CONCORD, N.C. -- NASCAR Chairman Brian France, Jan. 20, 2004:

"… I think the fans are going to love what we've just done today."

"… Our fans are going to love it because it's going to make racing even better than it is today."

"… We think our fans will respond to it."

"… If you tell the average race fan that many drivers can win a championship; that the drivers are going to have more incentive to race harder, how in the world can any of our fans over time, once this unfolds, think anything other than that's a great plan?"

Keeping an open mind is one of the keys to learning in life. To that end, I'll say this: As much as I was adamantly opposed to a new points system in the Nextel Cup Series, after Tuesday's news conference announcing the plan, I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt in the 2004 season.

But there's still this nagging, troubling aspect of fan happiness. NASCAR always seems to tout its widespread use of polls and market research, but on this issue, what did they find? And so the question was put to France: Did NASCAR ask fans for opinions on the new points plan before the change was made?

France merely said "we did," and then proceeded to dance around the question with the remainder of his answer.

That is, until he basically said that, even in the potential light of overwhelming opposition to the new system by fans, team owners and drivers alike, NASCAR was going ahead with the new system and everything else be damned.

"Do we realize that polling data are going to come back and say don't do anything? Of course," France said. "But we're not going to run the sport with our finger in the air on polling data. We're going to look at it but we are going to do things that we know at the end of the day our fans are going to gravitate to. We're confident of that."

OK, so let's see if we have this straight. NASCAR says it values input and market research data from outside sources, particularly from fans, yet it still goes ahead and makes a controversial change to a championship system that, to this point, has worked with few serious flaws. The reasoning? Fans will come around to like this new plan better.

France also admitted in the same news conference that TV ratings during Matt Kenseth's late-season domination of the standings ranged from flat to down, and that the return of NFL football also contributed to the overall drop.

That's all plausible. But, in effect, it then appears that largely because Kenseth managed to capture the championship with consistency instead of wins, NASCAR decided the whole system was suddenly broken and needed fixing.

This is, it appears, what's unsettling to many fans. Other than going for wins, fans all know the basic ingredient of success in Cup racing is consistency.

So NASCAR, with its new system, is basically telling us that Kenseth and the No. 17 Ford team achieved consistency -- a basic tenet of the whole sport -- but that it was suddenly boring and in need of change.

And what about the timeline for this change? When the NBA decided to adopt the 3-point basket back in the 1980s, it was a couple of years in the making. Teams experimented with it during the pre-season, evaluations were given and refinements made before the system was put into play as a permanent part of the game.

So how many years did NASCAR mull over a new points system? How many potential points systems were tested and evaluated?

The answers (as far as we know): less than four months, and just one.

France candidly admitted that it was sometime in September or October that revising the points system was put on the table. And then, while there was some tweaking along the way, young Brian went to his father, Bill France Jr., for counsel and to present the new system.

So, unless there was more behind the scenes on this than NASCAR has made public, this major change was put into place in a matter of a few months rather than years.

In a sense, the new points system is comparable to unfounded mandates in politics, where the federal government tells states that they must put in place new policies, programs or initiatives -- supposedly for the public good -- and then sticks the states with the bill.

France also chastised how some independent online polls, such as ones that have been conducted on ESPN.com, described the new points system as a "radical change."

"I saw a lot of those polls," France said. "I saw the way they were questioned, too -- 'How do you feel about NASCAR's radical change in the points system?' -- without any of the benefits, without any of the facts."

Yet, even bereft of the facts (though not far from them as it turns out), most of those online polls generated overwhelming sentiment against any changes. Unsolicited e-mails to ESPN.com have overwhelmingly been against the change; and in breaking down dozens of e-mails to my own inbox, the percentage is more than 95 percent against.

And yet NASCAR chose not to listen to its fans. Instead, France boldly proclaimed "the fans are going to love" the new system.

He might be right, or he may be wrong. Time will tell. What is curious is what evidence is France's proclamation based upon? A hunch? The stakes here are pretty high to roll with this plan on a good gut feeling.

During the last three days on the annual preseason NASCAR Media Tour, countless drivers, crew chiefs and team owners have repeatedly told reporters just how important fans are to the overall sport.

"Without the fans, we'd be nothing," team owner Chip Ganassi said, less than an hour before France announced the so-called "Chase for the Championship."

So there are two possibilities to consider now.

One -- fans are against the plan only because it's the unknown, and once this season gets going, they will climb on board and love it as much as France says they will.

Or, two -- NASCAR ignored the wishes of fans because they are good only for how wide they will open their wallets to buy tickets, concessions and souvenirs, and it's the series' opinion that nothing will stop that activity.

Put up and shut up -- or not, as long as you keep putting up.

Remember when you were a kid, and you were sick, and mom would spoon-feed you the worst-tasting medicine imaginable?

"Take it, it's good for you," she'd say, knowing the bad taste was going to linger anyway.

NASCAR has administered the medicine, though nobody was really sick to begin with. Until now.

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@MSN.com.