Kevin Harvick: Most 500-mile races should be shorter

dpkimmel2001

dpkimmel2001

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On a related note, @dpkimmel2001 wants a shorter work day.....



Kevin Harvick “100 percent” believes 500-mile races like last Sunday’s at Texas Motor Speedway and other non-“crown jewel” races should be shorter.

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver made the comments Tuesday night on his SiriusXM NASCAR Radio show, “Happy Hours.”

Harvick thinks race distances should be adjusted to fit the current landscape of NASCAR racing and fan attention spans.

There are eight 500-mile races on the schedule.

“I think the 500-mile race is a long time,” Harvick said. “I think with the stage racing and the things that we have going now and the attention spans of what people want to watch, I think that there should be the Coke 600, the Daytona 500, the Southern 500, the crown jewel events should have those distances, and I think everything else should be shorter.”

Sunday’s race in Texas was 334 laps and finished in three hours, 24 minutes and 18 seconds. It was the fourth Cup race through the first seven of the year to last longer than three hours and 20 minutes.

http://nascar.nbcsports.com/2017/04/12/nascar-kevin-harvick-most-500-mile-races-should-be-shorter/
 
What else can we change about this sport? Are we that bored and don't have enough going on that we have to literally touch every aspect of it? It's getting old. The way I look at it, the events last no longer than your typical baseball or football game most of the time. The stage racing certainly hasn't helped with what seems to be long drawn out races either. And if they shorten the events the stage racing will make for a terrible product IMO as guys won't have enough laps of consecutive green flag racing, etc. to allow them to work their way thru the field. NASCAR is backing themselves into a corner. This falls right in line with the idea of softer tires next season and not having prolonged periods of green flag racing to allow for them to do what they're designed for - because of stage racing.

If they shorten races then they better shorten the ticket prices too, considerably.
 
The answer is timed events. Timed green to stoppages ‘n time overall.

Help out the fans of ole Harv’s with attention span issues.
 
Or maybe eliminate stage racing to immediately shorten races by 15 minutes.

Or just leave the 500-mile races alone. Only 20% of the schedule is that length...it would be a different story if it was 50% or more.
 
It doesn't matter whether you are young or old as if you are watching/engaged in something you really like you can't help but pay attention. I am not a binge watcher of entertainment programs but I am aware of young and old people that can remain glued to a dumb or smart TV hours upon hours because they are partaking of something that interests them.

When people are speaking of shortening Nascar races what they are really saying is "our product isn't good enough to hold the people's attention so lets have less of it in the hopes they don't get turned off as fast."
 
Agree 100%. the majority of the races are too long. I've been a fan almost 25 years so it's not a newbie to the sport saying this. I'd keep the Daytona 500, Southern 500 and World 600 as they are. every other race on the schedule should be 2.5 hrs tops green to checkers.
 
Johnny G said:
Agree 100%. the majority of the races are too long. I've been a fan almost 25 years so it's not a newbie to the sport saying this. I'd keep the Daytona 500, Southern 500 and World 600 as they are. every other race on the schedule should be 2.5 hrs tops green to checkers.
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I'll void your request with mine to keep the races just as they are.
 
I don't think I could disagree more. Charlotte, Atlanta and Texas are not too long. Pocono and Dover going to 400 didn't hurt them, that I agree with, but why change the others? It's never been an issue before, why now? If they do go shorter, they will try to squeeze in the same amount of commercials and charge the same thing for tickets. It's crazy.
 
We’ve seen a gain in the valuable demo.

This “sport” needs to be looked at as entertainment, drop the pretense. Let the “racing” thing go. The TV partners are well on the way with loud, obnoxious, over-acting hosts. A few gimmicks are in place ‘n well received by those who “didn’t think I’d like it but.”

Let’s continue in this direction. Make it fit perfectly in the broadcast time restraints. Live “crowds” are irrelevant – ain’t a large enough number. Add more exciting gimmicks, more blabbering Mikeys.
 
I can honestly say that with one exception, when I fell asleep briefly in the stands at Michigan, I have never attended a NASCAR race or any race that I thought was too long. As for watching on TV, I have gone through times where I did not enjoy sitting and watching the race live on TV. Those times I recorded the race and if it starts to get to me I could fast forward. The past two years I have rarely used the fast forward button during a Cup race (except during commercials).

Honestly, I look forward to the races now, more than I have for quite a few years...despite all the changes. Maybe NASCAR is doing something right?
 
I don't buy the attention span bull****. It's a popular way to talk about our society now, but have never seen any definitive research that indicates that people avoid time consuming activities. I think that Dr. Phil....er, Harvick is just picking the low hanging fruit. It sounds like shorter races should make sense, but there's no proof. Didn't know how long Sunday's race was until I heard Pete Pistone, et al. bitch about it.

This is what concerns me about NASCAR's changes....Somebody starts something, and then, let's chase our ass as if it is absolute truth.
 
If shorter is better, let's experiment with The Morning Drive on NASCAR Radio. Cut it to 10 seconds, and I'm in!
 
Waa Waa Waa......Kevin Harvick!
As a fan.... I want long races. More enjoyment per event for me.
If Harvick feels they're too long....then retire and let the young guns run these
"Long Races".
My attention span is just fine....but I am an old fart.
People are trying to sell us that less is more. I call B.S.
Will they charge the sponsors less? Will they charge the fans less?
We all know the answers don't we?
 
DIDIT said:
I can honestly say that with one exception, when I fell asleep briefly in the stands at Michigan, I have never attended a NASCAR race or any race that I thought was too long. As for watching on TV, I have gone through times where I did not enjoy sitting and watching the race live on TV. Those times I recorded the race and if it starts to get to me I could fast forward. The past two years I have rarely used the fast forward button during a Cup race (except during commercials).

Honestly, I look forward to the races now, more than I have for quite a few years...despite all the changes. Maybe NASCAR is doing something right?
Click to expand...

The DVR is very handy to have as by the time you FF through the commercials and other non essential parts of the broadcast you can see a good race in a shorter period of time without missing anything.
 
What wuss....makes millions but wants to work less. I'm sure he isn't the only pansy out there.

Like someone said above, I've never been to a race that I thought was too long. I've wanted some to end quick when my guy was leading and I've wished more laps when my guy was trying o get to the front but never while in attendance did I say lets get this over with already. Even sat through a couple hours at Martinsville when the track came apart and ruined Jeff's day (thank God). Now rain, don't like rain delays but that's different. At home, I usually have things to do so I record it and watch at my leisure. Again, usually wishing I had more to watch when it's over.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Kevin Harvick “100 percent” believes 500-mile races like last Sunday’s at Texas Motor Speedway and other non-“crown jewel” races should be shorter.

Sunday’s race in Texas was 334 laps and finished in three hours, 24 minutes and 18 seconds. It was the fourth Cup race through the first seven of the year to last longer than three hours and 20 minutes.
Click to expand...


Kevin Harvick has just announced that if NASCAR won't shorten the races that he'll be forced to take matters into his own hands as, being the genius that he is, he's determined that the length of the races can be shortened by simply [I]driving faster[/I] . . .
 
Football games and Baseball games take about 3-1/2 hours - I wonder if those fans are arguing for shorter games.
 
pjmolo said:
Kevin Harvick has just announced that if NASCAR won't shorten the races that he'll be forced to take matters into his own hands as, being the genius that he is, he's determined that the length of the races can be shortened by simply driving faster . . .
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Harvick could pull off the track after 2 hours.
 
Carving 20% off the time would mean that race would've taken 163 minutes or 2 hours and 43 minutes.

Personally I think races time wise are just fine, it's very similar to a round of golf. Baseball really is the only sporting event that currently I see as too long, average games are around 200 mins long which is insane for a sport that plays 162 times a year.

IMO for "event" type of sports that are played once a week 3:30-4 hours is cool


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
My preference is for longer races.

Expectations may be too high for this competitor ... Kevin is from Bakersfield.
 
Zerkfitting said:
Football games and Baseball games take about 3-1/2 hours - I wonder if those fans are arguing for shorter games.
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my father in law is a HUGE baseball fan and flat out tells everyone that the main reason kids don't watch baseball anymore is the games are too long.
 
Zerkfitting said:
Football games and Baseball games take about 3-1/2 hours - I wonder if those fans are arguing for shorter games.
Click to expand...

Yes, they are. And both the NFL and MLB are doing things to accelerate the pace of the games.

No matter what NASCAR does or doesn't do, the fans are gonna bitch and whine so what difference does it make?
 
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