Interest builds around possible changes to NASCAR schedule

Blaze said:
At what point does something become tradition? Because Daytona hasn’t always been first, it has for a WHILE now. But I mean when they put it first, that killed whatever the tradition was back then. So in like 40-45 years will it Daytona not being first be tradition be the thing if it changes?
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Here's the thing, once a tradition becomes cemented, there are things you just leave alone.

NASCAR has to change EVERYTHING.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Here's the thing, once a tradition becomes cemented, there are things you just leave alone.

NASCAR has to change EVERYTHING.
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Oh no I agree, I just am asking at what point is something a tradition? Was fans mad when Daytona got moved to the start of the season back in the day? Like I agree it should be first, sure. But if it moves, future generations will be upset probably if they change whatever “tradition” is to them.
 
Blaze said:
Oh no I agree, I just am asking at what point is something a tradition? Was fans mad when Daytona got moved to the start of the season back in the day? Like I agree it should be first, sure. But if it moves, future generations will be upset probably if they change whatever “tradition” is to them.
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At this point I would be fine with having the 500 as the last race of the season. The playoffs are already a lottery so why not go all-in? Plus you wouldn't see ANYONE taking it easy and moving out of the way of the final 4 drivers if a Daytona 500 victory is on the line
 
RacerrecaR said:
At this point I would be fine with having the 500 as the last race of the season. The playoffs are already a lottery so why not go all-in? Plus you wouldn't see ANYONE taking it easy and moving out of the way of the final 4 drivers if a Daytona 500 victory is on the line
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Holy hell, the big one that takes out all 4 drivers 🤣would be amazing
 
If anything we need to move race to 1 PM. Too much rain risk with these late starts, that’s an absurd risk for what is by far the biggest draw of the year
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Are the TV ratings for the D500 or for the first race of the season? I guess we're going to find out.
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I was referring to the part where TV Ratings for the Daytona 500 are way down and that it doesn't carry the same weight anymore now that there's a Championship Race.

NASCAR is hopelessly lost right now.
 
Mispeedway15 said:
If anything we need to move race to 1 PM. Too much rain risk with these late starts, that’s an absurd risk for what is by far the biggest draw of the year
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But we can't forget about the 62 fans living out west that are inconvenienced by the earlier start times.

That said, over the past year I have changed my opinion and actually like the later start times for races that I can watch on TV.
 
it seems the current networks are dead set on sticking with the start times of recent seasons. They’ve bought into it so much I don’t know if fans have a chance at seeing it go the other way again

It was nice centuries ago when day races were usually getting a checkered flag around 4:30-5 PM (east coast time)
 
3 tracks I'd love to see on a future Cup schedule are Portland, Pikes Peak (the oval), and Gateway

Portland and Pikes Peak fix geographic gaps (plus NASCAR is interested in bringing the Cup Series to Colorado anyway), and Gateway because St. Louis has shown it's a viable racing market
 
DewChaser988 said:
3 tracks I'd love to see on a future Cup schedule are Portland, Pikes Peak (the oval), and Gateway

Portland and Pikes Peak fix geographic gaps (plus NASCAR is interested in bringing the Cup Series to Colorado anyway), and Gateway because St. Louis has shown it's a viable racing market
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I think 750 HP cars would be awesome there and Iowa. The whole 5 road course thing is a bit much
 
DIDIT said:
But we can't forget about the 62 fans living out west that are inconvenienced by the earlier start times.

That said, over the past year I have changed my opinion and actually like the later start times for races that I can watch on TV.
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Don't include me in your half baked BS. You can lower your number to 61. The later start times are an inconvenience to me...and I couldn't get any further west without stepping in the ocean.
 
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Nitro Dude said:
Don't include me in your half baked BS. You can lower your number to 61. The later start times are an inconvenience to me...and I couldn't get any further west without stepping in the ocean.
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I haven't seen anything confirming the mid- to late-afternoon start times are to increase the PST audience. Plenty of other sports don't wait around until 3:00 to start, but apparently they don't value the western audiences.
 
If you live on the west coast, you can either get up early, see the race, and STILL have most of your day to do something else, OR DVR it, and you are no worse off. In the heartland, the late starts kind of screw up the whole day, and if you have to DVR it, you are staying up until 10-11PM trying to get it watched. You MAY get a FEW more viewers with the late starts, but not enough to matter in my opinion. When Seinfeld co-creator Larry David was told that the then struggling show was going to be slotted behind Cheers to improve ratings, he replied that if the people weren't watching the show before, he didn't want them watching it now. Nutty as it sounds, I kind of feel the same way about NASCAR. If the networks have to pull time slot gimmicks to get people to watch, then the hell with them. Either the product is good enough to get you to watch whenever it is on, or it isn't. Fix the product, and most of the other problems magically disappear.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
I don't mind the Daytona RC leading into the 500. The Clash is meaningless now, might as well make it a points race. It would hurt the first race tradition but I don't think it would kill the hype the way running the Western Swing first would.

NASCAR's already killed the Firecracker 400, killed the 600 with stage racing, killed the Brickyard 400, and they're working on killing the Southern 500 (ending the throwback thing and revolving its hype around the playoffs). May as well kill the Daytona 500 too.
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Riverside started the season for NASCAR for a long time.
 
Formerjackman said:
If you live on the west coast, you can either get up early, see the race, and STILL have most of your day to do something else, OR DVR it, and you are no worse off. In the heartland, the late starts kind of screw up the whole day, and if you have to DVR it, you are staying up until 10-11PM trying to get it watched. You MAY get a FEW more viewers with the late starts, but not enough to matter in my opinion. When Seinfeld co-creator Larry David was told that the then struggling show was going to be slotted behind Cheers to improve ratings, he replied that if the people weren't watching the show before, he didn't want them watching it now. Nutty as it sounds, I kind of feel the same way about NASCAR. If the networks have to pull time slot gimmicks to get people to watch, then the hell with them. Either the product is good enough to get you to watch whenever it is on, or it isn't. Fix the product, and most of the other problems magically disappear.
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They used to try to get Homestead to finish in Football Night in America's timeslot each year. The way NBC is now, I wouldn't be surprised if the championship race running long resulted in the race getting dropkicked to CNBC.
 
Spotter22 said:
Riverside started the season for NASCAR for a long time.
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Looking back at it. 14 different tracks have hosted season openers.

Charlotte Speedway 1949
Daytona Beach Course 1950-51
Palm Beach 1952-54
Tri-City 1955
Hickory 1956
Willow Springs 1957
Fayetteville 1958-1959
Charlotte Fairgrounds 1960-1961
New Concord 1962, 1964
Birmingham 1963
Riverside 1965, 1970-81
Augusta 1966-1967
Middle Georgia 1968-1969
Daytona 1982-present

So while Daytona has started the year more then others it's not like that has always been the case.
 
kkfan91 said:
Looking back at it. 14 different tracks have hosted season openers.

Charlotte Speedway 1949
Daytona Beach Course 1950-51
Palm Beach 1952-54
Tri-City 1955
Hickory 1956
Willow Springs 1957
Fayetteville 1958-1959
Charlotte Fairgrounds 1960-1961
New Concord 1962, 1964
Birmingham 1963
Riverside 1965, 1970-81
Augusta 1966-1967
Middle Georgia 1968-1969
Daytona 1982-present

So while Daytona has started the year more then others it's not like that has always been the case.
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Breakin out the research!
 
I still have no idea why NASCAR is trying two dates in LA AGAIN though, it didn't work last time, so what makes them think it will work this time?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
The NFL has been unable to generate reliable interest from the LA market for decades, but they keep trying to nail down that TV market too.
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We’re getting two short tracks added by this west coast strategy. I can’t complain about that part.
 
DewChaser988 said:
I still have no idea why NASCAR is trying two dates in LA AGAIN though, it didn't work last time, so what makes them think it will work this time?
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Fontana is getting turned into a bull ring and NASCAR is considering two more short tracks in two valuable markets.

The schedule is getting a nice balance of all track configurations, that's a massive change for the better.
 
Kiante said:
Fontana is getting turned into a bull ring and NASCAR is considering two more short tracks in two valuable markets.

The schedule is getting a nice balance of all track configurations, that's a massive change for the better.
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Denver street course is a possibility too.

I’d like to see Portland on the Cup schedule as well personally.
 
If the Fontana short track turns out as good as it looks on paper I hope it gets a second date again. West Coast Bowman Gray sounds kinda goofy for a Cup race.
 
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