to phase out

3087-406: A spot in the next round. Up to three drivers thus could advance to the next round of the chase through race wins, regardless of their actual points position after the final (third) race in that round. The remaining drivers to advance was determined by points. The round names were removed starting in 2016, being changed to "Round of 16,” "Round of 12,” "Round of 8,” and "Championship 4." To identify

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3234-436: A substantial schedule realignment , a number of further changes occurred in the chase: In 2012: In 2013: In 2015: In 2017: In 2018, as part of a substantial schedule realignment , a number of further changes occurred in the playoffs: In 2020, as part of a substantial schedule realignment: In 2021: In 2022: In 2024, as part of a substantial schedule realignment: In 2025: On January 19, 2016, NASCAR announced

3381-696: A success and drivers from the series began looking at NASCAR rides. The idea was to give NASCAR, which was becoming in many areas the fourth-largest sport (after Major League Baseball , the NFL, the NBA and surpassing in some regions the NHL ) attention during baseball's road to the World Series and the outset of the pro and college football, NHL, and NBA seasons. The playoff system has been referred to as "the Matt Kenseth Rule" as

3528-399: Is awarded one point. Shootout goals and saves are not tracked in hockey statistics; shootout statistics are tracked separately. There are no shootouts during the playoffs . Instead, multiple sudden-death, 20-minute five-on-five periods are played until one team scores. Two games have reached six overtime periods, but none have gone beyond six. During playoff overtime periods, the only break

3675-668: Is to clean the loose ice at the first stoppage after the period is halfway finished. The National Hockey League season is divided into a preseason (September and early October), a regular season (from early October through early to mid-April) and a postseason (the Stanley Cup playoffs ). Teams usually hold a summer showcase for prospects in July and participate in prospect tournaments, full games that do not feature any veterans, in September. Full training camps begin in mid-to-late September, including

3822-783: The 1942–43 season , the NHL was reduced to six teams: the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Black Hawks, the Detroit Red Wings, the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Rangers, and the Toronto Maple Leafs, a line-up, often referred to as the " Original Six ", that would remain constant for the next 25 years. In 1947, the league reached an agreement with the Stanley Cup trustees to take full control of the trophy, allowing it to reject challenges from other leagues that wished to play for

3969-973: The 1967–68 season , adding the Los Angeles Kings , the Minnesota North Stars , the Philadelphia Flyers , the Pittsburgh Penguins , the California Seals , and the St. Louis Blues . However, Canadian fans were outraged that all six teams were placed in the United States, so the league responded by adding the Vancouver Canucks in 1970 , along with the Buffalo Sabres , both located on the Canada–United States border . Two years later,

4116-648: The 2000–01 season , when the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets joined the league as expansion teams, until 2017. That expansion capped a period in the 1990s of rapid expansion and relocation, when the NHL added nine teams to grow from 21 to 30 teams, and relocated four teams mostly from smaller, northern cities to larger, more southern metropolitan areas ( Minneapolis to Dallas , Quebec City to Denver , Winnipeg to Phoenix , and Hartford to Raleigh ). The league has not contracted any teams since

4263-451: The 2013 NHL Winter Classic and the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend . On January 6, a tentative agreement was reached on a 10-year deal. On January 12, the league and the Players' Association signed a memorandum of understanding on the new deal, allowing teams to begin their training camps the next day, with a shortened 48-game season schedule that began on January 19. Player safety has become

4410-758: The 2017–18 season to the 2019–20 season , the NHL consisted of 31 teams—24 based in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL divided the 31 teams into two conferences: the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference . Each conference was split into two divisions : the Eastern Conference contained 16 teams (eight per division), while the Western Conference had 15 teams (seven in the Central and eight in

4557-747: The 2023–24 season . The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) also views the Stanley Cup as one of the "most important championships available to the sport". The NHL is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan . The National Hockey League was organized at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal on November 26, 1917, after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the National Hockey Association (NHA), which had been founded in 1909 at Renfrew, Ontario . The NHL immediately took

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4704-476: The Boost Mobile brand. In late 2010, Sprint Nextel announced plans to decommission the Nextel iDEN network; on May 30, 2012, Sprint Nextel announced that it would shut down the Nextel network as early as June 2013. The Nextel network was officially shut down at 12:01am on June 30, 2013, and Sprint began the process of deploying LTE equipment on the 800 MHz spectrum formerly used by the iDEN network. Before

4851-787: The Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League and the Les Canadiennes of the Canadian Women's Hockey League , as part of the 2016 NHL Winter Classic weekend festivities. In 2019, the NHL invited four women from the US and Canadian Olympic teams to demonstrate the events in All-Star skills competition before the All-Star Game . Due to Nathan MacKinnon choosing not to participate following

4998-696: The Cleveland Barons were merged into the Minnesota North Stars in 1978. The league expanded for the first time in 17 years to 31 teams with the addition of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, then to 32 with the addition of the Seattle Kraken in 2021. In April 2024, a new expansion team in Utah was created, after Alex Meruelo sold the hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes to Ryan Smith , owner of

5145-720: The Columbus Blue Jackets . Also, in the mid to late 1990s, the Quebec Nordiques, original Winnipeg Jets, and Hartford Whalers relocated to Denver, Phoenix, and Raleigh. In 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg, and the Winnipeg Jets were revived. On July 21, 2015, the NHL confirmed that it had received applications from prospective ownership groups in Quebec City and Las Vegas for possible expansion teams, and on June 22, 2016, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced

5292-416: The NASCAR numerical scoring system that was also implemented for the 2004 season, which increased the points awarded to race winners, thus emphasizing winning more and consistency less than in previous years. However, the coincidence of new playoff system in 2004 and Kenseth's 2003 championship led to the issues being linked, including by NASCAR officials in interviews and press releases. The playoffs system

5439-595: The Quebec Bulldogs to hold a meeting to discuss the league's future. Realizing the NHA constitution left them unable to force Livingstone out, the four teams voted instead to suspend the NHA, and, on November 26, 1917, formed the National Hockey League. Frank Calder was chosen as the NHL's first president, serving until his death in 1943. The Bulldogs were unable to play in the NHL, and the remaining owners founded

5586-406: The St. Louis Blues , stopping seven of nine shots. In 2016, Dawn Braid was hired as the Arizona Coyotes ' skating coach, making her the first female full-time coach in the NHL. The first female referees in the NHL were hired in a test-run during the league's preseason prospect tournaments in September 2019. In 2016, the NHL hosted the 2016 Outdoor Women's Classic , an exhibition game between

5733-682: The Toronto Arenas to compete with the Canadiens, Wanderers and Senators. The first games were played on December 19, 1917. The Montreal Arena burned down in January 1918, causing the Wanderers to cease operations, and the NHL continued on as a three-team league until the Bulldogs returned in 1919. The NHL replaced the NHA as one of the leagues that competed for the Stanley Cup, an interleague competition at

5880-605: The Utah Jazz . Meruelo was granted until 2029 to secure an arena in Arizona in order to re-activate the team, bringing the total number of franchises in the NHL up to 33; however, these efforts were abandoned two months later, leaving the NHL at 32 franchises once again. According to Forbes , in 2023, the top five most valuable teams were four of the " Original Six " teams and the Los Angeles Kings: The remaining members of

6027-672: The WiDEN packet data protocol, increasing data speeds up to 90 kbit/s. The Motorola i850, i860 , i870 , and i880 were the only phones to support WiDEN without modification. In October 2005, in order to free up network capacity for cellular calls due to rebanding, Sprint removed the ability to connect to the WiDEN service from all Nextel towers. Following the completion of the Sprint-Nextel merger on August 12, 2005, future plans for Nextel included migrating customers to Sprint's CDMA network. After

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6174-455: The 10 races to ESPN. In 2015 coverage returned to NBC with some races airing on NBCSN. The current version of the playoff system was announced by NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France on January 23, 2017. The current format is the fifth since it was introduced for the 2004 season, with significant changes made in both 2007 and 2011. The 2017 change is the 15th time since 1949 that the point system had been changed, these latest changes affect both

6321-531: The 10-race chase was the NASCAR Cup Series champion. The chase field consisted of 12 drivers from 2007 through 2012. An exception to this rule was in 2013, where the chase field was expanded to 13 drivers for that season only as the result of a match fixing scandal. With seven laps remaining in the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway , Clint Bowyer went into a spin, forcing

6468-404: The 36 races run in 2003), but failed to finish several races due to crashes and ended the season sixth in the drivers' championship. NASCAR indicated that the 2003 championship outcome was not the driving factor in establishing the playoffs, as they had been considering adjustments to the points system to put more emphasis on winning races since 2000. "The Matt Kenseth Rule" more properly refers to

6615-423: The 800 MHz band. Nextel (Sprint) paid for much of the cost of this reconfiguration, but in compensation for lost 800 MHz spectrum, the company received spectrum in the 2 GHz band at 1910–1915/1990–1995 MHz. This spectrum was located near the existing Sprint PCS allocations and can be used to expand the number of channels available for that service, without needing to bid for additional capacity in

6762-412: The 800-MHz Specialized Mobile Radio band and used iDEN technology developed by Motorola. Nextel's iDEN network offered a then unique push-to-talk "walkie-talkie" feature in addition to direct-dialed voice calls. Nextel was one of the first providers in the United States to offer a national digital cellular coverage footprint. Prior to merging with Sprint Corporation in 2005, Nextel Communications, Inc.

6909-428: The 854-862 MHz spectrum. 860-861 MHz is designated as an "Expansion Band", and 861-862 MHz is designated as a "Guard Band". No licensees other than ESMR are required to relocate to channels above 860 MHz. The use of contiguous spectrum allows for simple filters to be installed to protect public safety radio systems from interference, which is currently impossible under the existing mixed allocations in

7056-456: The 861-866 MHz range, and public safety organizations had exclusive use of the 866-869 MHz range. During the rebanding process, the following occurred: After rebanding, public safety organizations and critical infrastructure institutions obtained the exclusive use of 851-854 MHz. ESMR systems (primarily Nextel) were given exclusive use of 862-869 MHz range, and public safety, business/industrial users, and low-power SMRs shared

7203-469: The Chicago Black Hawks' Bobby Hull , who signed a 10-year, $ 2.5 million contract with the Winnipeg Jets , then the largest in hockey history. The league attempted to block the defections in court, but a counter-suit by the WHA led to a Philadelphia judge ruling the NHL's reserve clause to be illegal, thus eliminating the elder league's monopoly over the players. Seven years of battling for players and markets financially damaged both leagues, leading to

7350-400: The Cup champion was sometimes determined mathematically prior to the season finale, a situation that continued to exist in the lower-tier series, the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series , until they received their own playoff formats in 2016. By resetting and compressing the scoring of the top 10 (later 12, then 16) drivers, the chances of each of those drivers winning the championship

7497-415: The Cup. In 1945, Maurice "Rocket" Richard became the first player to score 50 goals , doing so in a 50-game season . Richard later led the Canadiens to five consecutive titles between 1956 and 1960, a record no team has matched. In 1948, Asian Canadian Larry Kwong became the first Asian player in the NHL by playing for the New York Rangers. In 1958, Willie O'Ree became the first black player in

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7644-501: The NHA's place as one of the leagues that contested for the Stanley Cup in an annual interleague competition before a series of league mergers and foldings left the NHL as the only league competing for the Stanley Cup in 1926. At its inception, the NHL had four teams, all in Canada, thus the adjective "National" in the league's name. The league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since consisted of both American and Canadian teams. From 1942 to 1967,

7791-417: The NHL adopted the existing NHA set of rules. The NHL's rules are the basis for rules governing most professional and major junior ice hockey leagues in North America. The NHL hockey rink is 200 by 85 feet (60.96 m × 25.91 m), approximately the same length but much narrower than IIHF standards. A trapezoidal area appears behind each goal net. The goaltender can play the puck only within

7938-451: The NHL had only six teams, collectively nicknamed the " Original Six ". The league added six new teams to double its size as a result of the 1967 NHL expansion , then increased to 18 teams by 1974, and to 21 teams due to the 1979 NHL expansion . Between 1991 and 2000, the NHL further expanded to 30 teams. It added its 31st and 32nd teams in 2017 and 2021, respectively. Salt Lake City was awarded an expansion franchise in 2024 as it acquired

8085-428: The NHL. The Hamilton Tigers won the regular season title in 1924–25 , but refused to play in the championship series unless they were given a C$ 200 bonus. The league refused and declared the Canadiens the league champion after they defeated the Toronto St. Patricks (formerly the Arenas) in the semi-final. Montreal was then defeated by the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) in 1925 . It

8232-474: The National Hockey League. In this context, each team is a member of the league, and each member appoints a Governor (usually the owner of the club), and two alternates to the Board. The current chairman of the Board is Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs . The Board of Governors exists to establish the policies of the league and to uphold its constitution. Some of the responsibilities of the Board of Governors include: The Board of Governors meets twice per year, in

8379-470: The Nextel brand name; the name lasted until the end of the 2016 season. Nextel was also a major sponsor of the now defunct ChampCar team PacWest Racing , which was owned by Craig McCaw 's brother Bruce. National Hockey League The National Hockey League ( NHL ); French : Ligue nationale de hockey [liɡ nɑsjɔnal də ɔkɛ] ( LNH ), is a professional ice hockey league in North America consisting of 32 teams – 25 in

8526-420: The Original Six, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings , respectively ranked sixth at US$ 1.87 billion and hypothetically 12th at US$ 1.3 billion. Compared with 2022, the Maple Leafs surpassed the Rangers as the most valuable NHL team, and Los Angeles overtook both Chicago and Boston, making its way into the top five. Notes: The Board of Governors is the ruling and governing body of

8673-406: The Pacific). The league temporarily realigned for the 2020–21 season but returned to the previous alignment the following year. With the addition of the Seattle Kraken in 2021–22 to the Pacific Division and the Arizona Coyotes' move from the Pacific to the Central, all four divisions now have eight teams each and both conferences have 16 teams. The number of NHL teams held constant at 30 teams from

8820-418: The Southeast of the United States by SouthernLINC Wireless and in Canada by Telus Mobility under the Mike Mobile brand. Nextel gained a significant marketing and technological advantage through its push-to-talk technology. In 2003, Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS each launched push-to-talk features, with Cingular following in 2005. None have gained significant traction. Nextel and Verizon had entered

8967-399: The Sprint network in 2008. Sprint had originally launched its own push-to-talk service, known as ReadyLink , which is based on SIP . Due to the difference in technology, users of the ReadyLink service were never able to make or receive push-to-talk calls with users of the iDEN technology. By 2009, Sprint began phasing out QChat to again focus on marketing iDEN devices. Nextel also offers

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9114-414: The Truck playoffs, there are only eight drivers eligible for the title. At both elimination races, the bottom two drivers in the playoffs standings are eliminated from contention; However, on January 21, 2020, NASCAR announced that the playoff field for the truck series would expand from eight drivers to ten drivers with the bottom two being eliminated after the round of 10 and the bottom four eliminated after

9261-414: The Twitter logo displayed on their cars. This was in effect until the fall Kansas race . From the fall Martinsville race to the fall Phoenix race , all hashtag and emoji labels were replaced with the NBC logo. At the season-ending Homestead race , all cars featured Snapcodes as part of a partnership with Snapchat . The visual, social-media oriented gimmicks above were discontinued for 2019. For 2020,

9408-402: The United States and 7 in Canada. The Stanley Cup , the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered to be the top-ranked professional ice hockey league in the world, with players from 17 countries as of

9555-513: The United States to integrate global positioning system features into their phones and to complete their 2G network upgrade. Nextel was also an industry leader in customer lifecycle management . They invested significantly in analytics capability, which allowed them to surpass their competitors in handling customer concerns effectively. The company also developed capabilities allowing it to assess and review customer relationship values objectively and to project and respond to customer loyalty . As

9702-570: The Vancouver Canucks. In a second vote, the plan was approved. Wayne Gretzky played one season in the WHA for the Indianapolis Racers (eight games) and the Edmonton Oilers (72 games) before the Oilers joined the NHL for the 1979–80 season . Gretzky went on to lead the Oilers to win four Stanley Cup championships in 1984 , 1985 , 1987 and 1988 , and set single-season records for goals (92 in 1981–82 ), assists (163 in 1985–86 ) and points (215 in 1985–86), as well as career records for goals (894), assists (1,963) and points (2,857). In 1988, he

9849-480: The acquisition by T-Mobile US , Sprint Corporation continued to offer pre-paid services under the Boost Mobile brand and also offered push-to-talk services as Sprint Direct Connect using CDMA equipment. Telecommunication lawyers Morgan E. O'Brien and Chris Rogers and investment bankers Brian McAuley and Peter Reinheimer founded FleetCall in 1987. FleetCall changed its name to Nextel Communications in 1993. In 1995, wireless industry pioneer Craig McCaw became

9996-419: The addition of Gordon on September 13. NASCAR chairman Brian France has always had the power to expand the chase field in exceptional circumstances, and decided to invoke it in this case. In France's view, Gordon had been put at an "unfair disadvantage" due to Penske and Front Row's collusion, as well as MWR's improper instructions to have Vickers pit. Had this not happened, France said, Gordon would have been in

10143-414: The addition of a 31st franchise, based in Las Vegas and later named the Vegas Golden Knights , into the NHL for the 2017–18 season . On December 4, 2018, the league announced a 32nd franchise in Seattle , later named the Seattle Kraken , which joined in the 2021–22 season . On April 18, 2024, the Arizona Coyotes suspended operations and sold their hockey assets, including players and other personnel, to

10290-427: The assets of the Hamilton Tigers, and they were joined by the Pittsburgh Pirates . The New York Rangers were added in 1926, and the Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars (later the Red Wings) were added after the league purchased the assets of the defunct WCHL. A group purchased the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927 and immediately renamed them the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 1926, Native American Taffy Abel became

10437-428: The banners of drivers in the playoffs read "Playoffs" instead of "Cup Series,” while in 2021 playoff drivers have yellow windshield banners and rear spoilers. In 2022, with the introduction of the Next Gen car, NASCAR added a clause that reserved their right to ban drivers/teams from competing in the playoffs if NASCAR found an L3 violation on their car during any pre-race or post-race inspection. For 2023, NASCAR removed

10584-496: The business model was to buy these fleet dispatch frequencies from existing operators at a substantial discount when compared to the cost for the equivalent bandwidth available via auction from the Federal Communications Commission. These "non-cellular" frequencies were made usable for a consumer and business wireless voice telephone service with the iDEN technology developed by Motorola , which some observers at

10731-400: The championship contention will be combined with the score after the third race of the first round for the driver's total score. After ten races, the drivers positions 5–16 will be determined by the total number of points accumulated in the ten races (bonus points will apply), without the points resets of the second or third rounds, added to the driver's base Chase score with bonuses added. In

10878-528: The championship, for winning stages and winning races. If a driver qualifies for the championship, these playoff points will be added into their point totals after the resets for the first 3 rounds (round of 16, round of 12, round of 8). For the Championship 4 (final race), there are no bonus points involved, and the highest finishing driver of the 4 is declared the champion. This means a driver can have less regular season points than another driver, but be seeded higher due to more wins. Adopted from 2014 onwards, on

11025-423: The chase by taking the last lock-in position, while Logano would have received one Wild Card position due to him being ahead of Truex and Newman in points, and Kasey Kahne would have taken the other Wild Card regardless of the race outcome as he had two wins entering Richmond. On January 30, 2014, a new chase system resembling the playoff systems used in other major league sports was announced at Media Day. Under

11172-417: The contract expired, league commissioner Gary Bettman announced a lockout of the players union and closed the league's head office for the 2004–05 season . The league vowed to install what it dubbed "cost certainty" for its teams, but the Players' Association countered that the move was little more than a euphemism for a salary cap , which the union initially said it would not accept. The lockout shut down

11319-414: The cut after this round have their score reset to the score at the end of the first cut, plus total points accumulated in the six previous races. Of these four drivers who made this cut, the driver with the best absolute finish (no bonus points are involved) at Homestead was then crowned the season champion. Under this system, any chase driver who won a race during a playoff round is automatically guaranteed

11466-467: The drivers within the 43-car field that were still involved in each round of the chase, NASCAR designated various cosmetic changes in 2014: for these drivers, their cars' roof numbers, windshield header, front splitters , and fascia are colored yellow, and the chase logo appears on the front quarter panel. The previous championship format, renamed NASCAR Playoffs , was maintained for the 2017 season, but with changes. A revised regular-season points system

11613-401: The eight remaining non-divisional intra-conference opponents—three games against every team in the other division of its conference; and 32 against every team in the other conference twice—home and road. The league's regular season standings are based on a point system. Two points are awarded for a win, one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation. At

11760-417: The ejection of fighting players. Usually, a penalized team cannot replace a player that is penalized on the ice and is thus short-handed for the duration of the penalty, but if the penalties are coincidental, for example when two players fight, both teams remain at full strength. Also, unlike minor penalties, major penalties must be served to their full completion, regardless of number of goals scored during

11907-648: The emergence of the newly founded World Hockey Association (WHA) led the league to add the New York Islanders and the Atlanta Flames to keep the rival league out of those markets. In 1974, the Washington Capitals and the Kansas City Scouts were added, bringing the league up to 18 teams. The NHL fought the WHA for players, losing 67 to the new league in its first season of 1972–73 , including

12054-420: The end of the regular season: 1st place in regular season points earns 15 playoff bonus points in addition to the points earned with race or stage wins; 2nd place earns 10 playoff points, 3rd place: 8, 4th place: 7, 5th place: 6, 6th place: 5, 7th place: 4, 8th place: 3, 9th place: 2, and 10th place: 1. Playoff points are also awarded in each playoff race, except the final race, for those drivers still competing for

12201-489: The entire field. Additionally, "playoff points" are awarded during the regular season for winning stages, winning races, and finishing the regular season in the top 16 on the championship points standings. 1 playoff point for the winner of a stage, 5 playoff points plus an automatic berth into the round of 16 for the race winner. (In case there are more than 16 race winners in the season, then the top 16 in race wins move on). Also, more bonus points for Top-10 in points standings at

12348-816: The entry-level racer. In 2001, the United Speed Alliance Racing organization, sanctioning body of the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series , a short-track stock car touring series, devised a five-race system where the top teams in their Hooters ProCup North and Hooters ProCup South divisions would participate in a five-race playoff, the Four Champions, named for the four Hooters Racing staff members (including 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion and pilot Alan Kulwicki ) killed in an April 1, 1993 plane crash in Blountville, Tennessee. The system organized

12495-531: The exception of the final round where the Cup Series champion is decided). The Xfinity Series Playoff format is competed over seven races with twelve drivers and three rounds with four drivers also being eliminated each round (with the exception of the final round where the Xfinity series champion is decided). The Truck Series Playoff also is seven races long, but only includes ten drivers with 2 drivers being eliminated in

12642-416: The final race, unlike the four championship contenders who cannot score bonus points (the winner is determined by the driver who finished the best of those four), both non-playoff and playoff drivers eliminated from the championship are eligible to score all bonus points, so drivers who are contending for positions 5-16 will compete solely against each other. The previous championship format is maintained, but

12789-416: The first cut, while the remaining 12 chase drivers' points are reset to 3,000 points. After three more races, the cut line eliminated the bottom four winless drivers after the sixth chase race (Talladega) in the "Contender Round,” reducing the size of the field another 33%. Drivers who missed the second cut had their points reset to their score at the end of the first cut, plus the combined points accumulated in

12936-415: The first non-white player in the NHL and broke the league's colour barrier by playing for the New York Rangers. In 1934, the first NHL All-Star Game was held, to benefit Ace Bailey , whose career ended on a vicious hit by Eddie Shore . The second was held in 1937, in support of Howie Morenz 's family when he died of a coronary embolism after breaking his leg during a game. The Great Depression and

13083-462: The first round and 4 drivers being eliminated in the second round and the champion being decided in the third and final round. In 2017, the Chase was rebranded as the "playoffs.” In 2018, NASCAR began awarding a regular season championship for the driver with the most points heading into the playoffs in all three series and grandfathered 2017 as the first time the regular season championship was awarded into

13230-431: The first was radio communications on Brian Vickers ' team with his spotter, MWR general manager Ty Norris , telling him to pit under green on the restart, and that the audio on Bowyer's radio showed crew chief Brian Pattie pointing out Newman taking the lead and then asking a suspicious string of questions mere seconds before Bowyer spun. Furthermore, when interviewed by Dr. Jerry Punch post-race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. , who

13377-415: The fourth race the same score after the first three races, and will accumulate points for the remainder of the season. Drivers eliminated in the second or third round will have their score reverted to the score at the end of the first round, then their individual race scores for the three (eliminated in the second round) or six races (eliminated in the third round), respectively, before their elimination from

13524-438: The game enters a shootout . Three players for each team in turn take a penalty shot . The team with the most goals during the three-round shootout wins the game. If the game is still tied after the three shootout rounds, the shootout continues but becomes sudden-death. Whichever team ultimately wins the shootout is awarded a goal in the game score and thus awarded two points in the standings. The losing team in overtime or shootout

13671-505: The goal frames by 4 inches (10 cm) on each side and reduced the size of the goalies' leg pads. The league has regularly modified its rules to counter perceived imperfections in the game. The penalty shot was adopted from the Pacific Coast Hockey Association to ensure players were not being blocked from opportunities to score. For the 2005–06 season, the league changed some of the rules regarding being offside. First,

13818-409: The head office moved from Montreal. There have been four league-wide work stoppages in NHL history, all occurring after 1992. The NHL's regular season is typically held from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. Following the conclusion of the regular season, 16 teams advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs , a four-round tournament that runs into June to determine the league champion. Since

13965-678: The hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes , which were deactivated, thus maintaining the total number of teams at 32. The NHL is the fifth-highest grossing professional sport league in the world by revenue , after the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Premier League (PL). The league's headquarters have been in Manhattan since 1989, when

14112-421: The impact of the playoffs on the outcome of the championship in comparison to regular points standings. Given the ways that different formats change race strategy and therefore results, there is no way to know if these exact outcomes would have occurred. Number of times listed for non-playoff champions includes championships won before the playoffs began in 2004 while regular season champions only count winners after

14259-535: The introduction of a playoff format for the Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series . Both series use the same elimination formula as the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, however, with some modifications (most notably, smaller fields, and only two rounds of elimination instead of three, due to both having seven races in their playoff formats compared to the ten in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs). In

14406-460: The league a share of revenue from each game's advertising sales, rather than the usual lump sum paid up front for game rights. The league's annual revenues were estimated at $ 2.27 billion. On September 16, 2012, the labour pact expired, and the league again locked out the players . The owners proposed reducing the players' share of hockey-related revenues from 57 percent to 47 percent. All games were cancelled up to January 14, 2013, along with

14553-405: The league for 310 days, making it the longest in sports history, as the NHL became the first professional sports league to lose an entire season. A new collective bargaining agreement was eventually ratified in July 2005, including a salary cap. The agreement had a term of six years with an option of extending the collective bargaining agreement for an additional year at the end of the term, allowing

14700-451: The league mandated hybrid no-touch icing for the 2013–14 NHL season . On November 25, 2013, ten former NHL players (Gary Leeman, Rick Vaive, Brad Aitken, Darren Banks, Curt Bennett, Richie Dunn, Warren Holmes, Bob Manno, Blair Stewart, and Morris Titanic) sued the league for negligence in protecting players from concussions. The suit came three months after the National Football League agreed to pay former players US$ 765 million due to

14847-432: The league removed the "offside pass" or "two-line pass" rule, which required a stoppage in play if a pass originating from inside a team's defending zone was completed on the offensive side of the centre line, unless the puck crossed the line before the player. Furthermore, the league reinstated the "tag-up offside" which allows an attacking player a chance to get back onside by returning to the neutral zone. The changes to

14994-417: The league to resume as of the 2005–06 season . On October 5, 2005, the first post-lockout season took to the ice with all 30 teams. The NHL received record attendance in the 2005–06 season, with an average of 16,955 per game. However, its television audience was slower to rebound due to American cable broadcaster ESPN 's decision to drop its NHL coverage. The league's post-lockout agreement with NBC gave

15141-542: The league's founding in 1917, the Montreal Canadiens have won the most combined NHL titles with 25, winning three NHL championship series before the league took full exclusivity of the Stanley Cup in 1926, and 22 Stanley Cups afterwards. The reigning league champions are the Florida Panthers , who defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals . The National Hockey League was established in 1917 as

15288-465: The league's history when he made his debut with the Boston Bruins. By the mid-1960s, the desire for a network television contract in the United States, coupled with concerns that the Western Hockey League was planning to declare itself a major league and challenge for the Stanley Cup, spurred the NHL to undertake its first expansion since the 1920s . The league doubled in size to 12 teams for

15435-558: The league's marketability. In December 2009, Brendan Shanahan was hired to replace Colin Campbell, and was given the role of senior vice-president of player safety. Shanahan began to hand out suspensions on high-profile perpetrators responsible for dangerous hits, such as Raffi Torres receiving 25 games for his hit on Marian Hossa . To aid with removing high-speed collisions on icing, which had led to several potential career-ending injuries, such as to Hurricanes' defenceman Joni Pitkanen ,

15582-442: The list of title contenders. In 2007, NASCAR expanded the field of contenders to the top 12 drivers in the points standings after the first 26 races. Each drivers' point total reset to 5,000 points, with a ten-point bonus for each race won. The provision admitting all drivers within 400 points of the leader into the chase was dropped. Brian France explained why NASCAR made the changes to the chase: "The adjustments taken [Monday] put

15729-501: The merger, Sprint maintained the Nextel trademark as an unrelated group in Florida not affiliated with Sprint filed two trademarks and opened its businesses under the Nextel name. Sprint has sued the group that alleges trademark infringement. Due to many underlying maintenance and life cycle issues within the legacy public safety systems of the United States, co-channel interference was a common occurrence within 800 MHz band. To resolve

15876-780: The months of June and December, with the exact date and place to be fixed by the Commissioner. The chief executive of the league is commissioner Gary Bettman . Some other senior executives include chief legal officer Bill Daly , director of hockey operations Colin Campbell , and senior vice president of player safety George Parros . A committee led by Bettman and chairman Jeremy Jacobs is responsible for vetting new ownership applications, collective bargaining, and league expansion. Other members include Mark Chipman , N. Murray Edwards , Craig Leipold , Ted Leonsis , Geoff Molson , Henry Samueli , Larry Tanenbaum , Jeff Vinik , and David Blitzer . The National Hockey League's rules are one of

16023-402: The most points after the final 10 races was declared the champion. Beginning with the 2008 Sprint Cup Series , the playoffs became known by its new name as a result of the merger of Nextel Communications with Sprint Corporation . From 2004 to 2006 some races aired on TNT, with the rest airing on NBC. From 2007 to 2009 all 10 races aired on ABC, but in 2010 NASCAR and ESPN quietly moved 9 of

16170-411: The new system, the chase field was expanded to 16 drivers for the 10-race chase. The 16 drivers were chosen primarily on wins during the "regular season,” if fewer than 16 drivers won races, the remaining field was filled on the basis of regular season points. These drivers competed against each other while racing in the standard field (then 43 cars). The driver with the most points after the final 10 races

16317-431: The offside rule were among several rule changes intended to increase overall scoring, which had been in decline since the expansion years of the mid-nineties and the increased prevalence of the neutral zone trap . Since 2005, when a team is guilty of icing the puck they are not allowed to make a line change or skater substitution of any sort before the following face-off (except to replace an injured player or re-install

16464-475: The only other drivers to win multiple championships since the system was introduced. Tyler Reddick is also the only multi-time championship in the Xfinity Series since the introduction of the system in the second-tier and Truck Series. Below are the hypothetical champions based on only regular points standings after last season race if no playoff format had been implemented. This section is only to demonstrate

16611-466: The onset of World War II took a toll on the league. The Pirates became the Philadelphia Quakers in 1930, then folded a year later. The Senators likewise became the St. Louis Eagles in 1934, also lasting only a year. The Maroons did not survive, as they suspended operations in 1938. The Americans were suspended in 1942 due to a lack of available players, and they were never reactivated. For

16758-467: The playoff system in the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series . The NASCAR Cup Series version of the playoff system is often called the Chase for the Cup based on its former official name, and includes sixteen drivers that compete for the championship in the final ten races of the Cup Series. The first nine races are divided into three rounds, with four participants being eliminated after each round (with

16905-571: The playoffs began in 2004. Within the Cup Series: Nextel Nextel Communications traces its roots to the 1987 foundation of FleetCall by Morgan O'Brien , Brian McAuley , Chris Rogers, and Peter Reinheimer. FleetCall changed its name to Nextel Communications, Inc. in 1993. Nextel provided digital, wireless communications services, originally focusing on the fleet and dispatch customers, but later marketed to all potential wireless customers. Nextel's network operated in

17052-419: The playoffs itself, were announced for the 2014 Sprint Cup Series . As of 2014, the 10-race playoff format involved 16 drivers chosen primarily on wins during the "regular season,” if fewer than 16 drivers won races during the regular season, the remaining field was filled on the basis of regular season points. These drivers competed against each other while racing in the standard field of 40 cars. The driver with

17199-403: The power play. The league also imposes a conduct policy on its players. Players are banned from gambling and criminal activities have led to the suspension of players. The league and the Players' Association agreed to a stringent anti-doping policy in the 2005 collective bargaining agreement. The policy provides for a twenty-game suspension for a first positive test, a sixty-game suspension for

17346-500: The problems, Nextel and the Federal Communications Commission developed a plan, approved by the FCC in August 2004, to relocate Nextel systems elsewhere in the 800 MHz band in order to reduce the potential for interference. Before rebanding, public safety organizations, business and industry organizations, and SMRs/ESMRs both operated in the 851-861 MHz range. ESMRs had exclusive use of

17493-487: The race format and the playoff seeding. Starting in the 2004 season, after the first 26 races of the season, all drivers in the Top 10 and any others within 400 points of the leader earned a berth in the chase. All drivers in the chase had their point total adjusted. The first-place driver in the standings began the chase with 5,050 points, the second-place driver started with 5,045, etc. Incremental five-point drops continued through

17640-457: The record books. The publicly stated purpose for the NASCAR playoff system was to make the NASCAR mid-season more competitive, and increase fan interest and television ratings. The timing of the start of the playoff coincides with the commencement of the college and National Football League seasons and the final month of Major League Baseball 's regular season and playoffs . Prior to this format,

17787-415: The regular season, while the two wild card qualifiers received no bonus. Normal scoring applied during the chase, with race winners earning 43 base points plus 3 bonus points, all drivers who lead a lap earning 1 bonus point, and the driver who led the most laps earning 1 bonus point in addition to any other points earned. As in all previous chases, the driver with the highest point total at the conclusion of

17934-418: The remainder of the year. This ruse was found to have been directly caused by the pace car. Had the pace car situation for Bowyer's intentional spin not occurred, Gordon would have finished ahead of Logano by one point and Logano would have been bumped by Newman winning the race since Newman would have taken the first Wild Card. Although Logano was allowed to keep his chase berth, the field was expanded to 13 with

18081-439: The requirement that drivers had to be at least 30th (20th for Xfinity and Truck) in the standings to be eligible for the playoffs by the way of a race victory, thus all full-time drivers and all drivers who receive a playoff wavier are eligible to qualify for the playoffs with a win. The following are the ten race tracks at which the final ten NASCAR Cup Series races for the Championship. Texas Motor Speedway ( Fort Worth, Texas )

18228-478: The round of 8. The Xfinity playoffs has twelve drivers, and the bottom four in points are eliminated at the end of each round. The rules for fifth place continue to be the same. The visual identification introduced in 2021 in the Cup Series also apply in the lower two series, with red (in 2021)/purple (from 2022 onwards) banners, spoilers, and splitters for Xfinity Series playoff contenders, and blue (until 2022)/red (from 2023 onwards, as well with driver's last name on

18375-412: The season, automatically advance to contend for the Cup championship. These drivers were joined by two "wild card" qualifiers, specifically the two drivers ranked from 11th through 20th in drivers' points who have the most regular-season race wins. The 12 drivers' championship points were reset to a base of 2,000 per driver. Each of the 10 automatic qualifiers received a bonus of 3 points for each win during

18522-453: The second wild card and bumping Truex. The ruse also resulted in a second controversy when radio transmissions were discovered suggesting that Front Row Motorsports and Penske Racing had struck a deal for David Gilliland to give up a spot on the track for Joey Logano , allowing Logano to race his way into the final lock-in position by one point over Jeff Gordon . A second NASCAR inquiry resulted in both teams being placed on probation for

18669-584: The successor to the National Hockey Association (NHA). Founded in 1909, the NHA began play in 1910 with seven teams in Ontario and Quebec , and was one of the first major leagues in professional ice hockey. However, by its eighth season , a series of disputes with Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone led team owners of the Montreal Canadiens , the Montreal Wanderers , the Ottawa Senators , and

18816-459: The suggestion of driver Kevin Harvick , fifth place in the season-ending standings will be determined amongst the chase drivers eliminated in each of the chase rounds during the final races. Drivers eliminated in the first round will retain their chase score (for example, a driver with one win during the season eliminated after scoring 75 points during the first round will score 2,080 points) and start

18963-515: The teams with starting points based on the team's performance in their division (division champions earn a bonus), and the teams would participate in a five-race playoff. The five races, added to the team's seeding points, would determine the winner. The 2001 version was four races, as one was canceled because of the September 11 terrorist attacks , however, NASCAR watched as the ProCup's Four Champions became

19110-432: The three races in the "Contender Round." Those who continued have their points all reset to 4,000. Then the "Eliminator Round" involved axing 50% of the chase grid with the final cut, cutting the new bottom four drivers after the penultimate race at Phoenix, leaving the top four drivers to have their point totals reset to 5,000 so that they are tied for the final race at Homestead-Miami for the title run. The drivers who missed

19257-425: The time said would not be practical. Initially, FleetCall did not want to include the push to talk feature in their phones, but the FCC required it as the initial frequencies were licensed for dispatch use. Later, Nextel would use the push-to-talk feature as a key marketing advantage. Nextel affected the cellular phone market in several ways. It was the first company to successfully provide unlimited calling plans to

19404-631: The time. Toronto won the first NHL title, and then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) for the 1918 Stanley Cup . The Canadiens won the league title in 1919, but the series in the Stanley Cup Finals against the PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans was abandoned due to the Spanish Flu epidemic. In 1924, Montreal won their first Stanley Cup as a member of

19551-453: The trapezoid or in front of the goal line; if the goaltender plays the puck behind the goal line and outside the trapezoidal area, a two-minute minor penalty for delay of game is assessed. The rule is unofficially nicknamed the " Martin Brodeur rule"; Brodeur at the time was one of the best goaltenders at getting behind the net to handle the puck. Since the 2013–14 season, the league trimmed

19698-676: The two standard sets of professional ice hockey rules in the world, the other being the rules of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), as used in tournaments such as the Olympics . The IIHF rules are derived from the Canadian amateur ice hockey rules of the early 20th century, while the NHL rules evolved directly from the first organized indoor ice hockey game in Montreal in 1875, updated by subsequent leagues up to 1917, when

19845-419: The windshield) for Truck Series counterparts. As an anti- Buschwhacking measure, Cup Series drivers are prohibited from racing in lower series' playoff races. Ten different drivers have won the NASCAR Cup Series championship since the playoff system was implemented in 2004. Jimmie Johnson has the most championships under the playoff format with seven, while Tony Stewart , Kyle Busch , and Joey Logano are

19992-511: Was a publicly traded company. Shares traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol NXTL . Nextel was headquartered in Reston, Virginia , United States. At the time of its 2005 merger with Sprint Corp., Nextel had over twenty million subscribers in the United States and served 198 of the top 200 markets. Nextel Communications, Inc. offered postpaid services under the Nextel brand and prepaid services under

20139-498: Was added in 2005 as a result of the outcome of the Ferko lawsuit which eliminated Darlington Raceway ( Darlington, South Carolina ) by NASCAR. Also, by way of a 3-way track change, Talladega Superspeedway moved to a later date, Atlanta Motor Speedway moved to the Labor Day weekend date, and Auto Club Speedway moved to a later date inside the chase (starting 2009). In 2011, as part of

20286-424: Was adopted, splitting races into three stages. Stages 1 and 2 are roughly 1/4 of the laps each, and stage 3 is about the last 1/2 of the race. The top 10 drivers at the end of the first two stages each race earn additional bonus points towards the championship, 10 points for the first place car down to 1 point for the 10th place car. At the end of the race, the normal championship point scheme is used to award points to

20433-399: Was announced on January 21, 2004, as the "Chase for the Championship,” and first used during the 2004 Nextel Cup season . The format used from 2004 to 2006 was modified slightly starting with the 2007 season. A major change to the qualifying criteria was instituted in 2011, along with a major change to the points system. Even more radical changes to the qualifying criteria, and to the format of

20580-507: Was applied to pre-chase point totals, it knocked Truex out of the Wildcard spot and put Newman in his place. NASCAR was unable to find solid evidence that Bowyer's spin was deliberate, but did determine that Norris's order to have Vickers pit was a deliberate attempt to manipulate the chase standings in Truex's favor. Had the ruse not happened, Newman was on point to win the race, automatically becoming

20727-416: Was declared the champion. This new playoff system instituted three "cuts" where drivers are eliminated from title contention as the chase progresses. In each cut the bottom four drivers are eliminated from title contention after the third race after a cut. After the first cut (Dover) in what was called the "Challenger Round,” the field was reduced to 12. The bottom four winless drivers kept their points after

20874-488: Was directly behind Bowyer, said that Bowyer "just spun out. It was the craziest thing I saw," and that the behavior of Bowyer's car was inconsistent with Bowyer's claim that a right front tire blew out (the popping noise associated with a flat tire was not heard until after the spin). Vickers' pitting on the restart forced Newman to the back of the pitting cycle, costing him several positions. He ended up finishing third to Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch . By finishing third, Newman

21021-430: Was increased, while not precluding anyone with a legitimate chance of winning. The original choice of top 10 drivers was based on the historical analysis that no driver outside the top 10, with 10 races remaining in the season, had ever gone on to win the Championship. The expansion to top 16 in 2014 made the elimination rounds possible. Short track racing , the grassroots of NASCAR, began experimenting with ideas to help

21168-412: Was settled quickly with all affected games rescheduled. A lockout at the start of the 1994–95 season forced the league to reduce the schedule from 84 games to 48, with the teams playing only intra-conference games during the reduced season. The resulting collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was set for renegotiation in 1998, and extended to September 15, 2004. With no new agreement in hand when

21315-569: Was the last time a non-NHL team won the trophy, as the Stanley Cup became the de facto NHL championship in 1926, after the WCHL ceased operation. The National Hockey League embarked on a rapid expansion in the 1920s, adding the Montreal Maroons and the Boston Bruins in 1924, the latter being the first American team to join the league. The New York Americans began play in 1925 after purchasing

21462-479: Was tied with Truex in both wins (one) and final points for the second Wildcard spot. Truex won the tiebreaker on top-five finishes. The following Monday, September 9, NASCAR issued some of the most severe penalties imposed on a team in NASCAR Cup Series history. MWR was placed on probation for the rest of the season, and Norris was suspended indefinitely. All three MWR teams were docked 50 owner/driver points for "actions detrimental to stock car racing." As this penalty

21609-741: Was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in a deal that dramatically improved the league's popularity in the United States. By the turn of the century, nine more teams were added to the NHL: the San Jose Sharks , the Tampa Bay Lightning , the Ottawa Senators , the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim , the Florida Panthers , the Nashville Predators , the Atlanta Thrashers , and, in 2000, the Minnesota Wild and

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