Should NASCAR shorten all 500-mile races except the Crown Jewels?

This weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway will be closely watched for many reasons. This will be the first race at Texas Motor Speedway in 2020, a track that hasn’t produced the most exciting races since its reconfiguration in 2017, and it’s just one of a handful of remaining races that will feature a 500 distance miles.

Many people have suggested that NASCAR should reduce all 500-mile races to races 400 miles or less, outside of the crown jewel events. It’s true – many in the NASCAR world believe that with today’s racing and almost non-existent attrition rate, any race of 500 miles or more is simply too long.

Times change, and so do the demands of racing fans. The final 500-mile race at Atlanta Motor Speedway lasted just over 3 hours and 30 minutes. Is it too long? Three of NASCAR’s signature events are 500 miles or more in length: the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500. No one wants to disrupt tradition, but outside of those three races, is it time for NASCAR to change things. for the younger generation and shorten all 500 mile races? Clayton Caldwell and Mark Kristl come together this week to discuss this very controversial topic.

We’re trying to solve the wrong problem

Let me go on record as saying that I am a fan of the old school that resists change. There are some things I got completely wrong, but I truly believe that if we try to shorten races, we are trying to solve the wrong problem.

The length of the races is not the problem. Of the five remaining 500-mile races, two of them belong to Talladega Superspeedway. This season’s race at Talladega was action-packed. There was a lot of noise after the event, but none of it was intended to shorten the length of the race. For what? Because many people love the action and drama at Talladega and wouldn’t choose to cut the distance of these races at all.

The number of 500-mile races on the NASCAR schedule has declined significantly in recent years. Dover International Speedway previously hosted two 500-mile races. Auto Club Speedway’s only event once lasted 500 miles. Both Pocono 500-mile events have been reduced. The Charlotte 500 mile event in October turned into a 250 mile ROVAL.

Let me ask you this: do you really think that reducing the length of these races has helped the racing at most of these tracks? Every year I see people complaining about the lack of action at Pocono Raceway. This did not stop as races were reduced to 400 miles.

The new Texas setup was an absolute disaster. It’s become a one-groove race track no matter how much PJ1 they throw into the corners. The track once provided a great spectacle but that is no longer the case. Let me tell you, 500 miles is not the problem in Texas. There they have bigger problems.

Let’s change the subject for a second. The NFL is the largest sport in the United States, followed by college football. In some parts of the country, college football is like a religion. Has anyone actually sat down and timed the average length of a college football game from start to finish? No! No one cares, because the product is amazing. Just like Talladega, no one cares how long something takes if it’s an enjoyable experience.

This is what we should focus on. What can we do to help 1.5 mile track racing in this sport? I don’t think the current package improves things, but I also don’t think the competition stages and precautions help speed up the pace of the race.

If we start reducing the length of races because they are boring instead of focusing on the real issues, how far do we want to go? What happens when 400 mile races seem too long? It simply ignores the real problems: the lack of clean air that affects these aerodynamic-dependent cars on 1.5-mile tracks.

All of these factors contributed to the lack of action and long race times. The length of these races is not the problem, it is the race itself and the way we organize the races. You’ll never hear fans complain about the length of college football games, which average over 3 hours and 15 minutes, because there’s always action and entertainment. We need to focus on the real problem instead of ignoring it and fixing something that doesn’t need to be fixed.

-Clayton Caldwell

This will improve the product

Not every NASCAR race will feature dozens of leaders with exciting side-by-side racing. Can a driver dominate a race and still be exciting? Absolutely – but it’s not a certainty.

Because not every race will be remembered as exciting, NASCAR can do us all a favor and shorten race distances. Shortening race distances may not improve the quality of the track product, but it at least reduces race time before it becomes boring.

There are many practical reasons for shortening runs. Weather permitting, fans may prefer to spend a Sunday outside rather than inside watching a race. NASCAR’s TV partners broadcast other programming that they do not want to disrupt if a NASCAR race runs out of time. In the height of summer – and at places like Texas Motor Speedway – drivers will have to battle the damaging effects of heat exhaustion. Most of the time, midweek races are the only races that are reasonably long, in terms of laps, mileage and total time.

2020 also showed us how bad a weekend of bad weather can be for the sport. Shorter races make it easier to run a race all the way to its official finish point – midway – or reschedule completely.

Shortening race distances also saves teams money. Fewer laps in a race decrease the number of tires needed. Fewer tires purchased over the course of a season is an important cost-saving measure for teams. Fewer tires available in a shorter race could also lead to pit strategy. If a race is full of cautions, then crew chiefs may be forced to determine when their drivers should call for fresh tires rather than automatically going for four fresh tires. There would also be less fuel consumption and, most likely, less wear and tear on equipment.

But when it comes to running quality, shortening runs ideally improves intensity. If NASCAR reduces the length of races, the number of laps in a stage also decreases. Qualifying, whenever NASCAR resumes its use, becomes paramount. In special stages, drivers have fewer laps to get into the lead and score points. Pit stop errors are even more detrimental because there is less time to regain track time. Yes, one driver could still dominate this race, but a shorter race intensifies the competition and allows drivers to charge hard every lap.

In addition to shortening the distance of the Texas and Atlanta races, NASCAR could also reduce mileage at Chicagoland. I supported It’s been two years since NASCAR was scheduled to make it a shootout on a 1.5-mile track. Regardless of the package, NASCAR can market any Cup Series race as a short, fast event.

NASCAR has had to shorten the race distances scheduled on its schedule for some time. As Caldwell noted, NASCAR has reduced mileage on a few track races. He needs to continue this change, starting by decreasing mileage in one, if not both, races in Texas and Atlanta. – Marc Kristl