In a press release on Monday, NASCAR announced that a "major announcement" will be made on Tuesday afternoon by Brian France and key industry executives. Right now, there is no official word on what will be announced, but motorsport.com has learned that they will unveil a new Sprint Cup ownership structure that will include charters.
The details are not very exact, but the basic premise will be that the size of the field will drop from 43 to 40 drivers, with 36 of those spots being filled by teams that receive a charter, which guarantees them entry into all 36 races. The final four spots will be filled by drivers who race their way into the field.
The system is designed to allow full-time teams the opportunity to be guaranteed entry into all 36 races, similar to the old format where the top 35 in points were guaranteed entry into races. The charters will be given out at the beginning of the year, and will be able to be sold if an owner leaves the sport, or decides not to field the team any longer. In that scenario, the charter would go to another team, who could use it immediately.
Discussions about the plan have been ongoing for six months, with both sides repeatedly saying that the system should be in place for the 2016 season. With the announcement being made just under two weeks before the Daytona 500, it seems that the system will be put into place immediately.
France, who is the chairman of NASCAR, commented on the plan at last month's Media Tour event at Charlotte Motor Speedway saying "This is a very complicated plan and structure that will require some time to phase in many aspects of it."
Under the new plan, the points standings would no longer have any impact on qualifying, unless it is rained out, in which case the field would still be set by points.