The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series today announced a modification to its championship format for 2024, expanding from 2023’s one-race playoff among four drivers to a seven-race chase to the championship for the top four in tour points following Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway’s Lucas Oil Knoxville Nationals.

Under the revamped format revealed by series director Rick Schwallie at the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show, the tour’s “big four” will duke it out for the championship at seven races: Sept. 27-28 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway; Oct. 1 at Atomic Speedway near Chillicothe, Ohio; Oct. 4-5 at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in Imperial, Pa.; Oct. 12 at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla. (Oct. 10-11 serving as prelims); and at Eldora Speedway's season-ending Dirt Track World Championship on Oct. 19 in Rossburg, Ohio.

“It’s seven points events, and if we have a rainout along the way, it is what it is. We think that’s a unique group of racetracks,” Schwallie said. “Brownstown’s a small place. Pittsburgh’s a bigger place; dry-slick usually. East Bay is wildly different than both of those. And then headed to Eldora.

“In the group of racetracks, the cream will rise to the top. And that’s how we’re going to crown our champion. In theory, it’s similar, yet it’s the VR2, I guess — the second version of it.”

Schwallie noted that the single-race, best-driver-wins championship DTWC that saw champion Hudson O’Neal prevail in a wildly-contested race over Devin Moran, Ricky Thornton Jr., and Jonathan Davenport “did create a lot of media buzz” and “did have great viewership.

“It did have a lot of those things. But our original goal wasn’t all those things,” Schwallie added. “Those were just bonuses. Our original goal was to be able to bring in sponsorship to increase our points fund. That allowed us to do that.”

Schwallie said the new-look title format is already driving up purses for the new season. Sept. 28’s Brownstown 100 and Oct. 5’s Pittsburgher now pay $50,000-to-win, both up from $30,000-to-win last year, simply because those crucial events are now part of the seven-race chase for the title.

“Building off that, we’re working into our second version of that, how we can keep those car owners involved and going,” Schwaillie said.

Video: Hudson O'Neal Reacts To Winning The 2023 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Championship

The entire 2024 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season will be broadcast live for the second year in a row on MAVTV on FloRacing. Fans can subscribe by clicking here.