NASCAR: Change what needs to change, but quit fixing what's not broken

I’ve always been a big believer in change. NASCAR does it all the time, most recently with the All-Star Race — just not where you want to see change.

The 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race was needed now more than ever. It gave us a chance to let our guard down from the coronavirus pandemic and have one hot night.

All night long, the racing was intense and played out like your average race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Whenever the All-Star Race is coming up, I always look forward to the announcement of the format and what the race is going to look like, but the last couple of years, it hasn’t been as much about the format.

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Last year, NASCAR decided to run a special aero package, which had positive results according to fans — or at least according to The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck “Was it a good race?” poll, which had 91% out of over 10,000 voters say “yes”.

This year, however, it was all about cosmetic changes and the looks. The numbers on the cars were moved slightly toward the rear tire, and they actually didn’t look that different watching the race on TV. If teams can attract more sponsors and get perhaps more creative with that extra space, then this is a change I can get behind.

Then comes the most ridiculous and biggest waste I’ve ever seen on a stock car: the underglow neon lights.

First of all, they didn’t look that good on TV. I’m curious to hear from fans who were at the track — same thing with the number placement.

Secondly, and I’m going to come off as a racing purist here, but it’s not NASCAR. If I wanted to see underglow in racing, I would go to my local Tim Hortons (because Canada, eh!) at 10 o’clock at night and go to a car meet filled with Nissans and Mazdas where millennial men wear backwards caps and muscle shirts and call each other “dude” and “bro”.

It was just a gimmick, plain and simple. That’s what the All-Star Race has come to now. It’s not what it used to be. There were no special gimmicks for one race. It was “here are the best drivers right now, race for one million dollars, boys have at it.” That was it.

Both changes I mentioned were things that NASCAR didn’t really need to tamper with. Fans have not been screaming about where the numbers are on the side of the car or whether or not to light up the rear end because it might look cool.

Why not do what you did last year, perhaps with a preview of what the Gen 7 aero package might look like? Include the side skirts and the rear diffuser.

As the old saying goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Two out of the three changes NASCAR implemented on Wednesday night were just that.

The “choose rule” may have worked, but the crew at FOX Sports never made it matter, because when it came time for the rule to actually be shown off, they went to a commercial break. So I can’t form an opinion on something I didn’t really see. Again, if you were at the track, I want to know what you thought.

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NASCAR loves to change it up with almost everything they do. Aren’t we’re on our third or fourth playoff system in the last eight or nine years? It’s time for NASCAR to take a long look at themselves: what needs to be changed vs. what can they change?

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NASCAR: Change what needs to change, but quit fixing what’s not broken

By James Dunn | Jul 17, 2020

I’ve always been a big believer in change. NASCAR does it all the time, most recently with the All-Star Race — just not where you want to see change.