NASCAR mailbag: Should the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 be on the same day?

The biggest motor sports day of the year that sees Formula One, IndyCar and NASCAR each competing at historic venues has come and gone with an expected winner (Lewis Hamilton, F1), an out-of-nowhere winner (Alexander Rossi, IndyCar) and a winner who absolutely stomped the competition (Martin Truex Jr., NASCAR).

Looking at the TV ratings and coverage of the Indy 500 vs. the Coke 600, should NASCAR move its race to the next day so it gets more attention?

--Jesse

A popular topic to debate this week in light of the Indianapolis 500 attracting better TV ratings than the Coca-Cola 600 (4.1 rating vs. 3.2, per Sports Media Watch) is whether NASCAR should bump its race to Monday. But that’s easier said than done, and logistically doesn’t make sense for NASCAR.

If it were to rain on Monday forcing a postponement, NASCAR’s schedule is constructed such that a Tuesday race would make for a tight turnaround on the teams. Not an insurmountable hurdle, with the race being in Charlotte where the majority of teams are located, but a hurdle nonetheless.

Also take into consideration that the Indianapolis 500 had a wave of momentum with this being the 100th running, and it was expected to outdraw NASCAR. Let’s see the Indianapolis 500 continually trump the Coca-Cola 600 before NASCAR, still the No. 1 most popular form of American motor sports, needs to reevaluate when to stage one of its biggest races.

I’m a longtime NASCAR fan, but as I was watching the 600 it dawned on me this race really isn’t all that distinct anymore and that 600 miles doesn’t hold the same appeal. I cannot imagine I’m the only one who feels this way and I’m wondering why that is?

--Terry

At one time the draw of NASCAR’s race was that it tested both man and machine, and to win you needed to be in peak physical condition and have a car that could withstand the extended distance. That time is long gone. Drivers are generally well-conditioned -- with a few noticeable exceptions -- and cars don’t regularly suffer mechanical failures.

In the days of yesteryear, when the Coca-Cola 600 moved into the final 100 miles you expected engines to start failing and parts breaking. Now, reliability is no longer an issue. Sunday’s race saw 38 of 40 drivers make it to the checkered flag -- to put that into perspective, it’s greater than the amount that finished Dover (29) and Kansas (35) despite each being 200 miles shorter.

The argument that Charlotte’s annual Memorial Day weekend race needs to be reduced to a more manageable length is one a lot of NASCAR events have been subjected to. As society evolves and fans desire more instantaneous results, having any race go beyond a three-hour window is worth scrutinizing. Of course the issue pertaining to the Coca-Cola 600 is that it’s a crown jewel event and would require breaking a tradition that goes back to Charlotte’s first-ever race in 1960.

Can we stop saying Martin Truex Jr. drives for a single-car team? Everyone knows how tightly aligned Furniture Row Racing is with Joe Gibbs Racing.

--Gary

A fair point. The relationship between Furniture Row and JGR is such that Truex is viewed as de facto teammate to Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth, and their respective crew chiefs have a free-flowing exchange of information.

Technically, however, Furniture Row is a single-car entity. Although Barney Visser’s team isn’t bereft of resources, it still trails in comparison to what JGR, Team Penske and the like have at their disposal -- especially in terms of sponsorship. Whereas JGR has full funding on all four of its cars, Furniture Row has sponsorship outside of Visser’s furniture company for just 12 races. That’s a significant disparity in capital.

So while Furniture Row may not be a single-car in the strictest sense, what it has achieved thus far is remarkable and worthy of praise. Teams of this size are not supposed to regularly win races and contend for championships, and yet it is doing just that.

The Indy 500 was terrific and by far the best of the weekend. Unlike most NASCAR races, the drivers could pass and not just rely on track position and clean air and really showcased the best of what open-wheel racing can offer. Do you think IndyCar can use the 500 as a launching pad and regain some popularity?

--Jonathon

Ah, yes, the eternal question surrounding open-wheel racing and one that’s particularly pertinent coming off a widely successful month of May. This is the very issue the IndyCar Series has found itself trying to answer since the unification and following what has been a successive string of enthralling Indianapolis 500s dating to 2011.

The schedule is not helping matters in IndyCar’s quest for relevancy outside of its marquee race. Up next is not an oval featuring similar racing as that witnessed at Indianapolis, but rather Detroit’s Belle Isle for a street course race.

Imagine a first-time observer watching the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday and being transfixed to the point a concentrated effort is made to tune in for the subsequent race. Instead of witnessing an outstanding race where drivers run side-by-side lap after lap, they get a diametrically opposite event that, while entertaining in its own right, doesn’t present the kind of appeal that typically captivates a casual fan.

IndyCar would be better served by reverting to its old schedule that had either Texas Motor Speedway or the Milwaukee Mile the week following Indianapolis. Then fans would get at least some semblance of the kind of racing they had witnessed in the Indianapolis 500. This structure worked well for years, with Texas routinely drawing large crowds and earning respectable TV ratings.

As to why the Detroit Grand Prix isn’t shifted elsewhere on the calendar, it boils down to who promotes the event: Roger Penske, who’s adamant his race enjoys the coveted post-Indianapolis date. And if there is one person IndyCar is averse to saying no to, it’s Penske.