Start times for 2017 season

Essentially going away from the 1 p.m. starts. Just 2 cup races next year with that starting time. About half of the non-holiday weekend Sunday races will start at 3 or 3:30 p.m.
 
Honestly fine with that, what I'm concerned about is why the Brickyard is being moved to NBC and why Darlington is being moved to NBCSN :confused:
 
Bristol to NBC.

Worst move this network has made yet. Why would they put it on NBC after the race being on ABC for so many years was a disaster for most race fans?

Zeck said:
Honestly fine with that, what I'm concerned about is why the Brickyard is being moved to NBC and why Darlington is being moved to NBCSN :confused:
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Sunday night race. NBC's been burned on that a few times already. Daytona and Homestead last year were almost calamities for the network. Not to mention, the fans bitched to high heaven over the Brickyard 400 being on NBCSN instead of NBC.
 
After a solid week of posts complaining that Indy was on a network no one gets, now we complain about it being on the main channel? What possible downside is there with a race being on NBC rather than NBCSN?
 
RacerrecaR said:
The later the start times, the better. I love being able to spend my Sundays outside or taking care of random projects around the house, and then spending the evening relaxing with a race on tv.
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Fans complained about later start times and now complain about earlier start times.

Fans complain that the Brickyard 400 is an awful, boring, piece of **** race but complain that it's not shown on NBC.

:confused:

LewTheShoe said:
After a solid week of posts complaining that Indy was on a network no one gets, now we complain about it being on the main channel? What possible downside is there with a race being on NBC rather than NBCSN?
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To me, the downside is the Southern 500 getting relegated to NBCSN. A race EVERYBODY enjoys now being on "a network no one gets".

The worst part is Bristol on NBC. This was a disaster for ABC for years with that race always being pre-empted in local markets for NFL Preseason games. NBC affiliates air preseason games too.

I know my local NBC affiliate airs the Panthers preseason games. If that's the case next year, the Bristol Night Race won't be available to me ... again. After I missed that race for five straight years due to network pre-emptions by ABC affiliates where I lived.
 
F this! I like the 1 pm start times. After the race is over you can bbq supper and get on with your day.

Another reason my Sundays will soon be clear.

Luckily soon the NFL is back.
 
RacerrecaR said:
The later the start times, the better. I love being able to spend my Sundays outside or taking care of random projects around the house, and then spending the evening relaxing with a race on tv.
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kk5fan said:
F this! I like the 1 pm start times. After the race is over you can bbq supper and get on with your day.

Another reason my Sundays will soon be clear.

Luckily soon the NFL is back.
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LOL
 
Just saw the start times column.

LOL same **** happened last time NBC had the races. The races started later and later every year.
 
I like this, especially the Daytona 500 moving back an hour. The only real down thing about this is there's only going to be 4 Chase races on NBC.
 
The 3 pm start times are absurd! Michigan, Pocono, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen and NHIS do not have lights! These start times are further narrowing the available time to accommodate weather and other delays! I hated it before when they did this last time. It's the main reason we stopped going to Dover. Nothing like walking out of the race in near darkness in September!!

I hate what TV does to this sport! Screw the attending fan!
 
Tracks like Pocono need all the daylight hours they can stand to be able to get a race in. 3? Really? I'm sure the Monday crowd will love it
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Daytona 500 should be in primetime. Maybe that will happen in 2018 since it's moving back to President's Day Weekend.
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Honestly I would be a huge fan of running the Daytona 500 Saturday night. Daytona in primetime is the way to go.

sky said:
Tracks like Pocono need all the daylight hours they can stand to be able to get a race in. 3? Really? I'm sure the Monday crowd will love it
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Where I am at, the sun doesn't set in the Summer time until about 9pm. So I say 6 hours is enough time to get the races in, if there isn't rain.
 
kk5fan said:
Except for those of us not in the US....
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Not to be a dick, but I don't think you are really Nascar's main demographic. Besides who doesn't like them some Midnight Nascar! Honestly with my schedule I'd probably love midnight nascar better than midday nascar. lol
 
I'm in Canuckistan in the Eastern Time Zone so the time is the same....we just don't have the next day off!
 
KodiakRusty89 said:
The 3 pm start times are absurd! Michigan, Pocono, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen and NHIS do not have lights! These start times are further narrowing the available time to accommodate weather and other delays! I hated it before when they did this last time. It's the main reason we stopped going to Dover. Nothing like walking out of the race in near darkness in September!!

I hate what TV does to this sport! Screw the attending fan!
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If the races were going to start at 3:00pm it would be one thing but between all the useless dicking around they do they races won't actually start until close to 3:30. I DVR all the races and during football season I try and piecemeal the race in between ball games and get it finished up before 7:00pm. It sounds like I will be watching more races Monday morning and missing some next year.

AndyMarquisLive said:
Daytona 500 should be in primetime. Maybe that will happen in 2018 since it's moving back to President's Day Weekend.
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A night wreckfest.......cool.....more sparkly things to see.

AndyMarquisLive said:
With the race going back to President's Day Weekend, Sunday night would be fine.
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Who other than bankers and govt employees not work Prez Day? If they hold the race on Sunday night beginning at 8 most people will be asleep before they last 10 laps when the real challenge for positions begin.

AndyMarquisLive said:
This stops NFL fans from watching Sunday Night Football.

Oh wait, no it doesn't.
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Football and Nascar are apples and oranges. People will walk on their lips through busted glass to see football and will go into work bleary eyed the next day. It ain't happening for Nascar.....trust me.....and with the age of Nascar's audience half the people will be snoring by 9:00pm.

kk5fan said:
I'm in Canuckistan in the Eastern Time Zone so the time is the same....we just don't have the next day off!
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Neither do most Americans as it is a regular business day and even many of the banks are now open. No mail and no courts or governments are open but it is not even noticeable.
 
wow , starting the Phoenix race at 330, with enough cautions, the spring race will end up as night/dusk race for the last few laps
 
Great points bandit!! NASCAR sold its soul to TV in 2001 and it's never been the same. People can blame France all they want but he has to answer to the TV execs. They only care about one thing. Everything that's been done over the last 15 years has been to benefit the tv viewer/increase tv viewership. The attending spectator is nothing more than annoying mouth to feed. What made this sport great was the live event. NASCAR once took great pride in that.

The late starts are just another slap in the face of the attending fan. For one thing, most of these tracks do not have the infrastructure for handling darkness. We're talking about races ending around 7 if not later on a Sunday evening because there's no way in hell the green flag actually flying at 3 pm. I know it's wise to take off work for weather purposes. Now a lot of people will have to take off work just because they're getting home so damn late. Brooklyn, Long Pond, Watkins Glen and Loudon are not places you want to be driving out of in darkness either. A lot of critters and winding roads through the country. Might as well forget about tailgating after the race unless you want hang around some flashlights. That's if you can find your car in darkness if there's a weather delay.

Plus, meteorology 101 taught me the hottest part of the day in the summer is generally between 3-6 O'clock. So enjoy frying even more in the stands. That time also has the highest percentage for afternoon t-storms due the heating building up. If there's a delay of any real length you can almost forget about getting the whole race in.

Dover and Pocono were bad enough when the starts got pushed back to 2:40. This is just going to suck. Attendance will definitely take an every further hit because of this.....
 
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I took a few minutes to look back at one of the previous start time announcements from the fall of 2009, talking about the standardized start times for the 2010 season and beyond. It's kind of funny to read what was said back then about the importance of the standardized times vs. the most recent announcement from yesterday. Here's a link to what I'm referring to. It's a transcript of the announcement. Long but interesting to read how what was once so important doesn't mean squat now.

http://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/nascar-future-start-times-teleconfence/

SiriusXM NASCAR Radio hosts will push this topic all day stating the good in it. Kind of funny as some of these same hosts were talking just six years ago how important the standardized times were. Flavor of the month I guess.

Personally I like the later times. It works better for my schedule to be able to get things done and then sit down later in the afternoon to watch a race. It doesn't really bother me as an attending fan because I always take extra days after the event in the case of weather and the like. Most times I camp at the track anyhow so the race time is a non issue.
 
LewTheShoe said:
After a solid week of posts complaining that Indy was on a network no one gets, now we complain about it being on the main channel? What possible downside is there with a race being on NBC rather than NBCSN?
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Yeah, I don't get it either. :confused: Any race that can be shown on an OTA network that is available to almost the entire population of the US seems like a good move.
 
KodiakRusty89 said:
Great points bandit!! NASCAR sold its soul to TV in 2001 and it's never been the same. People can blame France all they want but he has to answer to the TV execs. They only care about one thing. Everything that's been done over the last 15 years has been to benefit the tv viewer/increase tv viewership. The attending spectator is nothing more than annoying mouth to feed. What made this sport great was the live event. NASCAR once took great pride in that.

The late starts are just another slap in the face of the attending fan. For one thing, most of these tracks do not have the infrastructure for handling darkness. We're talking about races ending around 7 if not later on a Sunday evening because there's no way in hell the green flag actually flying at 3 pm. I know it's wise to take off work for weather purposes. Now a lot of people will have to take off work just because they're getting home so damn late. Brooklyn, Long Pond, Watkins Glen and Loudon are not places you want to be driving out of in darkness either. A lot of critters and winding roads through the country. Might as well forget about tailgating after the race unless you want hang around some flashlights. That's if you can find your car in darkness if there's a weather delay.

Plus, meteorology 101 taught me the hottest part of the day in the summer is generally between 3-6 O'clock. So enjoy frying even more in the stands. That time also has the highest percentage for afternoon t-storms due the heating building up. If there's a delay of any real length you can almost forget about getting the whole race in.

Dover and Pocono were bad enough when the starts got pushed back to 2:40. This is just going to suck. Attendance will definitely take an every further hit because of this.....
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Well said and you brought up a bunch of points I had not thought of. Nascar and the tracks talk about enhancing the fan experience and then sit and watch while the networks make things worse.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
My DVR doesn't care what time they start so I don't either.
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I hear what you are saying but with the later starts it could push my viewing into the next day or if I have a lot going on not seeing the race at all. I'm sure I will figure out something though but I do feel bad for race attenders on the east coast.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I took a few minutes to look back at one of the previous start time announcements from the fall of 2009, talking about the standardized start times for the 2010 season and beyond. It's kind of funny to read what was said back then about the importance of the standardized times vs. the most recent announcement from yesterday. Here's a link to what I'm referring to. It's a transcript of the announcement. Long but interesting to read how what was once so important doesn't mean squat now.

http://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/nascar-future-start-times-teleconfence/

SiriusXM NASCAR Radio hosts will push this topic all day stating the good in it. Kind of funny as some of these same hosts were talking just six years ago how important the standardized times were. Flavor of the month I guess.

Personally I like the later times. It works better for my schedule to be able to get things done and then sit down later in the afternoon to watch a race. It doesn't really bother me as an attending fan because I always take extra days after the event in the case of weather and the like. Most times I camp at the track anyhow so the race time is a non issue.
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I think you hit the nail on the head by describing this change as a personal preference as it will work for some while others will dislike it. Personally I liked it when Indiana did not observe DST and the races would be on before noon on some dates and I loved tuning into ESPN and having the cars on the parade laps as they were signing on.

I love being out west and beginning to watch football at 10:00am but I am sure that would drive many people nuts.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I think you hit the nail on the head by describing this change as a personal preference as it will work for some while others will dislike it. Personally I liked it when Indiana did not observe DST and the races would be on before noon on some dates and I loved tuning into ESPN and having the cars on the parade laps as they were signing on.

I love being out west and beginning to watch football at 10:00am but I am sure that would drive many people nuts.
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Yeah, it's tough to please everyone. I'm just going to roll with it.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Yeah, I don't get it either. :confused: Any race that can be shown on an OTA network that is available to almost the entire population of the US seems like a good move.
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It makes no difference to me and from the network's perspective it could mean hoodwinking a few more people to tune in.
 
Johali said:
Maybe I'm just dumb as a stump but there wasn't one clear answer to any question. Just a bunch of corporate speak and spinning. :idunno:
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If you are as dumb as a stump then I am dumber than a stump as all I heard was lip service and evasion.
 
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