Interest builds around possible changes to NASCAR schedule

The Pocono doubleheader was an interesting experiment, but NASCAR seemed to get their answer on the viability of the concept. I think the Saturday Pocono race was the least watched Cup race of this year that ran on schedule, and by a large margin. I believed that getting cut to one race was inevitable and said so, but that might have sped up the process.
 
I think most tracks are going to go down to only one cup date soon. Eventually I think all of them will only have one date.. even Daytona & dega… thats when teams will actually save some race cars for the first time. One race at Daytona and Talladega would spare the teams a couple wadded up cars in the whole season

I used to love those races… at one time you had a chance to stay out of trouble and finish with the car in one piece. For the last several years you can almost guarantee 15 are gonna be totaled in at the 499 mile marker of the races… surprised these drivers cannot figure out how to avoid wrecking the entire field with a stupid move… drivers 15 years ago found ways to finish the races without a turn 3 pile up EVERY SINGLE RACE. Aside from the networks loving the video they get for commercials… it looks criminally Busch League that this series cannot finish Daytona without the whole field wrecking
 
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JGR_20 said:
I think most tracks are going to go down to only one cup date soon. Eventually I think all of them will only have one date.. even Daytona & dega… thats when teams will actually save some race cars for the first time. One race at Daytona and Talladega would spare the teams a couple wadded up cars in the whole season

I used to love those races… at one time you had a chance to stay out of trouble and finish with the car in one piece. For the last several years you can almost guarantee 15 are gonna be totaled in at the 499 mile marker of the races… surprised these drivers cannot figure out how to avoid wrecking the entire field with a stupid move… drivers 15 years ago found ways to finish the races without a turn 3 pile up EVERY SINGLE RACE. Aside from the networks loving the video they get for commercials… it looks criminally Busch League that this series cannot finish Daytona without the whole field wrecking
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One race each would make a lot of tracks undesirable from an economic standpoint. Yes, we currently have some tracks that have only one date. The road courses all have one date and they have other major events through the year. Kentucky had one date....gone. Chicagoland had one date...gone. Michigan, Loudon, Homestead, Dover, and Nashville all have a single date. Nashville has had a ton of money thrown at it and it was desired by NASCAR. The rest of the tracks have seen little to no improvements in the past decade. From an accounting standpoint you probably don't "need" to have two races when your track surface is 10+ years old, there aren't new skyboxes or grandstands all over the place, and there aren't 100ftx100ft big screen TV's on the backstretch to pay off.

At the same time, ISM and ISC have dumped massive amounts of money into their "premier" tracks- Daytona, Bristol, Charlotte, Texas, Phoenix, etc. They're not going to go to one race anytime soon.



All this to say Bruton Smith still probably hates New Hampshire 🤣
 
Speedbowl14 said:
One race each would make a lot of tracks undesirable from an economic standpoint. Yes, we currently have some tracks that have only one date. The road courses all have one date and they have other major events through the year. Kentucky had one date....gone. Chicagoland had one date...gone. Michigan, Loudon, Homestead, Dover, and Nashville all have a single date. Nashville has had a ton of money thrown at it and it was desired by NASCAR. The rest of the tracks have seen little to no improvements in the past decade. From an accounting standpoint you probably don't "need" to have two races when your track surface is 10+ years old, there aren't new skyboxes or grandstands all over the place, and there aren't 100ftx100ft big screen TV's on the backstretch to pay off.

At the same time, ISM and ISC have dumped massive amounts of money into their "premier" tracks- Daytona, Bristol, Charlotte, Texas, Phoenix, etc. They're not going to go to one race anytime soon.



All this to say Bruton Smith still probably hates New Hampshire 🤣
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I remember when Bruton bought NHIS. Poured millions into it, eliminated the infield pond for more organized parking, put the new bathhouse in behind 1&2, camping upgrades, etc. All a smoke show, as the Sept.race went to Vegas. I was one of the 25 year Veterans at NHIS and before, when it was Bryar Motorsports Park. Now, Laconia Grandstands have been wiped clean.Gone.Only 1 race. The town will Never allow lights. The list goes on and on for Loudon. The Bahre family cared about New England racing. I know they hosed N.Wilksboro, and that's a shame, but that's business, plain and simple.
When you have deep pockets, anything is possible.
 
MAGICMILER said:
I remember when Bruton bought NHIS. Poured millions into it, eliminated the infield pond for more organized parking, put the new bathhouse in behind 1&2, camping upgrades, etc. All a smoke show, as the Sept.race went to Vegas. I was one of the 25 year Veterans at NHIS and before, when it was Bryar Motorsports Park. Now, Laconia Grandstands have been wiped clean.Gone.Only 1 race. The town will Never allow lights. The list goes on and on for Loudon. The Bahre family cared about New England racing. I know they hosed N.Wilksboro, and that's a shame, but that's business, plain and simple.
When you have deep pockets, anything is possible.
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I'll never understand Burton's move. He bought it in 08 or 09? Whatever the case by that time it was clear NASCAR was having attendance problems. Other than those original improvements you mentioned very little has changed other than taking down grandstands and paving the grass portion of the backstretch.

The next decade will be very interesting for Loudon. The track will need a repave sooner than later. Will that come with a reconfiguration as we've seen done at all the other SMI tracks in recent history? While we're at it sell the entire north end of the parking/camping area. Zero use for it.
 
MAGICMILER said:
I remember when Bruton bought NHIS. Poured millions into it, eliminated the infield pond for more organized parking, put the new bathhouse in behind 1&2, camping upgrades, etc. All a smoke show, as the Sept.race went to Vegas. I was one of the 25 year Veterans at NHIS and before, when it was Bryar Motorsports Park. Now, Laconia Grandstands have been wiped clean.Gone.Only 1 race. The town will Never allow lights. The list goes on and on for Loudon. The Bahre family cared about New England racing. I know they hosed N.Wilksboro, and that's a shame, but that's business, plain and simple.
When you have deep pockets, anything is possible.
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I am not unconvinced that London won’t allow lights. There was a poll done a while back that found that most people were fine with it.

If the town objected, Bruton could work with the NH legislature to get them to pass a bill to authorize it. All NH towns can be restricted by an act of the legislature.

But the track is down to one date now so all of that might be more trouble than it’s worth.
 
Speedbowl14 said:
One race each would make a lot of tracks undesirable from an economic standpoint. Yes, we currently have some tracks that have only one date. The road courses all have one date and they have other major events through the year. Kentucky had one date....gone. Chicagoland had one date...gone. Michigan, Loudon, Homestead, Dover, and Nashville all have a single date. Nashville has had a ton of money thrown at it and it was desired by NASCAR. The rest of the tracks have seen little to no improvements in the past decade. From an accounting standpoint you probably don't "need" to have two races when your track surface is 10+ years old, there aren't new skyboxes or grandstands all over the place, and there aren't 100ftx100ft big screen TV's on the backstretch to pay off.

At the same time, ISM and ISC have dumped massive amounts of money into their "premier" tracks- Daytona, Bristol, Charlotte, Texas, Phoenix, etc. They're not going to go to one race anytime soon.



All this to say Bruton Smith still probably hates New Hampshire 🤣
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Texas already is one race.

No the All Star Race doesn't count.
 
Speedbowl14 said:
I'll never understand Burton's move. He bought it in 08 or 09? Whatever the case by that time it was clear NASCAR was having attendance problems. Other than those original improvements you mentioned very little has changed other than taking down grandstands and paving the grass portion of the backstretch.

The next decade will be very interesting for Loudon. The track will need a repave sooner than later. Will that come with a reconfiguration as we've seen done at all the other SMI tracks in recent history? While we're at it sell the entire north end of the parking/camping area. Zero use for it.
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Just keep X lot !!!
 
Speedbowl14 said:
One race each would make a lot of tracks undesirable from an economic standpoint. Yes, we currently have some tracks that have only one date. The road courses all have one date and they have other major events through the year. Kentucky had one date....gone. Chicagoland had one date...gone. Michigan, Loudon, Homestead, Dover, and Nashville all have a single date. Nashville has had a ton of money thrown at it and it was desired by NASCAR. The rest of the tracks have seen little to no improvements in the past decade. From an accounting standpoint you probably don't "need" to have two races when your track surface is 10+ years old, there aren't new skyboxes or grandstands all over the place, and there aren't 100ftx100ft big screen TV's on the backstretch to pay off.

At the same time, ISM and ISC have dumped massive amounts of money into their "premier" tracks- Daytona, Bristol, Charlotte, Texas, Phoenix, etc. They're not going to go to one race anytime soon.

All this to say Bruton Smith still probably hates New Hampshire 🤣
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Think you're right. I'd also throw Talladega in there for 2 races a year, and Martinsville. Richmond also got renovated, their infield did I believe.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I don't know that layout but if it bypasses turns 13 through 16, I'm all for it.
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It does not, 7-11 are bypassed
1631125290174.png
 
Could you imagine how crazy the racing and the infield would be if Talladega added lights and had a night race?

The TV execs are turning away from night races because TV ratings are down versus Sunday day races.
 
Ew. That keeps the portion I really don't like. They just crawl through T12 - T15. And T11 to T12 is the longest straightaway on the circuit and great passing / braking area entering T12. If those are our only choices, keep using the full course.

My invoice for 2 cents is in the e-mail. PayPal or Bitcoin accepted.
 
wi_racefan said:
I'm the opposite. When it's nice out during the day i have better things I can be doing outside than sitting in front of a tv for 3 hours. At least the night races are easier to free up time for.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
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I prefer a sprinkling of night races through the season myself. It felt like for a while there in the late 2000's early 2010's that every weekend it was a night race. I think they have a good mix now.
 
wi_racefan said:
I'm the opposite. When it's nice out during the day i have better things I can be doing outside than sitting in front of a tv for 3 hours. At least the night races are easier to free up time for.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
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To each his own. I watch in the garage and do outdoor chores during the ads.
 
People want what they can't have....Charlotte and Bristol were super special when they were the only big night races.

Then 1pm starts became a rarity and now we want those back lol.

For a decade people were demanding a midweek race and how it was be amazing for the ratings. Well we tried that and the TV ratings were absolutely complete flaming garbage.
 
gnomesayin said:
The Pocono doubleheader was an interesting experiment, but NASCAR seemed to get their answer on the viability of the concept. I think the Saturday Pocono race was the least watched Cup race of this year that ran on schedule, and by a large margin. I believed that getting cut to one race was inevitable and said so, but that might have sped up the process.
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Good buddy of mine I've been going to Pocono with for years called this ice cold the year they went to one weekend. I may have even posted about it here but I don't care to go back and look...he said this is strictly to groom the fans for one race at Pocono down the road. He was exactly right, and it happened sooner than I expected but so it goes. I don't think viability of two-cup race weekends was ever on the board. It was the long goodbye.

It's a shame for a lot of fans, big chunk of the population is just a few hours' drive from the place...easy drive at that. Interested to see if attendance at one race appreciably increases but I think I already know that answer.
 
Bob said:
Good buddy of mine I've been going to Pocono with for years called this ice cold the year they went to one weekend. I may have even posted about it here but I don't care to go back and look...he said this is strictly to groom the fans for one race at Pocono down the road. He was exactly right, and it happened sooner than I expected but so it goes. I don't think viability of two-cup race weekends was ever on the board. It was the long goodbye.

It's a shame for a lot of fans, big chunk of the population is just a few hours' drive from the place...easy drive at that. Interested to see if attendance at one race appreciably increases but I think I already know that answer.
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Well, Darlington and Atlanta both had a single race for several years, and both are back to two this year.
 
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Pocono should have the stands straddling the tunnel. Too late for that now. Have the S/F line in the middle of the tunnel, like any trioval. Imagine having all the fans at Daytona on the backstretch and nobody in the big turn.. That's Pocono. It was good when NASCAR was the top of the world, now it's a hindrance. You could put 150000 people in that turn but it would be a prospect. You'll never fill the Pocono stands again. Yes they run Indy there but attendance is worse than NASCAR.

You can't see unless you're in the top half. They have two big screens. That's it. You can't see the winner's circle or the flag stand unless you're lucky enough to be right there. It has its flaws. I still love the place.
 
Bob said:
Pocono should have the stands straddling the tunnel. Too late for that now. Have the S/F line in the middle of the tunnel, like any trioval. Imagine having all the fans at Daytona on the backstretch and nobody in the big turn.. That's Pocono. It was good when NASCAR was the top of the world, now it's a hindrance. You could put 150000 people in that turn but it would be a prospect. You'll never fill the Pocono stands again. Yes they run Indy there but attendance is worse than NASCAR.

You can't see unless you're in the top half. They have two big screens. That's it. You can't see the winner's circle or the flag stand unless you're lucky enough to be right there. It has its flaws. I still love the place.
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They'll never put seating in the tunnel turn. Wayyyy crazy expensive.

People bitch about Pocono views but I've never had a problem as long as you're in the upper half as you said. It's not like Indy where there's a bunch of crap in the infield blocking views.
 
Speedbowl14 said:
They'll never put seating in the tunnel turn. Wayyyy crazy expensive.

People bitch about Pocono views but I've never had a problem as long as you're in the upper half as you said. It's not like Indy where there's a bunch of crap in the infield blocking views.
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I think it really comes down to how good your eyesight is, I've been to Pocono for Indycar and I can see almost all of it
 
Mispeedway15 said:
It does not, 7-11 are bypassed
View attachment 57337
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That would make the average speeds even slower. I don't like the idea of shorter layouts at all. When a major racing series comes to a track they should also run the full course. Leave the national circuit (or whatever it's called) to Gentleman drivers and Mazda Miatas.

Pocono is the first (and so far only) track where I have attended a NASCAR race. Losing this track would hurt.
 
donthaveanickname said:
That would make the average speeds even slower. I don't like the idea of shorter layouts at all. When a major racing series comes to a track they should also run the full course. Leave the national circuit (or whatever it's called) to Gentleman drivers and Mazda Miatas.

Pocono is the first (and so far only) track where I have attended a NASCAR race. Losing this track would hurt.
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That Miata series is a stone cold hoot and a half. NBC should air some of those during the next rain delay.
 
Bob said:
Pocono should have the stands straddling the tunnel. Too late for that now. Have the S/F line in the middle of the tunnel, like any trioval. Imagine having all the fans at Daytona on the backstretch and nobody in the big turn.. That's Pocono. It was good when NASCAR was the top of the world, now it's a hindrance. You could put 150000 people in that turn but it would be a prospect. You'll never fill the Pocono stands again. Yes they run Indy there but attendance is worse than NASCAR.

You can't see unless you're in the top half. They have two big screens. That's it. You can't see the winner's circle or the flag stand unless you're lucky enough to be right there. It has its flaws. I still love the place.
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I want stands in turn 1 at Pocono looking straight down the frontstretch. I’d sit there every year
 
isnt the schedule coming out tomorrow or are my wires crossed?
 
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