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Millions of People Love to Hate NASCAR…Right?
1/28/08: SOZ Studios, MI - By Dennis Michelsen "DMIC" (RaceTalkRadio.com)
 Browse your way through the Internet articles or blogs or tune into the NASCAR channel on Sirius Satellite Radio and you will quickly discover that millions of people hate NASCAR! Amazing how you will see the same writer or hear the same fan vowing to never watch NASCAR again. That same promise has occurred more often than a Mark Martin "Salute to You" tour! You might hear an NFL or MLB fan complain about something from time to time but only us NASCAR fans hate our sport so much! Let's take a look at some of the things that NASCAR fans hate about their sport and how they might be worse…or a little better. Top 35 Rule
This one rule has caused more irritated NASCAR fans than every rule change ever made combined! In a perfect world every driver would have to qualify in on time every race. It has been such a long time since NASCAR had a race that everyone had to qualify in on time. The rules have changed from time to time but the fan utopia of all forty-three qualifying on time has been gone for many years. The argument that it works in NHRA is bogus. Only sixteen teams are required to put on a good show in drag racing while NASCAR fields have forty-three cars at the Cup level.
Could Be Worse
The investment by sponsors has increased so much in the past ten years you really can't blame them for liking this rule! But imagine if NASCAR went to only allowing forty-three franchises to be in the business. This would eliminate any chance at all for a new team to make it into NASCAR.
Could Be Better
The thirty-five number could be reduced to twenty-five or thirty but NASCAR would argue that might lead to short fields in the future. Hybrid methods of using race results along with owner's point placement have been suggested and that might make sense. But the easiest fix is to only allow six provisionals per season! (Same as Past Champs!)
Chase for the Championship
Whether NASCAR needs a playoff system or not has been something I am always willing to debate. For the record I have never been a big fan of the Chase for the Championship nor have I been convinced it is better for the sport. But this is another change that NASCAR is not going to change…ever! The powers that be are confident that they get more press coverage by having a playoff in place. While that can be debated there is no doubt that they will not change this rule back ever!
Could Be Worse
Any time a big name driver misses the Chase for the Championship I cringe because I am afraid of more changes to an already flawed system. Could you imagine if NASCAR expanded this to twenty teams to bring more fans' favorite driver into the playoff every year? Thankfully based on percentages NASCAR's playoff field is the second smallest in professional sports!
Could Be Better
Reducing the playoff field to ten teams would be a good start to making the NASCAR playoff system better. Perhaps making it based on points rather than a set number of positions would have also made sense. But NASCAR wants more drivers involved not less so perhaps the best change is to simply require a driver to win a race to qualify!
Driver Accessibility Isn't What It Once Was
Fans that have been following the sport moan and groan about how there was so much more chance for interaction with the drivers back in the day. Believe it or not but fans way back when could walk through the pits after a race just like you can do at your local short track. Drivers such as Richard Petty would often hang around for hours to sign autographs too. But that was back when the sport drew a much smaller crowd than it does nowadays so those glory days are gone forever cause your favorite sport has grown up!
Could Be Worse
Imagine if the drivers never signed autographs unless they were getting paid to do so? Drivers still make hundreds of appearances where fans can still get up close to meet them. NASCAR drivers are still more approachable than any other sport and this hopefully will never go away.
Could Be Better
Fans have been their own worse enemies in this department. I have seen fans with pit passes follow drivers into the bathroom to get a picture! Is it any wonder that some drivers keep away from the fans at the track?
Television Coverage is Awful
There are too many commercials and these announcers are awful! You hear that chorus almost every Monday after a NASCAR race weekend. Cheryl Walker from "CawsNJaws" gives a detailed breakdown on the commercial breaks during every race. But turn back the clock not that many years and we were starved for much coverage of the sport at all! Putting up with commercial breaks is worth having all this live coverage. Yes the networks should give us the best coverage possible but it comes at a cost.
Could Be Worse
We could be stuck with TNT and Bill Webber all season! Even worse we could have tape-delayed coverage like they have in other racing series including CART for this year. Sometimes I think we are all critical of the coverage at some times of the year because FOX Sports and Director Artie Kempner spoil us rotten in the first half of the season!
Could Be Better
Note to ALL networks covering NASCAR…give us less glitz and more racing! In recent years the reliance on gimmicks instead of good coverage has become a troubling trend. Since in-car cameras were such a hit with race fans the networks figured even more high-tech stuff would be better yet! But when all else fails show us more racing please.
Races are Not as Exciting
This is one of the great myths of recent times. Perhaps the racing at times has been more single file in the day of the dreaded aero-push but there has never been a time in NASCAR history with more competitive racing! Whether you look at how many different drivers post a top five or a top ten finish or how many cars finish on the lead lap, the competition is closer than it used to be. There were times that races were won by as many as five laps! Could you imagine the uproar if a car was the only one finishing on the lead lap in a race nowadays?
Could Be Worse
Not that many years ago it was common to have races where five or six guys were much more likely to win the race than the other guys rounding out the field. We have always had the haves and have-nots in racing, but nowadays the number of drivers with great equipment is much higher than ever before!
Could Be Better
NASCAR needs to allow the racers to race and stop trying to manufacture great finishes with questionable cautions. There have been times when NASCAR is so fast to throw a caution it takes on the appearance of trying to influence a better show or to get a particular driver back on the lead lap. Let the drivers decide the race on the racetrack!
Car of Tomorrow Sucks
No I have not been a fan of the Car of Tomorrow design but NASCAR should be applauded for the basic concept (safety) behind the development of the new car design. Back when we lost Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty just six weeks apart I was detailing the existence of soft-wall technology and changes that could be made to the cars. NASCAR was slow to react to the need for a safer track and car but has done great work since 2001. I wish we still had cars that looked like stockcars but those days are long gone. Many of the fans griping about the COT also complained if their favorite brand was behind in the air wars of the 90s.
Could Be Worse
NASCAR could have stayed with their old plan of phasing in the COT over a longer period and bankrupted all but the top four teams in the sport! They could have made the cars more high tech and taken away the simple concept of racing the older engine technology. The design might not be perfect but it sure could have been worse!
Could Be Better
Perhaps the glory days of NASCAR could have been recalled in the COT design. Can you imagine cars that made you remember the cars of the late 60s or 70s while having the safety designs of today? Balancing the aero would have taken more study but it might have been worth it! Also having some exhibition races at speedways before phasing in the new car would have been helpful.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the topics us NASCAR fans love to complain about…myself included! NASCAR didn't get huge by being a bunch of idiots. Yes there are changes that have been made in recent years that just shocked or disgusted me. Getting rid of the Southern 500 was one and closing Rockingham and North Wilkesboro another. But at the end of the day us NASCAR fans have a lot to love in our sport. It's amazing that the consensus if you pay attention to everything we say is that there are millions of us that love to hate NASCAR!
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