This week, the racing world woke up to a big shock with the sudden retirement of NASCAR driver Carl Edwards, who at 37 is in the prime of his racing career. He wasn’t the only one to retire though. Also retiring from racing was John Wes Townley who is 27.
Soon after announcing his retirement, his family racing team folded. Edwards didn’t give a real reason why he was walking away and Townley walked away due to having a concussion and not risk further injury. So why are these drivers walking away so soon? Can it be that drivers have had enough of the way NASCAR is run today?
In 2003, Brian France took over NASCAR from his father Bill France Jr. His first moves were getting rid of the Winston sponsorship and later signing Nextel to be the new title sponsor. Second, he created what was he thought was great turns out it’s not, known as “The Chase”.
In 2004, Brian introduced the chase which is a playoff format for NASCAR to create drama and keep the point system tight and no one could run away and win the title. Kurt Busch won the first championship under the chase rules before the chase began, Jeff Gordon had a commanding lead thus preventing him from winning a 5th title.
Tony Stewart would go on to win the championship the next year before Jimmie Johnson began his dominance winning 7 championships with Stewart, Harvick, Keselowski, and Kyle Busch also winning championships as well. But what started out as a great idea by France has turned into a disaster. The chase would be gone from all 3 series under the new NASCAR.
Also hurting NASCAR is the decline in attendance. In the last decade, attendance from all NASCAR tracks have declined by over 30%. So bad that the fans are not coming out to the big races like the Daytona 500, Bristol, and Talladega, and you see empty seats at those racetracks. Before Brian France took over you couldn’t get a seat for any of the big races. You had to order your tickets as soon as they went on sale or you were out of luck.
Now, you can buy the tickets right at the box office. NASCAR has said that it’s the economy. But if the economy was so bad, how come you see more people attending more sports car racing like IMSA, Pirelli World Challenge, Monster Trucks, NHRA, Off-Road Racing, and so on.
The economy for racing is fine, it’s the way NASCAR is running its business that’s killing the sport. NASCAR needs to eliminate the chase once and for all. Go back to the old Winston Cup points system. That’s a start to get fans back at the racetracks again.
Another way to make NASCAR exciting again is to take a page out of the sports car book, go back to what made the sport great and race real cars. Cars that you can buy at the dealership and customize to race like stock cars. The car industry was great back in the days when Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, David Pearson, and so on won races with real cars.
The fans didn’t care who was racing the cars, it was a matter of what manufacturer was the best. If Ford beat Chevy and Dodge, fans would go to the dealership and buy that exact car cause they know that Allison won with that car. The same went with Dodge and Plymouth with Richard Petty driving those cars. NASCAR needs to bring this back and not custom identical cars with stickers of the cars on them. Let the teams get the cars and add the safety features like a roll cage and so on to protect the drivers.
Not only would this help rejuvenate the sport but also the dealerships as well. I don’t know about you, but I would love to see a real Chevy SS, Ford Fusion, and Toyota Camry go at it. The same would go for the truck series having a real Tundra, F-150, and Silverado racing to see who is the best truck. Now you could see who is truly the best manufacturer today.
The last thing on this list is the schedule. The NASCAR season is long. Starts in February and ends a week before Thanksgiving in November. Before, NASCAR would end the season in October at Atlanta. NASCAR needs to get creative with the schedule. They need to split all three series up and have them only appear together at 2 races.
The Camping World Truck Series and the Xfinity Series need to break away from the Monster Energy Series. Both the Trucks and Xfinity don’t get good crowds at the same tracks as the top series but get good crowds when they are not with the Monster Energy series like Iowa and Eldora. Doing this would create more opportunities for other drivers to race in the Camping World and Xfinity Series.
Fans have complained that the top series drivers interfere and take away opportunities for other drivers to race that same car. Truth is, if a top series driver wants to race and compete for the Truck and Xfinity championship in their own car or truck, I have no problem with that.
But if they race another car in the Truck and Xfinity that’s not their own then they shouldn’t. But there is a reason for this as Kyle Busch’s wife Samantha Busch said that the sponsors want the big-name drivers in the cars or else they won’t sponsor the car thus the team gets no money at all. By splitting all three series, other racing series like IMSA, and Trans-Am could partner up with the Trucks, Xfinity, and Monster Energy. As a fan, I would buy a ticket to see IMSA and NASCAR Xfinity Series in one weekend, that would be cool.
To shorten the season and give the drivers a longer off-season, NASCAR needs to cut the schedule down by 6 and have 30 races total for the Monster Energy, cut 3 from the Xfinity Series so they are at 30, and add 7 for the Camping World Truck Series so they have 30 races a season.
You have all three series start in Daytona then split to different racetracks then reunite in Daytona for the summer race and back to different tracks before reuniting one more time at Talladega for the season finale. You would see people get tickets to watch all three series in one weekend and not every week.
The schedule would have new events like road courses and new oval tracks from all three series but subtract some tracks that have extra visits like Richmond, Dover, Talladega, Kansas, and Chicago. Other events that would be eliminated are the Clash, Gatorade duels, and the all-star race in Charlotte. Fox and NBC would air 15 races a year with the new schedule while Fox airs all of the Camping World Truck Series events.
Here is what the new NASCAR schedules would look like with the current dates starting the season a week early for all three series starting with Monster Energy. With the elimination of “The Clash” and the Gatorade Duels races, the season would start a week early at Daytona followed by moving Homestead to the second race of the year. Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Auto Club (California) drop down a spot then the teams would get a bye.
Pikes Peak replaces the first Martinsville race. NASCAR would race on Easter weekend on Saturday. Rockingham returns and takes the Bristol date. Kansas moves up a spot and takes Talladega’s spot before the bye. After the bye, the races shift to Michigan, Pocono, and the Memorial Day race in Charlotte. The Charlotte all-star race would be gone so they can continue the season. After Charlotte, the races head to Dover and Sonoma then the teams will get another bye before Daytona.
Daytona and Kentucky keep the schedules then go to Nashville. Right now the track in Nashville is closed to only testing but if you negotiate the right price, I’m sure DMI (Dover Motorsports Incorporated) would love to open it for a Monster Energy Series race. Nashville would take the New Hampshire race date. New Hampshire would move down and take the Indianapolis race then NASCAR would head to Indianapolis taking the 2nd race date from Pocono. Pocono will still have the 2nd race.
After Indy, NASCAR would be on a bye week before heading to Watkins Glen and then onto Pocono. Iowa will be a new track for the Monster Energy Series then onto the Labor Day throwback weekend at Darlington. Bristol will return and have a 2nd race after Darlington then NASCAR will be on its last bye of the season. The season resumes at Richmond then makes its stop in Martinsville. Followed by Phoenix, Texas, and concluding the season at Talladega. The season will end early and the driver will get a longer offseason than they have now.
Monster Energy Series
2/19 Daytona
2/26 Homestead
3/5 Atlanta
3/12 Las Vegas
3/19 California
**BYE**
4/2 Pikes Peak
4/9 Texas
4/15 Bristol
4/23 Rockingham
4/30 Kansas
**BYE**
5/14 Michigan
5/21 Pocono
5/28 Charlotte
6/4 Dover
6/11 Sonoma (End of Fox Coverage for Season)
**BYE**
7/1 Daytona (Begin NBC Coverage for Season)
7/8 Kentucky
7/16 Nashville
7/23 New Hampshire
7/30 Indianapolis
**BYE**
8/13 Watkins Glen
8/20 Pocono
8/27 Iowa
9/2 Darlington
9/9 Bristol
**BYE**
9/24 Richmond
10/1 Martinsville
10/8 Phoenix
10/15 Texas
10/22 Talladega (Season Finale)
For the Xfinity Series schedule, the series will too start in Daytona and then will run 8 road courses (Palm Beach IR, Roebling Road Raceway, Utah MP, Buttonwillow RP, High Plain Raceway, Mid-Ohio, New Jersey Motorsports Park, and Portland IR ) for the year, a dirt track (Nashville Fairgrounds), short tracks ( Bristol, Montgomery MS 2 times, Concord Speedway, Memphis IR, Myrtle Beach Speedway (SC), New Hampshire, Dover, Gateway IR, Oxford Plains Speedway, Iowa and Lucas Oil Raceway at Indy) and some speedways (Daytona 2 times, Talladega, Kansas, Darlington, Rockingham and Milwaukee Mile).
For the smaller short tracks like Oxford, and Concord, you would have 5 qualifying heat races to determine who races in the main event. You would also have 2 competition cautions so the teams can fuel and put tires on the cars. The series will no longer run at the following tracks: Texas, Phoenix, Auto Club, Pocono, Richmond, Charlotte, Michigan, Kentucky, IMS, Watkins Glen, Road America, Chicagoland, and Homestead. The series cuts 3 races from the schedule to also have 30 races a year. The chase would be gone from this series as well. Here is what Xfinity schedule would look like using the 2017 calendar year.
Xfinity Series
2/18 Daytona
2/25 Palm Beach International Raceway
3/4 Roebling Road Raceway
3/11 Utah Motorsports Park
3/18 Buttonwillow Raceway Park
**BYE**
4/1 High Plain Raceway
4/8 Montgomery Motor Speedway
4/14 Memphis International Raceway
4/22 Concord Speedway
4/29 Myrtle Beach Speedway
**BYE**
5/13 Milwaukee Mile
5/20 New Hampshire
5/27 Darlington
6/3 New Jersey Motorsports Park
6/10 Portland International Raceway (End of Fox Coverage for the season)
**BYE**
6/30 Daytona (Start of NBC Coverage for the season)
7/7 Gateway Motorsports Park
7/15 Fairgrounds Speedway (Dirt) Nashville
7/22 Oxford Plains Speedway
7/29 Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis
**BYE**
8/12 Mid-Ohio
8/19 Brainerd International Raceway
8/26 Milwaukee Mile
9/1 Rockingham
9/8 Dover
**BYE**
9/23 Iowa
9/30 Bristol
10/7 Kansas
10/14 Montgomery Motor Speedway
10/21 Talladega (Season Finale)
For the Camping World Truck Series, I would have the series go back to its roots when it was first launched in 1995. The Craftsman Trucks Series raced on short tracks for the season but like the Monster Energy and Xfinity, they too race in Daytona 2 times and finish the season at Talladega.
The trucks will also make their return to Iowa. The rest of the other races that the trucks currently race at are gone. I really do believe that if the trucks go back to their roots, you would see more people attend these races and they would want to get tickets to Daytona and Talladega to see all three series races on the same weekend.
For the short tracks, you could do what they currently do now at Eldora. Have 5 qualifying heat races to set the field and put 2 competition cautions for the teams to fix their trucks before finishing the race in full. The series not only will have one dirt track race but will have another dirt track to race as well (Illinois State Fairgrounds). Also, the chase and the caution clock would be gone. The races would all be on Fox and FS1. This is what the Camping World Truck Series would look like using the 2017 calendar year.
Camping World Truck Series
2/17 Daytona
2/24 Sebring Raceway
3/3 Huntsville Speedway
3/10 Evergreen Speedway
3/17 Kern County Raceway Park
**BYE**
3/31 Tucson Speedway
4/7 Gresham Motorsports Park
4/13 Fairgrounds Speedway (Nashville)
4/21 Hickory Motor Speedway
4/28 Heartland Park Topeka
**BYE**
5/12 Berlin Raceway (MI)
5/19 Winchester Speedway
5/26 Concord Speedway
6/2 South Boston Speedway (VA)
6/9 Montgomery Motor Speedway
**BYE**
6/29 Daytona
7/6 Iowa
7/12 Eldora
7/21 Langley Speedway (VA)
7/28 Salem Speedway (IN)
**BYE**
8/11 Orange County Speedway (NY)
8/18 Toledo Speedway
8/25 Illinois State Fairgrounds
8/31 Myrtle Beach Speedway
9/7 Hickory Motor Speedway
**BYE**
9/22 Elko Speedway
9/29 Madison International Speedway
10/6 Orlando Speedworld
10/13 Huntsville Speedway
10/20 Talladega (Season Finale)
If NASCAR did these moves, you would see an increase in attendance for all three series and fans will get the chance to see a lot of tracks from different states live or on television. You would also see fewer Monster Energy Series drivers compete in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series. This would give other drivers opportunities to drive a race car. Not only would this be good for NASCAR. I also believe that the ratings for NASCAR will spike for all three series and the fans will love NASCAR again.
What tracks would you like to see NASCAR race at? Leave a comment below.
