Should NASCAR shorten races next season?

With more midweek races and doubleheaders potentially being added in the future, should NASCAR also consider shortening Cup Series races?

Eight of the 36 races on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule had scheduled distances of 500 miles or longer. So far this season, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, we have been able to see a comparison of longer races vs. shorter races at the same venue, with both Darlington Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway hosting races just days apart.

The first race at the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) Darlington Raceway egg-shaped oval in Darlington, South Carolina was 400.2 miles long and was run over 293 laps. The second race, which was run just three days later, was scheduled for 311.4 miles and 228 laps but was called with 20 laps to go because of rain.

The second race featured almost eight more green-flag passes per lap (13.3 to 5.4), and despite being 85 laps shorter, it featured six more lead changes (17 to 11). The race took a little bit under three hours to complete.

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Another interesting stat to note is that there was only one instance in which a driver led more than 27 laps at a time. To compare, the first race featured four of those instances.

At the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Charlotte Motor Speedway oval in Concord, North Carolina, we saw the annual Coca-Cola 600 run on Memorial Day Sunday. The longest race of the year mileage-wise is run over 400 laps, although this one went 405 laps (607.5 miles) due to overtime. The second race four days later ran 312 miles over 208 laps.

The second race featured almost five more green-flag passes per lap (12.4 to 7.6), and despite being barely half as long, featured just six fewer lead changes (20 to 14). It lasted just under two and a half hours.

As mentioned, the Coca-Cola 600 did have 20 lead changes, which is good for any race, but the 2016 and 2018 races saw just nine lead changes over 600 miles. Both races featured the eventual winner leading over 375 of the 400 laps.

The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck has been posting a “Was it a good race?” poll on Twitter after every race since 2016. The second race at Charlotte Motor Speedway got a 76.2 percent vote for yes, higher than the 49.9 percent for the first. The aforementioned 2016 and 2018 races got 45 and 38 percent, respectively.

Another race to mention is the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Although it was a 508-mile race, it was an action-packed race that saw two and three-wide racing throughout.

The reason for this is because rain was a threat throughout the day and nobody wanted to be in the back when the rain hit. No one knew when the race would end, so everyone wanted to be up front. It very well could have been only a 300-mile race.

Going back to Gluck’s Twitter poll, that race got a 94.3 percent for yes, which was tied for the third highest percentage for any race since 2016.

The issue with longer races is that  most drivers don’t show their true stuff until the final stage when it matters. Stage racing is supposed to put a premium on running up front all race long, but there are some races in which drivers still sacrifice stage points for a better finish.

Over the next few seasons, I think NASCAR will begin to shorten more races. There will definitely be some races such as the Daytona 500, Southern 500 and Coca Cola 600 which will keep their traditional distances, but many of the other races should be up for debate.

I can particularly envision NASCAR altering races at tracks that host two races. For example, having the traditional 500-lap night race at Bristol Motor Speedway but changing the spring race at the track to 400 laps or making one of the races at Kansas Speedway 300 miles instead of 400 miles could work since shorter races have proven to lead to much more actual racing.