Why am I watching this race from Atlanta?
It was the second race of the year. What was the point?
Did the race even matter? The announcers were focused on a points battle with
another two dozen races to go. The laps were counting down to a “Stage 2”
finish. Is this even NASCAR?
There are two sports that I’ve written about it
extensively on my blog because their potential remains unfulfilled in the
United States. The first is soccer, which is growing in popularity while the domestic league fails in creating a
“major league” here. The other is NASCAR, because it’s a sport I loved as a kid
and have been dismayed by its stunning fall from relevance.
The numbers prove what I’m saying. This year’s Daytona
500 has lost half its audience in the past decade. Last week’s Atlanta
race was the least-watched 2nd race of the season in at least 20 years. There’s
seemingly no end to this tailspin.
What’s most maddening about NASCAR’s downfall is how
much of it is self-inflicted. Whether you point to the introduction of the playoffs, the removal of driver’s personalities
or the changing nature of the sport because of the cars, there have been
multiple steps NASCAR could’ve taken
to right the ship. Instead, things just get worse and worse.
In my humble opinion, here are three easy fixes for
NASCAR to regain the plot and start to entice those lapsed fans to return.
End Stage Racing
I still don’t get stage racing. When first announced, I
stupidly assumed it was going to be similar to Supercross, with two heats to
qualify for the main event. Essentially, the Daytona 500 qualifying format with
the Twin 125s, except they all happen on the same day and some cars don’t
qualify for the main event.
Instead, stage racing is basically two competition yellow
flags. Sure, driver get points but who cares? Does anyone buy a ticket to a
race to see who is in 6th place at the 60-lap mark?
It has to be especially off-putting for a casual fan
turning on NASCAR randomly and see “3 Laps Left” before a Stage 1. What is
Stage 1, they ask? What is the reward, they muse? Shouldn’t winning the race
matter, they think as they change the channel.
It’s been a complete flop on every level and
there’s no reason for it to continue. It has attracted zero new fans. It has
turned off thousands of old fans. Get rid of it, starting now.
Shorten the Races
Stage racing seemed to be introduced to combat the
monotony of 400- and 500-mile races on cookie-cutter 1.5-mile tracks where
nothing happens. To me, that’s not addressing the problem of
monotonous racing on cookie cutter tracks. It’s a band-aid on a shotgun wound.
The allure of the long races in NASCAR’s past was the
fact many cars could not get the distance and drivers would nurse their cars.
If the car blew up, it was more often than not the driver’s fault for pushing
too hard.
Today’s technology has eliminated that concern. If a car
doesn’t get 500 miles, it's a mechanical fail. And it very rarely, if ever
happens. So why are we driving in circles for 5 hours?
Formula 1 is my favorite auto sport to currently watch
and, much like soccer, those races never go over two hours. If you ask me, I
wish F1 would increase the length of their races because I want more. You
always want to leave the audience wanting more.
With NASCAR, I want to chop at least 100 miles from every
race outside of old classics like the Daytona 500, the Coke 600 and Bristol’s
night race in August. The stage racing is an admission that the races are too
long without solving the problem.
Give me a 300-mile race with no stages 8 days a week
over a 500-mile race with 3 stages.
Cut the Playoffs
in Half (or more)
The point of NASCAR was never to win the Championship,
it was to win the race. It just so happened that people like Richard Petty won
the Championship because they won the most races.
The Chase removed NASCAR’s soul. This
is where NASCAR has truly and completely lost the plot. No one cares about the
playoffs in February.
Fans really don’t care about the playoffs because nearly
every meaningful driver makes it anyway. Does NASCAR not see how so many people
tune out the NHL and college basketball during the regular season?
Once you establish that the playoffs mean more, you have
also established that the regular season races mean less.
Is that the message NASCAR wants to give to Atlanta?
“This race means less than the Chicago race in October - buy tickets now!”
When you watch a PGA Tour event, the FedEx Cup is on the
periphery. The announcers, especially earlier in the year, will very rarely
mention it. Sure, they’ll give an update on standings during the tournament but
it isn’t the focus.
Just think if the PGA Tour gave away, say, “playoff
points” to how players finished in the third round. Wouldn’t that be insane? Of
course, it would. That’s why when you watch a PGA Tour ever week, it’s first
and foremost about who wins that tournament. The playoff chase talk is saved almost
exclusively to the week or two before the actual playoffs.
Make Every Race
Feel Big
All of my suggestions point to NASCAR’s most significant
challenge: not every race feels important. If anything, most races seems like
they mean nothing with the exception of holiday weekend races, until the
playoff starts.
The beauty of NASCAR, at least in my eyes as a youth,
was that every race was the biggest race possible. Dale Earnhardt was out there
sending guys into the wall to win, whether it was Daytona or North Wilkesboro.
Rusty Wallace was desperately trying to get the win every week, not thinking
about stage racing or playoff points.
The soul of NASCAR was a bunch of drivers go toe-to-toe
and laying it all on the line for one specific reason -- to win the race. Every
NASCAR driver will likely say that hasn’t changed. Maybe it hasn’t. But when I
watch NASCAR, I don’t get that vibe anymore.
Email me
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