In a month (approximately), NASCAR will unveil its long-awaited and possibly reconfigured 2021 Cup schedule, in which a new race car will be used. That sounds pretty exciting. But as last week proved once again, NASCAR fans never seem to be completely satisfied with anything.
First topic: wheel nuts. Or rather a wheel nut. NASCAR announced Monday that it will begin testing 18-inch aluminum wheels held by one center-locking lug nut instead of 15-inch steel wheels held by five lug nuts. NASCAR wants the wheels to look more like those on passenger cars.
This apparently makes little difference in the time of a pit stop – and who goes to a stock car race to watch pit stops, anyway? – and some fans liked it. But many more fans had a real problem with it. For them, removing and putting on tires is a kind of ancient art that dates back to the moonlight era.
In fact, it’s such an old art that a surprising number of NASCAR fans have taken to social media and declared that the sport simply wouldn’t be the same without the whistling of guns and worn lug nuts which were flying all over the stands. , they may well move away from NASCAR.
“As long as he holds the tire,” former driver and current NASCAR analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. tweeted, perhaps trying to diffuse the animosity. Reactions to Junior were, unsurprisingly, mixed. People hated the idea of a single lug nut because it just wasn’t five lug nuts – oh, and the new wheel was ugly.
Second topic: On Wednesday, NASCAR announced that the Busch Clash, the exhibition all-star race that looks a bit like an NFL preseason game, would be moved to the road course at Daytona International Speedway in 2021 and run on a Tuesday evening. .
NASCAR earlier announced that the 2021 Daytona 500 would take place on Sunday, February 14 – just a week after the Super Bowl, not two weeks. To avoid the Super Bowl and make the program stand out, the NASCAR tradition of Speedweeks should be condensed into a single Speedweek.
This year’s Busch Clash was a horror, with only six of 18 cars finishing the race on Daytona’s 2½-mile tri-oval. Some 2.455 million watched the Clash on Fox Sports 1, up from 2.294 million in 2019, but equipment worth thousands of dollars became scrap metal. (They will use old cars for the 2021 Clash.)
So Daytona came up with a plan, keeping in mind what fans put in the suggestion box: “NASCAR fans have been asking for more road racing, and the industry is listening,” said Daytona. Daytona International Speedway President Chip Wile said in a press release.
Then came the backlash. What was wrong with the tri-oval? And the sun ? The middle of the tri-oval, which includes part of the 3.56-mile road course, was dark and stock cars don’t have headlights like sports cars. Plus, Tuesday evenings in February, even in Daytona Beach, Florida, can be cold.
Fox had approved the idea, with producer Brad Zager saying in the release: “Fans craved midweek racing. These changes to the 2021 opening race slate will provide unique new storytelling opportunities. Fans prefer the old way.
Third subject: the coronavirus. NASCAR released a statement that read: “The health and safety of our fans, competitors, employees and everyone associated with IMSA, ARCA and NASCAR remains our top priority. We are in regular communication with the relevant authorities and will continue to monitor the situation closely.
The statement, which was similar to that of the IndyCar Series, didn’t say much, but it was notable in that it acknowledged at least an international pandemic, and more than 40,000 people are expected at a race Cup this weekend in Phoenix. Many fans said NASCAR overreacted, questioning on Twitter why anything needed to be said since no one within NASCAR was affected. NASCAR remains stuck on its comments.
This is a transitional season for NASCAR, during which all sorts of changes will be made to steer stock car racing toward an uncertain future. Many fans hate the mere mention of the introduction of some kind of stupid hybrid racing engine instead of a manly V8 engine.
What’s interesting is that NASCAR has taken some steps forward from 2018, when the series seemed to be hitting rock bottom. Before rain fell on the track and forced the end of the race to be postponed by one day, the 2020 Daytona 500 attracted 10.943 million viewers, up from 9.170 million in 2019.
(It should be noted that the rest of the race, Monday, February 17, averaged 7.026 million, an all-time record for a race that rarely experienced rain.)
NASCAR will never be what it was, and too many fans, or former fans, can’t let that go. NASCAR could bring back the King and Intimidator to drive gas-guzzling and expensive vehicles, but some people would probably find fault with that plan as well.
NASCAR deserves to be ripped apart sometimes, but this incessant whining is just annoying, pun intended.
MUCH FASTER READING:
Why NASCAR isn’t retiring car numbers
Bubba Wallace could take a NASCAR turn
NASCAR must fix the Daytona 500
The 2020 Daytona 500: the Big Bang theory
Why NASCAR accelerated the start of the 2021 schedule
