NASCAR: Five Things To Like About Race Format Changes
By Mike Hutton
On-Track Action Won’t Be Missed
Initially, the TV partners have indicated that they’ll use the segment breaks in which to air their commercials. That should be music to the ears of all fans, as many have complained in recent years of too many breaks where the racing was missed or not covered.
In races where long green flag stretches led to single-file, boring racing (or no actual racing at all,) which meant the networks didn’t have opportunities to air their commercials which, believe it or not, are necessary. Matters were made worse when all of the ads got crammed into the later stages of the race when action was picking up again. The segmentation of each event should help that – a lot.
If this all goes as planned – great. Another complaint of fans in recent years was that races became too long, which is something that didn’t make much sense. The races have not become longer, people’s attention spans have become shorter. Let’s just hope that these segments and breaks don’t add too much time from green flag to checkered flag. Even if they do, the promised increase in racing action and excitement should make up for it.