2021 NASCAR thread

Extend your trip! Wife and I may show up. It’s about a 6 hour drive for us

 

Entire 2022 schedule:
https://www.nascar.com/nascar-cup-series/2022/schedule

Likes:

• Clash in LA. Speedweeks as we know it has been gutted but this is a pretty wild reach that never would've happened under the France's control.
• Worldwide AKA Gateway. This is a great little track that should've already been on the schedule. IRP and Iowa Speedway are two more sub-1-mile tracks that should be on the schedule.
• Road America. I feel like RA is the King Daddy of American road courses. I'm glad to see Cup visiting the track.
• Pocono loses a date. Pocono is not a bad track, the problem is the stands are in the wrong place for viewing any excitement. Pocono could stand to be reconfigured, putting pit road between turns 1&2 or 2&3 and flipping the current fronstretch the backstretch. Put the start/finish line right after the dogleg to see who can will (and wheel) their car through there to nose ahead on the final lap.
• Indianapolis road course: A failed experiment this year but I hope some slight reconfigurations will accommodate high-speed stock car racing.
• Homestead in October. End of Hurricane season so this should be a good date. Let's hope it's an evening race because Homestead at dusk looks sharp.

Dislikes:

• Auto Club is dragging its feet and the track won't be reconfigured until 2023.
• Why oh why does Texas get the All-Star race? Why drive halfway across the country for a 75-lap race? Pick a regional bullring and make it an exclusive event akin to the SRX finale. Heck, send them to Nashville Fairgrounds, that would be. HUGE hit.
• Bristol on dirt.
• Nashville Speedway- this track has no character. Fairgrounds would be the ideal West Tennessee destination.
• Richmond should only have one date. The track, in its current form, has never been much of a traditional short track.
• Kansas has two races. Why?
• Daytona at the end of August, smack in the middle of hurricane season.
• Phoenix for the finale. I get that it's the most recently updated track so it's a fresh-looking facility, but (IMO) the season finale track should be at a historic track back East.

Whatever:

• Atlanta 2nd date- It's the nearest track to me but mid-Georgia in mid-July at mid-day is a deal-breaker. it might be doable if it's a night race but mash that DOUBT button.
• Sonoma should be run sooner, in the Spring as part of the Western swing. Then we could see the track in its natural splendor surrounded by hills of green grass rather than dead grass and dust everywhere.

 

Give Rockingham one of the Richmond dates. The whole thing in LA. Yeah fuck that publicity stunt.

 

Lots of people are calling for that. The problem is it is too cold at Bowman Gray that time of year and the seating capacity isn't there. LA has a huge market as well. At this point I'm like "let's try it!" It's an exhibition race, after all. It's not like they put a brand new course as the cutoff for one round of the playoff like they did a few years ago *cough* Charlotte roval *cough*

 

Absolutely on both counts. Give Rockingham a Richmond date and North Wilkesboro a Kansas date and an Atlanta. Make it an exclusive ticket.
The Clash has always been a publicity stunt to drum up interest in the sport. THey should run the exhibition in key markets to test the waters. Ex: Chicago street race. This could be a flop so give it a shot with an exhibition, piggybacking with an INDYCAR or Trans-Am event.

 

I'd like to see the playoff races rotated in general, within reason. Obviously you can't go to MIS in November, but it doesn't have to be ISM every year either. I'd also like to see the all star race rotate.

I like Bristol dirt but I'm hoping this isn't an annual thing. I'd like to see dirt added to the schedule a couple more times but not at Bristol every single year.

 

Bowman Gray has 17,000 seats vs LA's 75,000, so yeah- it's def a potential money maker if they sell tickets.

 

Absolutely. Base playoff races around tracks that have the highest in-person attendance percentages. Same for the finale, within reason.

 

I'd LOVE to see Rockingham return to the cup series. They are holding events on it again and have renovated it so it is almost ready to go! North Wilkesboro is beyond repair though. At least in a way that would make any sort of economical sense.

 

good stuff as always, sir!

re: Phoenix. To your point it's been updated and it's a much more exciting race than pre reconfigure. However, it's still a very boring race and most stops are competition, and stage flags. It makes for a boring race. Having said that, Phoenix is a great venue for it's size, weather and excitement. Having been a season ticket holder for the past 10 years, we've seen a lot. Camping there is fantastic their campgrounds are massive. Easily 100,000 people camp there in November. I'm a bit biased and I hope the championship stays in Phoenix a long time. Homestead had a good run but not may other tracks can handle the November weather.

 

Agreed. North Wilkesboro would have to be a labor of love, like an old fixer-upper. I think it's something NASCAR is going to have to do sooner than later to appease Old Gaurd fans.

 

Agreed. But I wouldn't mind seeing other tracks in there in general. Like if you wanted to add MIS, make it one of the first playoff races since the weather is still good. Above all else I'd like to see the final race change every year. Preferably not a gimmick like a road course or dirt track, but definitely something different every season. Homestead, Atlanta, ISM, Talladega, etc just to name a few.

I'd also love to see some sort of incentive for non-playoff drivers so we don't see the final 4 running 1, 2, 3, 4 all race.

 

Very good points. The season ends in Phoenix because of the promise of good weather. Same case for Homestead. The place looks great on TV, too. I attended the Atlanta finale pretty regularly from '93 onward. It was always cold and foggy and competed with deer season.

 

True. I did not look at that aspect. I was more in the Grand Torino get off my lawn mindset.

 

I guarantee you, they don't sell half of those 75k seats, just cause it's California, they don't give a shit about nascar. They still think it's nothing but a bunch backwoods rednecks, which it's far from those days.

 

Haha! Here's Robby Gordon's truck series in the stadium with maybe 17,000 folks in the stands:

https://youtu.be/5KoNv47KhIs

 

I'm tired of the marketing gimmicks. Bring RACING back to NASCAR.

Its all about the money grab now. Thats why The Rock lost their dates... ISM paid more for their tracks to get the dates. You wanna have good racing... bring it back.

And Iowa... that is a faaaaaar better racing experience than Richmond. Most Xfinity races went to the last lap.

 

My concern is the bastardizing of NASCAR. Multiple races a day, mixed with other types of racing and all that. They are pimping NASCAR to try and bring life to other events. What’s next, a drag race weekend? NASCAR is what it is. Stop fucking with the foundation keystone things that we have all come to know. Daytona kicks off the season. Drop the road course shit at Daytona, I want to see the same shit I have my whole life. This is turning into monster jam, last time I took my kid they were racing side by sides, quads and monster trucks. Some xgames kid won the event after crashing his monster truck because he could ride a quad. I don’t know, I hate change. Few things remind me of when I was a kid. I got to go to a couple races a year and it was an event. Get to the track early, hit the drivers trailers for hats and t shirts then watch practice then the Busch race. Next day back for cup. That was cool.

 

I have to try and get to one of these events with my kids. We went to Nitro Circus a few years ago and it was an awesome event. But again I don’t want to see this stuff in NASCAR either.

 

I can see maybe a FEW interseries weekends... like IRL and NASCAR at Indy makes sense. But you're right... NASCAR should be its own thing not whored out to the highest bidder. Thats the sad fact... its becoming a marketing gimmick.