{"id":64554,"date":"2019-08-15T09:19:41","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T16:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=64554"},"modified":"2019-08-15T09:19:41","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T16:19:41","slug":"whats-really-wrong-with-nascar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/whats-really-wrong-with-nascar\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Really Wrong with NASCAR?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"What's<\/p>\n

NASCAR seems to have been losing fans at an alarming rate for the last few years. Online \u201cexperts\u201d in NASCAR-related forums and groups posit various theorems as to why this is. These ideas run the gamut from allowing too many young drivers into the sport to rules changes. However, one of the main complaints is that the cars no longer look stock.<\/p>\n

\"What's<\/p>\n

NASCAR. National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. Once upon a time what this boiled down to was, \u201cWin on Sunday, Sell on Monday.\u201d The cars you saw on track on Sunday were the same as you\u2019d see on the showroom floor on Monday, other than some minimal safety modifications.<\/p>\n

\"What's<\/p>\n

Back then, NASCAR\u2019s rule was that if it was to run in the series, it had to be a trim\/options package that the manufacturer made at least a certain number of for sale. This number ranged from 500 to 2500 over the years. These days the cars all look the same. The only differences between the cars that are readily noticeable are the names on the rear bumpers and the names on the grilles. Other than that, you really can\u2019t tell the difference between Kyle Busch\u2019s Toyota Supra, Chase Elliot\u2019s Camaro ZL1 and Kevin Harvick\u2019s Ford Mustang except for the decals. They all use the same template during inspections. That alone should tell you something\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n

\"What's<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t really say when this change began, but it\u2019s been warming up to where we\u2019re at now for a number of years. Not too long ago, if you saw a driver in a Cup car you knew that that driver had gotten there through experience and skill. Not so these days. These days, money is king. What that means is that a driver\u2019s skill mean less in their getting a ride in a good car from a well-funded team than what sponsors the driver can bring in. That\u2019s why you see so many drivers even from supposedly \u201cgood\u201d teams always lurking at the rear of the field, never getting past 25th position unless a big wreck takes out half the pack.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s my opinion that this is especially true of drivers like Paul Menard, whose family owns the huge Menard\u2019s Lumber chain. He would never have gotten a driving job 20 years ago. He\u2019s just not talented enough as a driver. I say the same thing about Dale Jr. (and his cousin Jeffrey), even though he was one of my favorite drivers. He didn\u2019t have the driving skill his father had.<\/p>\n

\"What's<\/p>\n

The constant rules changes are another item brought up on a regular basis in NASCAR discussion (ranting) groups. Restrictor plates. Low downforce package. High downforce package. People even moan about displacement and horsepower restrictions, although the drivers of the day were the major driving force behind those rules changes.<\/p>\n

So-called \u201cfans\u201d claim that if a driver can\u2019t handle a track like Daytona or Talladega with the full output of a huge engine, they have no place on a NASCAR track. They don\u2019t care that these changes were implemented at the request of drivers because the cars of the day couldn\u2019t handle the speeds those engines were capable of, and a number of top drivers were killed or seriously injured when they were overpowered by their cars.<\/p>\n

\"What's<\/p>\n

The new downforce packages are also a stickler with some people, even though most current drivers love them since they feel the new package puts more emphasis on their driving skill and less on the car\u2019s setup from the shop. It\u2019s my opinion that the new downforce package has given us much better, more exciting racing with more passing and door-to-door driving.<\/p>\n

Another item that I hear\/see all the time is people complaining about the \u201cLucky Dog\/Free Pass\u201d when the caution falls. They say \u201cif drivers aren\u2019t good enough to not be lapped, why give them a lap back? Going a lap down is just part of racing.\u201d NASCAR did it to make racing more exciting; get\/keep more people on the lead lap and competing harder for the win.<\/p>\n

\"What's<\/p>\n

When I heard that NASCAR was going to introduce stage racing, I was crushed. \u201cNASCAR\u2019s going to look like a sprint race, rally, or bike race? Uh\u2026no.\u201d Then I started watching and reading interviews done by drivers and crew chiefs. \u201cI think Stage Racing is going to make strategy more important.\u201d \u201cStage Racing is going to mean drivers are going to fight hard for position more than just at the end of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both of these predictions have come true. Do you pit with two to go in the stage or stay out? When the stages are shorter than tire\/fuel runs, do you stay out and try to get stage points in both stages or do you tailor your pit strategy to try and keep you out during the final stage when others are pitting?<\/p>\n

\"What's<\/p>\n

As for the driving harder part, have you not been paying attention lately? Drivers are fighting for position more now. These fights for position aren\u2019t limited to just the top five or ten, either. Everyone wants to get into the Top Ten at stage end so they can get stage points. Personally, I think Stage Racing was probably the best change NASCAR has made in the last 20 years or so.<\/p>\n

\"What's<\/p>\n

NASCAR\u2019s Chase is relatively new. The system of \u201cWin and you\u2019re in\u201d is also fairly new. \u201cOld school\u201d fans remember when a driver could win the first five races of the season and then go into a slump for half the season, suffering DNFs and bottom 20 finishes and by the end of the season have no chance to gain the points required to win the Championship.<\/p>\n

Today, a driver doesn\u2019t even need to win a single race to be eligible to compete for the Championship. They just have to be consistent and be at least 16th in points to have just as much of a chance to become champion as the driver with 11 wins (Kyle Busch a few years ago). Before the new system was implemented, your season was over if you weren\u2019t in the top ten in points when the last five races of the season came around. You just didn\u2019t have a snowball\u2019s chance to gain enough points to reach the top spot and take home the brass ring. It just wasn\u2019t possible. Now it is.<\/p>\n

RacingJunk would like to know what you think. Drop us a comment and I\u2019ll be sure to reply as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASCAR seems to have been losing fans at an alarming rate for the last few years.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":64558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3424,3470,5029],"tags":[1074,127,41,7049,1632,4789],"class_list":["post-64554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","category-news","category-racing","tag-mike-aguilar","tag-nascar","tag-news","tag-opinion-piece","tag-racing","tag-rules-changes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Op-Ed-Lead-min.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-gNc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64554"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64565,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64554\/revisions\/64565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}