It's so crazy it could work. On the surface, the radical change NASCAR is considering making to its championship points system appears drastic.

But it has merit.

In case you missed it, NASCAR is evaluating a plan that would essentially break the 36-race Nextel Cup schedule into two segments. The first 26 races would be viewed as the regular season and the final 10 would be the playoffs.

It's complicated, but here's a simplified breakdown. All teams would continue competing for the remainder of the season but only those who were in the standing's top-10 after the 26th race would be championship contenders. Those top 10 teams would start the playoff segment even, and the team that collected the most points during the final stretch would be champion.

The proposal certainly goes against the grain of traditional thinking. However, there is something that can be said for non-traditionalist ideas. Imagine football without the forward pass or basketball without the 3-point shot. If purists had their way neither one of these exciting elements would exist.

The fact of the matter is NASCAR needs to jazz up its currently bland championship format. Honestly, from late August to the end of this season was there ever a serious doubt that Matt Kenseth was going to win?

After the Southern 500, Kenseth had a suffocating 389-point lead with 12 races to go. During that time teams might as well have replaced their engineers with witch doctors because voodoo dolls and hexes would have been more effective than horsepower and handling. The only real hope teams had was if Kenseth broke or crashed because there was nothing they could do on their own to erase his lead.

Kenseth led the standings and was virtually unchallenged for 33 consecutive weeks. While that was a record, it wasn't a surprise. Ten times in the last 24 years, including four of the last six, the eventual champion has led the final 18 or more weeks of the season. Where's the drama in that?

Critics say this plan is unfair to the teams who are outside the top 10 after week 26. Why? Because there have been years like 2002 when Kurt Busch drove from 12th in the standings to third over the final 10 races. But remember --- that's third, it's a consolation prize at best. Pardon my disrespect but outside that particular driver's fanbase no one remembers, or really cares, who finished third.

Conversely, no eventual champion since 1975 (as far back as I could research) was ever positioned outside the top-10 with 10 races remaining. In fact, with 10 races to go in the last 29 seasons the worst an eventual champion has been at that point was fifth (Tony Stewart, 2002).

If anything, this broadens the pool of contenders and gives life to the season's final three months. It accomplishes the same thing that Wild Card playoff births did for football and baseball. More teams and more fans will have reason to believe. It creates the potential for a Cinderella story, the element that has made the NCAA basketball tournament so incredibly popular.

This system gives teams 26 races to get things right. If they don't have things figured out by then they don't have a shot at the championship, under any format. At least with the 26/10 plan there is an element of forgiveness. Teams that stumble early but eventually hit stride, still have a shot at the Cup. No one who remembers Ryan Newman's season this year can say he didn't at least deserve a chance.

This system will create as much drama in August as it will in November. Teams will be scrambling for a top 10 spot in races 24, 25 and 26. Can you imagine the emotion during the Bristol and Richmond night races under those circumstances?

Sure, if you apply this system to former champion's campaigns the outcomes will be different. But that doesn't taint their triumphs nor does it expose a flaw in this plan. To make that comparison is illogical. The rules of the game will always dictate strategy. And as long as the rules reward conservative, consistent driving -- as they do now -- that's what the leaders are going to do. If the rules change so will the approach.

No sport is exempt from the late season upset, why should NASCAR be any different? To win a championship teams must not only be consistent but should also peak at the right time -- the end of the season. The proposed plan will eliminate all speculation of sandbagging. Teams will be taking a huge risk by being conservative.

Another argument suggests that if a driver who is not a championship contender wins a race during the playoff segment, there will be little interest. That's ridiculous. The same people are going to care who cared before, the fans of that particular driver. As hard as it is to win these races there is no such thing as a hollow victory.

Every driver will still have plenty of incentive. Just because their championship hopes may be non-existent there is still plenty of pride, and money, on the line every week.

Now the system is not perfect. For example, unlike other tournament structures, the one seed has no distinct advantage over the ten seed. NASCAR will have to find a way to iron that out. They also might consider weighing victories more heavily. Still, this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Mike Massaro covers NASCAR for ESPN and ESPN.com.