Masked in confusion, NASCAR makes big format changes

Accidents big and small, excessive fluids, inclement weather, and even a jet dryer exploding and a television cable falling onto the track have all been among the litany of occurrences leading NASCAR to slow a premier division race throughout the years.

Beginning this season, NASCAR has a new reason why a Cup Series race will fall under the caution flag, and this one is very much planned. Breaking away from a longstanding tradition that dates back to the sport’s infancy, all national series races will now be conducted in three designated stages allowing for tighter competition and for television to take commercial breaks without missing any action.

All they need is halftime.

The dramatic change unveiled Monday night and touted by a conglomerate of NASCAR executives, drivers, team managers, and track promoters is brought about by multiple factors. As the attention span of the general public has shrunk, 400- and 500-mile races routinely running beyond three hours have increasingly become a time investment fans don’t want to endure. This disinterest is expressed via television ratings that continue to decline in eye-popping numbers, and swaths of empty seats that are prevalent at numerous tracks.

With the unsteady state of NASCAR, the sanctioning body began working last summer to find a way to reinvigorate a listing product by soliciting ideas from various factions within the industry.

This, though? Is this really the solution to the myriad woes inflicting NASCAR? The answer is unmistakable. No.

Races remain too long, often extending beyond a reasonable distance hard to digest for casual and diehard viewers alike. And while having predetermined mandatory caution periods will increase competition by tightening the field, the racing that occurs between those segments is not assured of being at a level of quality that will excite a fan base frustrated with too many dull races on cookie-cutter style tracks.

The collaboration by those within the industry to formalize this concept is truly impressive. Never before have NASCAR officials, drivers, team owners, track promoters, and television executives with a collective eye on the greater good united behind such a change. This bodes extremely well for the sport going forward. And there are many elements of Monday’s announcement extremely promising that will enhance on-track competitiveness and help erase how large a role luck played in the playoffs (the word Chase has been officially eradicated from the NASCAR lexicon).

But at the end of the day, if NASCAR is serious about improvement and transforming the sport for the better, then the answer isn’t a convoluted, confusing, headache-inducing format change. Apparently the acronym K.I.S.S. is a foreign concept within the NASCAR office.

Instead, focus everyone’s collective attention on providing drivers with an extremely low downforce aerodynamic rules package that allows them to ply their trade to the best of their ability. Progress has been made, but more effort is needed.

Most importantly, give them venues conducive to good racing. This means ridding the schedule of speedways where the product is not showcased properly — which are in overabundance (i.e. intermediate tracks) — and replacing them with tracks where the racing is usually both entertaining and high quality (i.e. short tracks and road courses).

Of course a binding sanctioning agreement through the 2020 season complicates matters, though it wouldn’t be the first time in NASCAR history a contract was broken prematurely. Nevertheless, this should be the chief focus long-term. Not a championship formula that requires extra batteries for your calculator.

Then there is the length of the races. Too many feature distances that often take in excess of three-plus hours to complete. Whereas the NFL and NBA are looking for ways to shorten the length of their products, NASCAR is seemingly content as is, even as television ratings and attendance figures free fall.

Just as it has done many times over in recent years, NASCAR went to the drawing board committed to making a substantial change and devised something that has everyone talking. Except in this instance, what it came back with should’ve stayed on the drawing board.