NASCAR: New Changes Could Spark More Interest In Other Series

NASCAR recently announced a few changes to their lower series and that could attract some new followers to the sport.

NASCAR’s newest changes to the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series have caused some controversy throughout the racing community.

The elimination-style Chase format used in the Sprint Cup Series will be added into both of the lower series since they were still using the traditional points system to determine champions.

NASCAR will also be adding what is known as a “caution clock” to the Truck Series. This clock will be set for 20 minutes, and if that time expires without a caution, the yellow flag will be flown and the field will enter into a competition caution.

Though negativity has filled the air about these topics, NASCAR implemented these new ideas into the sport in order to try to attract more fans…and they just might be successful.

In an article by Jared Turner of FOX Sports, we got some quality quotes from Richard Petty that dealt with NASCAR and popularity:

"“We’ve still got a bunch of fans out there, a bunch of people watching on TV, a bunch of people going to the races, and all that stuff’s coming back. It killed it when we had the recession deal, and now it’s starting to come back, come back, come back. But we’ve still got to get those new people. There’s so much competition, so many things going on that it’s a different world, so it’s how do we get those people interested in the car mindset, and get them interested in coming into racing?”"

Implementing new ideas such as the ones stated above are subjects that are going to grab the attention of any race fan, whether they are an avid follower of the sport or simply a part-time fan.

Adding the Chase to the Xfinity Series and Truck Series is going to end up as a big-time win. The reception from the first two years of the Chase in the Sprint Cup Series has been incredible. The amount of pure competition involved as well as the passion that drivers have shown is something that is doing wonders for the sport.

Putting the Chase into a couple of series that feature younger drivers will be a treat. It is going to give those younger drivers a taste of what the elimination-style Chase is like before they even make it to the Sprint Cup Series.

It is also going to increase the amount of intrigue in fans who only pay attention to the Cup Series. If they are fans of the Chase, they are going to be more likely to tune into the others series to see what drama and excitement unfolds.

As for the caution clock, it remains to be seen as to whether it is going to be a working part of the Truck Series. FOX Sports analyst Larry McReynolds weighed in on that in one of his articles:

"“I’m not a big advocate of artificially controlling races, but it dawned on me that when the Truck Series first was formed, they actually had a halftime break built into the race format, so this new change sort of goes back to that.”"

Though Larry Mac does make a great point about the halftime period that used to be in the series, the caution clock is something that some fans won’t like. No one enjoys seeing the field on a caution and adding in cautions every 20 minutes that there isn’t one could cause quite a few stoppages in the action. The caution clock, good or bad, will simply attract many fans who are interested in seeing if it helps their favorite driver out.

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Overall, there is no way to know how these new changes are going to work out until the season begins but one thing is for sure: NASCAR is going to gain many interested viewers who could become long-term fans if they like what they see.