NASCAR And Revamping The Sprint Unlimited

The Sprint Unlimited is great and all but it needs to be changed and it’s hard to deny that fact.

Lets make it interesting.

While that is usually what people say when they want to make a wager with each other, it is also the mindset that NASCAR should have adopted when it comes to their Sprint Unlimited race that kicks off Speed weeks. Instead, fans of the sport are treated to an annual 70-lap shootout between 25 drivers for a large sum of money.

More racing: Should NASCAR Use The Daytona Road Course?

Although the large purse does give drivers a little bit more of an incentive to let it all hang out during the spring exhibition race, the event is still little more then a miniature version of the Sprint Cup All-Star Race that is held later in the year. In fact, the only real differences between the two events are the purse amount given to the winner, the format of the segments and the length of the race.

Other then those few differences, both races boil down to an all-out sprint for a very nice payday. While that might be all well and good for the Sprint Cup All-Star Race, which is based around the large one million dollar prize that goes to the winner, the Sprint Unlimited would really benefit from having an identify of its own.

For example, what if NASCAR took The NFL’s latest Pro Bowl idea, which is to have fans vote their favorite players in the game and then have them drafted to separate teams by two Hall of Fame Players, and apply that format to the season’s opening race at Daytona International Raceway? Wouldn’t something like that be alot more intresting than just a short, three-segment-dash-for-cash race?

Sure, it would admittedly be kind of weird to have a pro bowl style race at the beginning of the season, but it would add much needed excitement and added drama to the events of Speedweeks. Not only that, it would also give the Sprint Unlimited a more separate identity then the race that takes place later in the year.

Here’s how it could work.

The eligibility would still be determined by the usual factors that NASCAR has used in the past, but instead of having the eligible drivers compete for themselves, why not put them on a team and have them compete to accumulate points? Or even better, have each of the three manufacturers form teams and compete for points.

The points could be accumulated in the same way that a regular sprint cup race would work, and teams could be eliminated by whoever has the lowest amount of points at the end of a segment. Not only would that bring a Chase for the championship feel to the opening race of the season, it would also be interesting to see who the best team or manufacturer would be.

As for how the teams are determined, NASCAR could hold a draft the day before the race and have former champions or current Hall of famer’s draft eligible drivers to their team. This would also allow for a bit of a rivalry to be created the day before the race takes place. The teams could also be determined by their car manufacturer and preliminary races could be held to determine who will be the one’s to represent each team.

Going back to the drafting teams idea, the field could also be expanded to 32 eligible drivers, which would allow for up to four teams to compete in the annual exhibition race. Not only would that increase the already high level of excitement for the race, it would also allow NASCAR to do something that no other main stream sport has done during their all star game.

As for the winner of the race, that would be determined by whoever was leading at the end of the final segment of the race. While that driver would receive a large purse for winning the race, the surviving team would also receive money for being the last team standing at the end of the evening.

Of course this idea isn’t perfect and would probably require some retooling, but it would still be really exciting to see NASCAR have a format like this for the annual Sprint Unlimited race. If nothing else, the format would give NASCAR a very unique and exciting event that their fans could actually look forward to at the beginning of the season.

Although fans will probably think that NASCAR would never adopt a format like this for one of their exhibition races, fans need to remember that NASCAR has gone above in beyond in taking aspects of mainstream sports and applying the formats to the sport of NASCAR.

One example of this is the new Sprint Cup Chase format that is very similar to that of the NBA and NFL, especially in the sense that there are rounds and a certain number of teams are eliminated at the end of each round. NASCAR Officials even alluded to the fact that the new format was an attempt to make NASCAR more like mainstream sports during the formats unveiling in 2014.

Another example of this is NASCAR’s widely popular, Green-white-Checkered rule, which is basically NASCAR’s version of an overtime period during their races. The rule change was used to give fans a chance to see a a race end in green flag conditions, even if there was an accident before the last lap of the race.

More racing: Does NASCAR Need A Commissioner?

In the end, the new format would be to a way to spice up the opening race of the season and would also give NASCAR a unique event that hasn’t been seen in any other sport. Not to mention the fact that it would add another interesting layer to the already exciting speedweeks that take place each year at Daytona International Raceway.