That was announced and continued to be promoted since about a year ago! It has its plusses & minuses. But I believe the main idea was to keep more people showing up through the end of the season by providing an opportunity for a shot at the World Championship for everyone through the end of the season without having to travel as much. With the bad economy, it's difficult to say how much it help or hurt car counts. But it was enough to IHRA Sportsman racing going.
http://ihra.com/article/4143.html
You need to keep up with the IHRA news.
NHRA use to do something similar many years ago with their World Finals being an "invitational" for the championship. It may have been like that in 1980 when I went to NHRA's
FIRST ET Bracket World Championship race at the World Finals in Ontario, CA! Both bracket programs are similar now also.