Too long imho.
They should have the 500 the week after the SB!
This may piss off quite a few. NASCAR calls the Daytona 500 "The Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing"..Why on Earth would the sport's management have their premier event at the beginning of the season?
IMO the Daytona 500 should be the LAST race of the season.
Too long? You bet....Why NASCAR has a 45 week season( including weeks off and non points events) is a mystery.
If I were King of NASCAR for a day, I'd make the following changes.
All non plate races would be shortened.
1.5 mile and 2 mile tracks 400 miles max.
All one mile tracks including Dover, max distance 300 miles.
Short track races would be unaffected.
All plate track races 500 miles.
The Coca Cola 600 and the Southern 500 remain the same for tradition's sake. And the summer even at Daytona remains as is at 400 miles.
The season is to begin with the first race on the third Sunday of February, Concluding on Labor Day Weekend with the Daytona 500.
Ok, here are my reasons....Race distances....Shorter races have many advantages. First, the cost to teams goes down. Less wear and tear, less fuel, fewer tires. With sponsor dollars becoming more difficult to come by, teams are cash strapped. Anything to help save them money and hopefully give these teams the opportunity to put the savings into the cars will help them be more competitive.
Shorter races at least in theory, add a sense of urgency to get into contention earlier in the race and compete. Plus, shorter races have smaller weather windows. Races should never take more than 3 hours. EVER.
Oh, one more rule change. A race is not official until two thirds of the laps have been completed. Half way just doesn't get it.
The schedule. Too long, too many events. Plus...and here's the big one...TV Ratings...After the start of NFL and the NCAA football seasons, NASCAR's tv ratings take a big tumble. I see no reason to take on the NFL.
This is a futile effort.
Yes, some tracks will lose events. So what. In order for the sport to be successful sacrifices will have to be made. If one looks back at the schedule prior to the boom in the mid 90's when NASCAR's popularity took off, the season was around 30 points events. Now we are at 36.
I have heard reactions to these ideas. There were those who object to shorter races saying the fans won't get their money's worth with shorter races. I counter that with all the races NASCAR has shortened already. Dover's two events used to be 500 miles. Before Darlington lost its second event, it was taken back to 400 miles. California's race is 400 miles down from 500. In fact all of the newer tracks on the schedule have races maxed out at 400 miles.
I think NASCAR has to get smaller to get bigger. Less being more.
Flame away!
