Interest builds around possible changes to NASCAR schedule

Good to see the American Road Paving Tour of 2021 has made it’s way onto Darlington Raceway

Now just add the guy we see more than our families holding the STOP/SLOW sign down on the apron
 
All of the people I know living in PST love having their NFL games at 10:00 am so they can watch their teams after breakfast, enjoy their day, watch the “late” game at 5:00 pm and enjoy dinner before going to bed at a normal time.

I can’t imagine the NASCAR fans on PST feel different about this for racing. The later start times to “appease” them is a made up excuse by NASCAR to get later times and better ratings on the east coast and more money from advertisers.
 
cheesepuffs said:
@AndyMarquisLive they're not running throwbacks at Darlington next year?
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They ran throwbacks in May.

I'm =guessing= the marketing boys think the Labor Day race has enough going for it, between tradition and being the first Chase race. Moving the throwbacks to Mom's Day gives that race something to appeal to ticket buyers that's different from September.
 
Snappy D said:
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I hope Gateway gets a Cup race. If it happens, I'll be very curious about two questions:

First, who promotes the race and who pockets the TV money? So far, each of the new venues introduced have been track rentals by SMI (at COTA) and Nascar (at Road America). So the Smith family and the France family held on to the pot of gold that is TV money, while the COTA and RA owners got just a track renal fee. The only other new venue is Nashville, where the track owner shifted one Dover date to their dormant track near the Music City, so they maintained TV money for that date.

It will be interesting to see if Gateway really gets a complete Cup race, or just a track rental fee.

Second, will Gateway be required to install SAFER barrier in line with existing cup-level ovals? Right now, Gateway has SAFER walls on the outside in the turns only. I'm not sure about the inside walls. Most other tracks tried something similar, but later extended the soft walls just about everywhere. Will be interesting to see how that plays out. I predict a lot more soft walls.
 
LewTheShoe said:
I hope Gateway gets a Cup race. If it happens, I'll be very curious about two questions:

First, who promotes the race and who pockets the TV money? So far, each of the new venues introduced have been track rentals by SMI (at COTA) and Nascar (at Road America). So the Smith family and the France family held on to the pot of gold that is TV money, while the COTA and RA owners got just a track renal fee. The only other new venue is Nashville, where the track owner shifted one Dover date to their dormant track near the Music City, so they maintained TV money for that date.

It will be interesting to see if Gateway really gets a complete Cup race, or just a track rental fee.

Second, will Gateway be required to install SAFER barrier in line with existing cup-level ovals? Right now, Gateway has SAFER walls on the outside in the turns only. I'm not sure about the inside walls. Most other tracks tried something similar, but later extended the soft walls just about everywhere. Will be interesting to see how that plays out. I predict a lot more soft walls.
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I think if they have to make significant upgrades to the track they will get a multi year deal to help cover that expense and IF its a lease the track rental asking price would go up considerably. Its a start, and if you want to test the waters for that Market now is the time.
 
Who knows about safer barriers everywhere. With the new car in certain instances they might forgo that especially at lower speed tracks like Gateway. It's not me but I would prefer to lease the track for a few years to test the market before trying to buy something that might not want to sell in the first place.

I know the Smith's said leasing the COTA was a success even with a monsoon.

There must be a ton of money to be made at Nashville. The Smiths will almost have to jack up the track and drive a new one under it. Parking is going to be a challenge, they have to operate with noise restrictions and sound barrier walls have to be built and no telling how many other hoops have to be jumped thru and they still don't own the track outright.
 
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StandOnIt said:
Who knows about safer barriers everywhere. With the new car in certain instances they might forgo that especially at lower speed tracks like Gateway.
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Disaster waiting to happen. NASCAR first tried to install SAFER barriers at locations where they calculated where most impacts happen, and drivers went through years of bad wrecks in spots where a barrier wasn’t. NASCAR has done a phenomenal job in the safety department since 2001 and I don’t expect them to let off that front now. Especially with a brand new car next season.
 
StandOnIt said:
The Trucks and Indycar already race there, they have for years.
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Hell they raced Xfinity and trucks with the opening in the wall on the backstretch til they stopped going their in 2010 or so. That was the most dangerous spot in professional oval racing...I can't believe the track operated like that past 1990 let alone well into the 00s.

I believe there's still some tracks without SAFER barrier all along the outside wall, and there's certainly tracks where there's large portions of inside wall unprotected.
 
Speedbowl14 said:
Hell they raced Xfinity and trucks with the opening in the wall on the backstretch til they stopped going their in 2010 or so. That was the most dangerous spot in professional oval racing...I can't believe the track operated like that past 1990 let alone well into the 00s.

I believe there's still some tracks without SAFER barrier all along the outside wall, and there's certainly tracks where there's large portions of inside wall unprotected.
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I would say money was the reason they didn't fix the opening. The track wasn't doing that great for some reason. World Wide has poured a ton of money into the facility after they bought it and bought a large chunk of land nearby for parking.
 
The key takeaway from this I took was that the land around the track and even if the right offer the track itself is available to be repurposed. This sucks, NASCAR is never coming back to Chicagoland. I cant even understand the reason for leaving, none was ever given I should say.

 
This kind of goes where Corey Lajoie was going several weeks back when he said Daytona might not be the first race. Otherwise, I can't see them going all the way to L.A. for an exhibition race only.
 
StandOnIt said:
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A cross country trip for the clash and then back to Florida for remaining speedweeks and then a few weeks later back to the west coast for the swing?

Seems excessive. Just add it into the west coast swing.
 
It's an exhibition race.

I like the idea of using it to test out ideas, I really do. I feel as if its a bit excessive in terms of trying to "cut costs". Now, I feel it would be better to go to Fontana with its renewed configuration.

New Smyrna would have been perfect for this...
 
“It has not yet been decided whether NASCAR’s new car will be used in the exhibition race; some teams have expressed reservations about racing the Next Gen in an event that doesn’t award points and likely will be a high-contact race due to the tight confines of the track.”

So is the all star race off the table for the next gen too?
 
ChexOrWrex said:
A cross country trip for the clash and then back to Florida for remaining speedweeks and then a few weeks later back to the west coast for the swing?

Seems excessive. Just add it into the west coast swing.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if NASCAR ends up running the West Coast Swing before the Daytona 500 in a few years.

Also, for those wondering about what tracks new venues will replace, the chatter that Homestead Miami Speedway could be sold and redeveloped are heating up again. Track sits on very valuable real estate and rumor is NASCAR is entertaining offers.
 
The concern of the new cars safety seems to still be a undertone in conversations… it hasn’t gone away.

gotta be some legitimacy to the folks questioning the integrity of the next gen car’s safety

EDIT: I honestly believe the Daytona 500 is not the first race in the next few years… and after that phase… I see a day where it’s possible all tracks get one Cup date… and when that happens, Daytona will be moved to the final championship race… By 2027 I say the Daytona 500 is the championship race
 
JGR_20 said:
The concern of the new cars safety seems to still be a undertone in conversations… it hasn’t gone away.

gotta be some legitimacy to the folks questioning the integrity of the next gen car’s safety

EDIT: I honestly believe the Daytona 500 is not the first race in the next few years… and after that phase… I see a day where it’s possible all tracks get one Cup date… and when that happens, Daytona will be moved to the final championship race… within 6 or 7 seasons I am calling that one
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Where is this concern and undertone? Are there articles about it if so I’d love to read. I agree in that once the Daytona 500 is moved off the opening weekend, all bets are off... eventually I do think it would be the final race of the season then. How many times have we heard “NASCAR is the only sport to start their season with its biggest race??” That narrative changes
 
Snappy D said:
Where is this concern and undertone? Are there articles about it if so I’d love to read. I agree in that once the Daytona 500 is moved off the opening weekend, all bets are off... eventually I do think it would be the final race of the season then. How many times have we heard “NASCAR is the only sport to start their season with its biggest race??” That narrative changes
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I say there’s and undertone just because it keeps getting mentioned… right after we think Nascar put those concerns to sleep… it still gets mentioned in social media updates… that alone tells me that there is likely still talk amongst people inside the sport if the concern keeps being mentioned

Its just my interpretation of the idea. I could easily be wrong. But I find it telling the next gen car and it’s safety is still getting fresh mentions
 
Snappy D said:
Success or fail, This is going to be wild to see.
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This one doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. Maybe I'm wrong but the whole LA area doesn't seem to be very inviting to nascar. They seem to be constantly passing environmental regulations that go against virtually everything nascar.

The other thing running out to LA to run an exhibition race, back to Daytona, then back out west for the west coast swing seems to oppose any cost cutting measures.

Now if we stayed out west for a couple races this might work

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AndyMarquisLive said:
I really think we end up seeing the Western Swing run before the Daytona 500 in a few years.

Can you imagine the Daytona 500 being up against March Madness though?
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I think then the 500 just becomes another race. I know in the past they used to run a race or 2 before the 500 but ever since I've been a fan the slogan has always been "nascar starts its season with the biggest race of the year"

Now when we put the "biggest" race of the year as the third or fourth race what the heck is it? Only way you could possibly even sell that is if you made it a double points race or something

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AndyMarquisLive said:
I wouldn’t be surprised if NASCAR ends up running the West Coast Swing before the Daytona 500 in a few years.

Also, for those wondering about what tracks new venues will replace, the chatter that Homestead Miami Speedway could be sold and redeveloped are heating up again. Track sits on very valuable real estate and rumor is NASCAR is entertaining offers.
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Plus, there is the Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens, I could see that venue replacing Homestead at some point.

wi_racefan said:
I think then the 500 just becomes another race. I know in the past they used to run a race or 2 before the 500 but ever since I've been a fan the slogan has always been "nascar starts its season with the biggest race of the year"

Now when we put the "biggest" race of the year as the third or fourth race what the heck is it? Only way you could possibly even sell that is if you made it a double points race or something

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That would be a textbook example of how NASCAR fixing what wasn't broken to begin with, backfiring
 
wi_racefan said:
the slogan has always been "nascar starts its season with the biggest race of the year"
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It wasn't the slogan until CBS coined it for their first complete live coverage, along with that 'Super Bowl of Racing' crap. It may have been good for CBS but I've always thought was poor marketing on NASCAR's part. If you've seen the 'biggest race of the year', why watch the other 35?

What exactly makes it the 'biggest', other than a slogan? It awards the same points as any other race. It may pay more cash, but none of it goes to any of us, so who cares how much is paid out?

I'd love to see the season start at another track. I'd like it proven that high TV viewer numbers in early Feb. are actually due to the D500 itself, and not that people will watch the first race of the season regardless of where it's run.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
It wasn't the slogan until CBS coined it for their first complete live coverage, along with that 'Super Bowl of Racing' crap. It may have been good for CBS but I've always thought was poor marketing on NASCAR's part. If you've seen the 'biggest race of the year', why watch the other 35?

What exactly makes it the 'biggest', other than a slogan? It awards the same points as any other race. It may pay more cash, but none of it goes to any of us, so who cares how much is paid out?
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If we want to use points as biggest race of the year then it's the 600 because that awards the most points

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I think it's great
 
JGR_20 said:
The concern of the new cars safety seems to still be a undertone in conversations… it hasn’t gone away.

gotta be some legitimacy to the folks questioning the integrity of the next gen car’s safety

EDIT: I honestly believe the Daytona 500 is not the first race in the next few years… and after that phase… I see a day where it’s possible all tracks get one Cup date… and when that happens, Daytona will be moved to the final championship race… By 2027 I say the Daytona 500 is the championship race
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The day a pack race decides the championship is the day I stop watching.

Imagine if all 4 contenders got in a wreck and couldn’t drive their cars. Who wins the title? The guy that slid the farthest??
 
Efisher131 said:
The day a pack race decides the championship is the day I stop watching.

Imagine if all 4 contenders got in a wreck and couldn’t drive their cars. Who wins the title? The guy that slid the farthest??
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agreed. I’m not at all saying I want it to be that way.

Im just stating that it doesn’t seem very far fetched to consider it. It all starts with a little shuffling that we are already seeing… once the Daytona 500 is the 2nd, 3rd or 4th race… it’s just another race then… so then it becomes easy to just make it the championship race and go for the wild drama. I honestly don’t know what’s kept them from doing it up to this point. It’s gotta be something they’ve kicked the tires on in meetings…

not the way it should be… but hey, a lot of folks say that the chase/playoffs don’t belong in NASCAR… look at how long it’s been here, and it’s not leaving. This series is consistent at one thing… making large changes
 
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