NASCAR: The case against noon start times, from a west coast fan
By James Dunn
The argument for NASCAR races to start earlier continues from east coast fans. But let’s think about the west coast fans for a second.
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway ended at around 7:15 p.m. ET. The debate on earlier start times continues to rock the fanbase. Most fans I see who call for these changes live on the east coast, and who can blame them?
Four out of the last five races have started at 4:00 p.m. ET or later, and many have ended at around 7:30 p.m. ET or 8:00 p.m. ET. West coast fans, however, see the starts at 2:00 p.m. MT or 1:00 p.m. PT.
Would earlier start times get the viewership the sport wants from the west coast? Here’s a bit of a history lesson.
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In 2010, start times were standardized for all races: east coast races began at 1:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. MT and 10:00 a.m. PT) while west coast races began at 3:00 p.m. ET (1:00 p.m. MT and 12:00 p.m. PT).
Of course, this debate is all about day races. We don’t need to focus on night races.
For me, I was 10 years old and stock car racing was at an all-time high. I never wanted to miss a race and I watched all of the pre-race activity heading into each event. SPEED channel existed back then, so I had great shows such as NASCAR Performance, NASCAR Smarts, and NASCAR RaceDay to start my morning.
I believe I can even list the lineup and the time they would be on SPEED. Let’s say there is a west coast race happening and I live in the mountain time zone. The day would start with NASCAR Performance at around 7:00 a.m., and then it would be NASCAR Smarts at 7:30 a.m., and then it would be the two-hour extravaganza that was NASCAR RaceDay from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
A hardcore, young fan like myself has no problem with this schedule. However, the casual race fan would have no chance to watch these programs, let alone the race itself.
To me, west coast fans aren’t going to be that interested in watching a race in the late morning, especially the casuals that the sport continues to desperately try to woo.
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The start times now don’t bother me much. If fans on the east coast find these current times are bad, try being from the United Kingdom and watching a night race that starts at 5:30 p.m. ET, but 10:30 p.m ET local time.