Long-standing traditions that NASCAR should resurrect

Since the turn of the current millennium, NASCAR has taken constant steps of change as the sport has evolved.

Whether it’s driver safety, lane changes, schedule revisions, or pressures for diversity, some changes have left positive impressions and impacts, while others have. left glaring negatives (do I remind you the clock of caution?).

Sadly, in this never-ending pursuit of progress, several long-standing traditions were cast aside, leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of those who supported them and understood the roles they played in the sport. Making progress is one thing, but letting go of long-held traditions on a whim for the sake of change is not always the most sufficient way to achieve it.

We’ve all heard the adage, “If something ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Here are five examples of things NASCAR should have left untouched.

1. Star race in Charlotte

We’ll start with the All-Star Race, which took place most recently on Sunday (June 13) at Texas Motor Speedway. Kyle Larson and Hendrick Motorsports continued their strong streak in the NASCAR Cup Series by winning their third consecutive race and a handsome million dollar prize. It was the third time in racing history that it had not been held at its long-standing venue, the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Due to North Carolina’s COVID-19 restrictions, the All-Star Race was forced to relocate to Bristol Motor Speedway in 2020. The venue swap continued into 2021, with the race taking place in the Lone Star State. While it’s cool that fans from different regions get a chance to attend, the only major issue with this is how expensive it can be for many teams to show up and compete.

With the Charlotte area being the primary store location for many NASCAR teams, logistically it makes more sense for Charlotte to continue to host the All-Star Race. Since the race is only for bragging and not for points, teams with a lower budget run less financial risk when registering, as they won’t have to drive back and forth. to Texas or Bristol to run.

With an undetermined location for the All-Star Race in 2022, NASCAR should not pass up the opportunity to take the event back to its roots in Charlotte and keep it there. Team owners would approve it. Any backyard fan of NASCAR would, too.

2. The revitalization of North Wilkesboro & Rockingham

Speaking of NASCAR backyard racing, nearby are the abandoned facilities of North Wilkesboro Speedway and Rockingham Speedway: two tracks that have their own distinct place in the NASCAR history books, but have been left behind. for otherwise trivial reasons.

North Wilkesboro was part of the original Cup program in 1949 and remained that way every year until 1996, when the track lost its date to Texas and New Hampshire Motor Speedway the following year. There have been races of all kinds on the speedway for almost a decade. But thanks to Dale Earnhardt Jr., the speedway underwent a cleanup effort to be scanned for iRacing and the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series virtually ran there (Denny Hamlin won).

Rockingham is another place that has its own history. The speedway had at least one NASCAR event on the calendar from 1965 to 2004, losing its date on the calendar in favor of, you guessed it, Texas. Former NASCAR / ARCA Menards series star Andy Hillenburg went so far as to buy the speedway to keep it alive as much as possible. The ARCA organized four races there from 2008 to 2010, while the Camping World Truck Series ran there twice from 2012 to 2013.

Fortunately, the running community is hoping that the roar of the engines returns to these places sooner rather than later. Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis has pledged $ 1 million to revitalize North Wilkesboro. And with Rockingham already having MORE SRES gates around the track, there wouldn’t be much to do other than a little landscaping. Not to mention that both tracks recently received $ 10 million each from the state government. In addition, the cities and counties in these expressways would get a big financial boost from a NASCAR event taking place there.

The Cup Series schedule might be busy, but the Truck, Xfinity or ARCA series can absolutely find room to squeeze into a race on these long-standing tracks. It can’t hurt to try.

3. Independence Day Weekend in Daytona

Another broken tradition that left many fans scratching their heads was the postponement of the Daytona International Speedway summer race, which normally takes place on Independence Day weekend. From the track’s opening season in 1959 to 2019, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 (formerly the Firecracker 400) was the flagship event of NASCAR races over the weekend of one of America’s most famous parties. .

Then, with the arrival of 2020, NASCAR made the bold and confrontational decision to reschedule the race towards the end of August as the regular season finale. The Brickyard 400 replaced Daytona’s old July date on the calendar, but just didn’t have the same “fireworks” feeling that Daytona normally brought. The 1998 edition was the only other time the Coke Zero Sugar 400 failed to perform to its traditional July 4th weekend date, as it was postponed to October of the same year due to an oil crisis. wildfire in Florida at the time.

Some would argue how rainy the Daytona Beach area can be during the summer months. But this argument hardly carries any weight given that the race was only forced to end early three times because of the rain: in 1996, 2014 and 2019. All other races in its history were completed in their entirety.

NASCAR was able to restore Darlington Raceway to its historic date, reconnecting the Southern 500 with Labor Day weekend. Reprogramming the Coke Zero Sugar 400 to Independence Day weekend would rekindle the same old-fashioned firecracker spirit that fans had been chasing for the past two years. End the regular season with another race instead.

4. Placement of the door number

Numbers. You know them, you love them. The greats of all time like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott and others all had numbers that became iconic because of them. And the biggest thing they all had in common? They were all placed in the center of the door.

While there hasn’t been a word on whether or not this will go away, it’s something that needs to be addressed before he encounters an unfortunate demise. Rumors are starting to boil that the centering placement could end with the Next Gen car in 2022, with the main reason alleged to be more exposure from sponsors to the car. This was first put to the test during the 2020 All-Star Race in Bristol. While there were some paint schemes that stood out and looked good, many other designs fell short of expectations.

Aesthetically, the movement would be unnecessary, as teams can already adjust the amount of sponsor exposure on the car as much as they want without changing the placement of the numbers. Additionally, drivers can use their fire suits and do TV commercials to expand the presence of their sponsors without modifying anything on the car to do so.

The numbers stayed in one place on the car for decades. This is one of the best ways for fans to connect with their favorite riders. Let them be.

5. A classic non-eliminatory points system

Yes, folks, the worm box has been reopened on this one. We’ve learned to run the playoff system over the past 17 years, but it’s easy to see how boring it could be for more mainstream fans.

Remember Brian France, the man who was essentially the mastermind behind the whole concept of the playoffs and implemented it soon after becoming CEO of NASCAR? Well, he hasn’t been around the sport since being arrested at the wrong time for DUI in August 2018. When France had to leave, the playoffs should have gone with him. It makes sense, right? NASCAR had the opportunity to throw everything away after 2018, with France no longer in the photo. But as we all know, he is still kept alive to this day, albeit on life support.

The strange thing is that, in the classic system, drivers could still earn valuable championship points during races without any pressure in the playoffs. Lead a tour? Lead the most laps? Qualify on the post? Do the best lap of the race? Then you have areas where drivers can score bonus points, points that can accumulate along the way. Several well-known championship battles in NASCAR history have boiled down to a narrow point margin. Put the emphasis back on the above goals, and it will give drivers and teams the will to do their best and excel in every race throughout the season.

It’s the most authentic and rewarding way to crown a racing champion. Not a full count situation, bottom ninth, of Game 7 in a race. This stuff is intended for other sports leagues. Not in the race. As the late Ernest Hemingway once said: “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing and mountaineering. Everything else is just games.

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