NASCAR Track Schedule Could Change
NASCAR‘s CEO Brian France chatted with press prior to the Brickyard 400 about changes coming down the pipeline for the Cup series track schedule and Chase system.
NASCAR is under pressure from International Speedway Corp. (ISC) and Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) for schedule changes so they can get dates for tracks under their auspices.
ISC wants Kansas to have a 2nd Cup date & SMI wants Las Vesage to have a 2nd Cup date. Of course, Bruton Smith is pressuring NASCAR by saying NASCAR is morally obligated to him to bring a 2nd date to Las Vegas, and wants a Cup date for all his tracks. Go figure. Being he’s an integral part of the NASCAR regime, he’ll more than likely obtain what he wants.
The logistics of Kansas getting a date would mean SMI would need to probably give up a date at another of their tracks, like say New Hampshire, as has been mentioned in the past.
The Chase Format Changing
France has made mention that with the TV ratings fading, some things need to change up to catch the fans’ attention once again. That change looks like it will be the Chase system.
France wants to spark it up and suggested possible changes like putting a greater focus on winning races or having fewer contenders for the Chase via some form of elimination races mid-season and other such considerations.
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I am not sure I care about the track schedule changes. It sucks for New Hampshire that Smith stepped in and bought it with the intention of using one of the tracks existing dates for another track of his. So be it.
This idea of changing up things to keep the viewing audience interested in the show isn’t a bad idea, but France could be finding himself chasing his own tail every few years to help keep the ratings alive.
Viewers gravitate to something new, then grow bored as the new thing becomes stale. This is why television shows constantly add new characters and new scenarios to their shows… but they don’t rehash their entire schema to bring new viewers.
Is this change the answer to their deflating ratings. It will be a quick fix for a while, but it won’t last.
No matter what the sanctioning body does to spark interest in the series or how they try to make the field, there will always be a leading contender that stands out from the rest. Jimmie Johnson has proven that over several changes made to the process.
For the devoted NASCAR fan, the media is capable of over-saturating the fan who looks for any coverage.
As far as keeping folks interested, I’d recommend shortening races. Right now I have to devote more than 3 hours to my favorite sport and I find it to be too long some days. The middle game just feels too tedious when nothing is happening but drivers taking laps to kill the advertised amount of laps. As Denny Hamlin once put it, they’re just doing laps and biding their time.
We need sprints. The NASCAR Nationwide Series, in my opinion has the perfect length races. If we shortened the races, or had elimination dashes, it just might get interesting as we sit with baited breath, hoping our favorite driver makes the main round of the day.
Sure, it’s not too conducive to today’s sport of Motorsports, unlike our local Saturday night events do, but something has to be tried to generate more excitement that will last beyond a single season of TV ratings.
That’s all I’m saying. For now, we’ll be finding out in a few weeks from France what’s up. They’re more than likely, have already made up their minds.
