What did NASCAR expect? They created a artificial playoff in the sport where your one goal should be to win races. These guys get money for making the chase, so how can you blame them if they make a deal with a car in front of them if that is what they need to get in. Now, to be so obvious about is pretty freaking stupid. NASCAR should have said due to the events at the end of the race, we are going to put Newman and Gordon in the chase, everyone else stays in and let them sort it out.
The chase has been stupid since its inception, and now that they finally fixed the points system they don't need it anymore. If you want to make it more exciting then it should be a year long event. You should get more points in certain races than in others, give more points for winning races. I know they have tried to fix it, but this is what you are going to get if you create this model.
How I would fix NASCAR. The Sprint cup would be the over the year champion, accumulation of points throughout the year. Then have someone sponsor the last 10 races of the year and call that "company x cup" driver with the most points in those races wins. Then I would have sponsors for small 5 race cups throughout the year, let "Company y" choose 5 races it wants to sponsor a cup for, have a decent payout. You could do that 2 or 3 times. The rest of the races are run just like normal. Or have a sponsor of the restrictor plate tracks that sponsors the restrictor plate races and give an award for that, same with short tracks, and cookie cutter tracks. This would make the season much more interesting, and I think would also spice up the racing. If the guys new the big payout wasn't winning a stupid playoff that really doesn't reward the guy that has been best all year. Instead small awards are provided for 3 - 4 series throughout the year of 5 races, so winning in those races would be important. Then the last 10 races of the year you could do bigger award, and a nice award for winning the overall points.
I understand why NASCAR did the chase, for years guys would run away with the cup 2/3 of the way through the season, but now you have 30 or so cars that drive for nothing for 10 races at the end of the season. Stupid. Get creative. It would be awesome to watch Keselowski and Busch battle for the short track cup sponsored by Viagra. They would kill each other and it would be awesome.