Ron Capps said he isn’t the only driver that has taken notes on the championship format for next year.

"This season was a learning experience,” Capps said. “I know you learn every year, but being the first year of the Countdown to the Championship points system, I felt like we really, really showed a lot of brilliance in the beginning of the year. Obviously, we learned that we're not going to back off and try to test. We had such a great points lead (by as much as 154) that we decided to test, and I think that affected our mindset in a lot of ways.

"I think there are going to be a lot of teams that are going to sit back and really approach the Countdown differently next year. We really thought we had a great game plan. We didn't want do the last-minute effort to make it into the Countdown to One like we did in Richmond. We don't want to have to do that next year.

"I think NHRA is going to make some adjustments to the Countdown format and we're going to have to adjust our mindset to it. But, overall, I think more than anything it was a learning experience. I think it was a learning experience for everyone, the NHRA and the teams. I think it's just going to get better and better every year. I think the fans really got more excitement, and with HD Partners coming in, it's a great time to be in NHRA right now. I'm really proud to be involved with the sport right now."

For those interested in how this championship season would have turned out for Capps under the previous points format, Capps would have ended up second to Robert Hight, winner today, by 15 points, but ahead of newly-crowned champion Tony Pedregon by 20 points.