Beyond the Flag
Fansided

NASCAR: What’s wrong with NASCAR? Part 5 – Scheduling

By William Richard

LONG POND, PA - JUNE 03: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 3, 2018 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
LONG POND, PA - JUNE 03: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 3, 2018 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 7
Next
LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 04: Cars race during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 4, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 04: Cars race during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 4, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /

The issue

With a little background knowledge, let’s get to the root of the issue: scheduling. As we mentioned on the last slide, NASCAR’s boom led to many new facilities being built. These tracks were eventually put on the national touring schedules, and they still reside there today. So what’s the issue?

Those days have passed. With the combination of an overly aero-dependent car, intermediate tracks have become single-file, unexciting Sunday, sometimes Saturday night, drives. Aside from restarts, fans might as well read books during these races, especially during long green flag runs.

Lackluster racing attracts fewer fans and pushes away the fans who have stayed dedicated to an ever-changing sport. To put into perspective of how stale the sport has become, NASCAR currently holds Cup Series races at 24 different tracks, eight of which are 1.5 miles in length. Those eight tracks host 11 of the 36 events throughout the season.

In addition to those 11 events, add two races at Pocono Raceway, two events at Michigan International Speedway, one race at Auto Club Speedway and one race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and nearly 50% of the Cup Series schedule is run at non-restrictor plate tracks that are at or over 1.5 miles in length.

The other 19 events are three road course races, four restrictor plate races, six short track races, two races at Dover International Speedway and ISM Raceway and one race at Darlington Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Home/NASCAR Cup Series