How to make NASCAR better

If they're going to go to a track twice, why not run clockwise on one visit and counter-clockwise on the other?

I know that's unrealistic in the short term given the safety and pit modifications that would have to be made, but it would be cool if a track wanted to try it.

 

A disclaimer up front: I'm a racing fan who doesn't care about NASCAR, so take the following for what it's worth...

I agree with a lot of Hinton's suggestions (and a lot of them come from Formula 1, like impounding cars after qualifying). But I think NASCAR has more fundamental and pressing concerns than the length of the season and details of the chase.

First and foremost, Detroit pumps a hell of a lot of money into NASCAR and gets virtually nothing in return. The cars have nothing to do with actual street cars and there is no development made through the NASCAR teams that will turn up in street cars. As the big 3 shrink and make major cuts they'd be crazy not to slash their investment in NASCAR. The current system just makes no sense.

I think NASCAR would be very smart to drastically change the specs for the cars so there is a legit link between the race car and what it is pretending to be. Put Jimmie Johnson in a ridiculously souped-up Impala against Tony Stewart in something actually resembling a Camry. It would be more interesting than 43 identical cars and it would give the automakers an actual reason to take part.

 

Or, at the very least, make the cars on the track actually resemble the cars they're supposed to be. Ideally, they'd use stock-style bodies over the tube-frame rear-drive chassis.

 

Look for about a thousand people to be laid off Monday. Or so I was told. Ganassi and DEI already said "to hell with it" and found common cause with each other, Hendrick Motorsports has laid about 50 people off ... wait. I don't have to go any further, do I? Because if Hendrick's laying people off then everybody's either hurting badly or about to hurt badly.

Best thing NASCAR could do from a financial standpoint is to ban unregulated mid-week testing altogether. Give 'em extra practice time prior to qualifying but forget about the testing programs altogether. Saves a big chunk of cash, considering that some of those teams have operations that do nothing but test cars and engines.

Of course, that would never happen. And considering the next Impala will be a rear-drive sedan (variant of the new Pontiac G8, which itself is a variant of the Australian market Holden Commodore), you'd need separate classes --- one for the rear-drive high-output V8s (Chevy, Dodge) and one for the smaller front-drive V6 cars (Ford, Toyota). Then you'd have fan rebellion. It would suck, on-track and off-track.

 

Can anybody point me to a Web site that gives the standings as they would be under the rules before the Chase started? I'm sure Johnson still would be leading, but I'm curious.

 

http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2008/data/standings_whatif.html

As mentioned earlier on here, Johnson would lead Edwards, and they'd be the only ones eligible for the title. Shrub would be third.

 

First: Ban Sprint Cup drivers from the Nationwide Series. They can make up their minds which series to run. It won't overexpose the drivers, and give the Nationwide Series their own following. You don't see Alex Rodriguez playing for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in his spare time.

Second: If the two series are then divided, have one or two All-Star races be the best 20 drivers from each series go head-to-head. First place car earns bonus points for the other 19 drivers in his series, plus more bonus points for their own series. This would also make qualifying for this race more compelling, since the cars will be vying to represent their series. Plus, if a Nationwide driver wins, you have the Cinderella factor.

Third. Restrict team driver help. I hate it when I see some driver who is 10 laps behind trying to prevent the guy in second place from passing the top guy because the No. 1 guy is a teammate of his. Take away points automatically if a car more than a lap behind crashes into one of the contenders if his teammate is in, let's say, the top five.

Like the major idea. Keep the majors at 500 miles (or 600 in the Coca-Cola race) and double the points.

 

Ban economic downturns.

 

No, it would be a miracle of Biblical proportions given the difference in the two series' engine rules. Bad idea.

 

They can come to a compromise on engine rules, or alternate from one year to the next.

 

OK, all joking aside -- and all of my previous posts on this thread were in jest, even if some NASCAR fans/writers don't have a sense of humor -- I have never understood the Sprint Cup guys driving in Nationwide races.
Isn't the Nationwide supposed to be the development/feeder series for the Sprint Cup? Isn't this where new talent is supposed to be developed instead of all the big boys jumping into cars to pocket a few more dollars?
I think I saw a Craftsman Truck series story a few weeks ago that had some Sprint Cup guy winning. Why is that?

 

The argument I've seen, spnited, is that the Nationwide Series couldn't survive without the big names competing.

Don't know if that's true, but I do think that's why the season appears to be way too long to the casual fan. Carl Edwards, for example, has been in 69 races this year.