Ok, just spent some time reading up on this more. It seems that indeed this will be an exhibition only series now. All races except for the two in Canadia are cut down to two days instead of three, with the exact same schedule each day. There won't even be any qualifying for the 'pro' classes. Just two runs each night with the 'champion' crowned by whomever had the fastest pass of that night. Each race day will also be under three hours total. IHRA is also dropping the name 'national event' and renaming them 'Nitro Jam', just like the other series Feld Entertainment owns, Monster Jam. They even have there version of the Pit Party. Pretty cookie cutter. And the 'pro' classes are also invitation only. And IHRA has a pool of drivers from several pre-existing classes that the track and IHRA decide on what each event will get, so one event could have Top Fuel, and another could get some older Pro Mod cars. It looks this will just be a short entertainment themed event sanctioning body now.
On one hand I can appreciate the move, it's a new way to try and get people to come out, but on the other hand, it officially puts the nails in the coffin for actual competition in the pro ranks in IHRA. And having it be invitation only most likely means there will be no new teams forming, as IHRA already has a pool of drivers and teams left over from the old format to call up if they're needed for an event.
http://www.ihra.com/article/5242.html