Rate The Race: Martinsville II

[Skoalbandit33]

My rating 5.5. That includes a deduction of 1.5 for the Nascar scoring SNAFU. Martinsville often conjures up images of a horse race on a merry-go-round, going in circles all day but rarely changing positions. And occasional images of roller derby, which is how changes in position finally occur. That can be interesting, except when the main protagonists are points racing, like they were yesterday.

I like short tracks as a change-of-pace diversion. I'm glad there are not more of 'em on the Cup schedule. The heart and soul of Cup racing is the fast intermediate tracks. I am aware that is a minority opinion, but so be it. The problem with the fast intermediates *until recently* has been a misguided high downforce approach, attempting to create close racing by making the cars easy to drive fast through aero rules. But since the dawn of the lower downforce era, the fast intermediate tracks have produced a lot of glorious skill-based racing. I wish more fans understood and appreciated the nuances of racing on the fast tracks, rather than being jazzed only by the beatin' and bangin' and wreckin' on short tracks. Just my $0.02.

Revman has been saying for a while that he feels most people don't watch Nascar in the correct way and therefore are not entertained and it sounds like you are lamenting that people don't put more into the viewing experience in order to have an appreciation for what they are seeing. If I am reading things correctly I get it as when I watch hockey or football I naturally look for nuances and subtleties as it is something that adds to the entertainment for me.

When I watch Nascar I just want to be entertained and for me that means just staring at the TV and liking what I see without putting much else into it. I don't care about listening to in car communication or knowing how many seconds is separating the 10th place car from the 20th or the degree of Yaw from one car to the next. For me it is like watching a movie as I don't care about what the actor had to do to prepare for a role or be hunting for things to make it redeeming. JMO but I think most people watch sports, racing and entertainment and have the value and enjoyment come to them instead of having to do something more to appreciate it.