NASCAR: Five Lessons Learned From The Coke Zero 400 at Daytona

Super Speedway Racing Needs To Be Shorter

Races like Daytona and Talladega can turn extremely exciting in an instant.

Fans watch as the laps tick down, and as the race starts to come to a close drivers try to push toward the front and take the lead.

It’s a dangerous dance to watch as these cars go around the track at extreme speeds and three lanes wide. They also move closer to the car in front in hopes of getting their lane to move toward the front of the field faster than the others.

Than in an instant, one small mistake leads to a massive crash that takes out a huge amount of cars.

Before this type of racing happens at Daytona and Talladega though, fans have to make it through all the green flag racing.

Green flag racing at super speedways isn’t anywhere near as exciting at the start of the race as it is towards the end. The amount of laps run at these tracks gives drivers the chance to hang around in the back and not worry as much about staying toward the front of the field.

The Coke Zero 400 was a prime example of how 160 laps at a track like Daytona is too many, especially when compared to the race run the night before in the Xfinity Series, which was only 100 laps.

When it comes to Daytona and Talladega is often feels like fans have to wait hours before the real race starts, and a huge part of this is because these races are too long. NASCAR should start to consider making these races shorter in order to challenge drivers who decide to hang out in the back of the field.

Giving them less time to hang around in the back will force drivers to race harder earlier, leading to exciting moments sooner, and helps fans avoid having to sit through so much underwhelming green flag racing.

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