NASCAR’s Need For Control Is Hurting Their Overall Product

NASCAR is the reason that NASCAR is suffering. More specifically, NASCAR’s need for control is doing more harm for the sport than good.

Is NASCAR becoming more of a reality show than a sport?

For those of you that  think this is just crazy talk from a fan that has grown tired of the sport and its new bells and whistles, consider some of the strange events that took place throughout the 2016 season. While some fans might be able to chalk these strange incidents up to coincidence or even claim that NASCAR made these rulings in the name of safety, others know all too well that NASCAR officials have a lot of control over what happens during a race or even the entire season.

Take the fall race at Talladega for example. Although NASCAR stated earlier that week that they would only be attempting one green-white-checkered finish, they later changed their mind during the actual race. Sure, they defended it by saying the field never went back to green but everyone saw the green flag wave. Whether it was not give Dale Jr. another shot to make the Chase, keep themselves from looking foolish or any other reason you can think of; it’s something that never should have happened.

Unfortunately for NASCAR their quick-thinking didn’t go as planned and they were forced to call the race after a huge wreck bunched up the field. If they on-the-fly rule change wasn’t bad enough, it appeared that Kevin Harvick caused the wreck on purpose on the last restart which provided NASCAR with another headache. If that wasn’t bad enough for NASCAR officials, they later had to explain to reporters and media pundits why they decided to have an extra green-white-checkered attempt when it was decided earlier in the week that they would only have one attempt due to safety concerns.

Despite many fans criticizing NASCAR for the last minute rule change, officials still maintained that because the accident happened before the green flag was ever waved, the attempt wasn’t official and the race could be restarted. While NASCAR did admittedly do a great job of justifying this rule to the fans and themselves, its still a great example of how NASCAR officials can and sometimes do impact the outcome of a race if they so choice.

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Then there was the fall Chase race at Phoenix International Raceway. The race was originally supposed to take place earlier in the afternoon, but was extensively delayed due to severe rain in the area. While the drivers did eventually see the green flag later in the night, the race was delayed again because another severe rain storm had just entered the area.

Although it was obvious that the race would not be able to continue for the rest of the night, NASCAR officials still had a chance to get the race in the next day in the afternoon. Unfortunately for fans and drivers alike, that didn’t happen and the final-four was decided by a race that was only half completed. This was bad news for Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and several other drivers who were only a few spots away from earning a spot in the final round of the Chase.

While this in no way means that NASCAR scripts its winners, its rivalries and its championships, it does mean that NASCAR has a lot of control over the outcome of any given race and can oversize that control at any time. With that being said, NASCAR fans now must ask themselves whether they like the fact that NASCAR has so much control over what happens during the season, or if its getting in the way of the sport actually being a sport.

Take the new caution clock instituted in the Camping World Truck Series as another example.

Sure, the rule is new and no one will exactly know how it will impact races until the beginning of the season, but the new rule change does basically make sure that NASCAR can bunch of the 36-truck field every 20 minutes or so. Yes, this will create more exciting side-by-side racing for fans, but it’s also another example of NASCAR controlling too much. The new rule also guarantees a 20-30 lap shootout style run to the finish which will be exciting for fans, but is the excitement artificial?

Remember the aforementioned green-white-checkered flag? That there is another tool that NASCAR can use to flex their control over the sport. While many will argue that this rule was created to give NASCAR fans a chance at seeing a green flag finish, it also is a way for NASCAR officials to bunch up the drivers one more time and create a two-lap desperation dash to the checkered flag. NASCAR even later changed it from one attempt to three attempts to help make things even more exciting, or fair as they presented it.

The G-W-C thing also plays into the phantom caution discussion, but we will table that talk for another day.

Finally, there’s The Chase for the Sprint Cup at the end of the season. Although the original Chase didn’t interfere with the outcome of the season too much, especially with how some drivers were still able to run away with the title thanks to the insanely complicated points system. The new Chase does show NASCAR’s want for control. The new system doesn’t help NASCAR pick and chose champions but it does create drama, put stress on drivers and force things to happen that would not happen without this format.

Again, NASCAR is not becoming as scripted as something like WWE.  However, that doesn’t change the fact that NASCAR is clearly making changes in an effort to get the result that they want. Some call that growth, others call it manipulation, NASCAR fans call it killing the sport, attendance and ratings.

New fans to the sport might actually like this about NASCAR. Sure, in some ways the excitement that takes place is manufactured and ultimately a slap in the face to what the sport used to be, but new fans who aren’t familiar with the sports history wont really notice that. They’ll just see it for the entertainment value that the intense racing and Chase format provide every season.

As for old-fashioned fans of NASCAR, all the format and rule changes are probably a scary reminder that this sport has changed immensely over the course of the last ten years and will continue to do so. Unfortunately for these fans, the changes are slightly justified, especially if you consider the fact that NASCAR needed to improve their product in order to reach a larger audience of people that want to view it. The question is, how can NASCAR retain its old-fashioned fans, while bringing new viewers to the sport as well?

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While the answer to that question remains to be seen, NASCAR  needs to make some smarter changes to the sport, or risk losing more and more of their older fans. Now this in no way  means that NASCAR shouldn’t continue to try to make the product as exciting as possible, it just means that they shouldn’t forget all the fans that got NASCAR here in the first place. It also means that they need to figure out a way to make sure fans don’t walk away from a race or a season thinking that NASCAR had a hand (directly or indirectly) in the outcome of the competition that they just witnessed.

NASCAR has been on a slippery slope with their fans for a while now and it might be time to figure out a way to get off of it.