Is Nascar Trying Too Hard?

I have noticed the longer green flag races this year. It's not so bad as long as your favorite driver is "hooked up" but if he or she isn't......it's a long day. What about all those mysterious "trash on the track" cautions that often look like they are planned?

I'm guessing it's the after affect of the race cars and race teams being better and Goodyear tire company producing more stable tires. After all, Goodyear wants to sell tires. How does it look when so many of their tires fall apart during a Nascar race. But yet Nascar encourages the tire wear. Make up your minds please!

I think the older Nascar enthusiasts have been complaining about so much change in this sport. Well, just like anything in this life. Changes will always come. Nascar is the "entertainment" business. They will always be trying to make racing better......in their minds any way!

What do you think?

I have noticed that about a month ago they thru a caution for debris and Jr. came on his scanner, and wasn't happy, and I mean really not happy! Since then the debris cautions have been fewer. I thought for sure at Texas they would have thrown a debris caution to bunch the cars up for a more exiciting finish but they didn't. I like that they just let it play itself out, but that made Texas a really boring race. A caution would have really benefited SHR, especially Ryan because he tried so hard to hang on to his position for the lucky dog!

JMO, I thought it was truly funny Jimmie did not confront Ryan after the race, instead he went complaining to Tony?!?! Think maybe he is afraid of Ryan! I would love to know what Tony said to him.

JMO: Nascar has been "making the playing field even for everyone," and "saving money so the small teams can continue to compete," for a long time. I understand the desire for "fair play." However, I feel the undesirable consequence has been taking the competition out of racing, and creating "boring" races. At the first suggestion of "shorter races," I reacted negatively. Don't take away racing. But now, I think shorter races is a way to save money and not take away from the excitement of the races. The only thing I dislike more than wrecks is fire, so I still don't want to see efforts to increase wrecks. Likewise, I want to see all the safety measures possible and additional safety efforts as fast as they can be developed. It would make me happy if there were never another track death, and no one was ever maimed again. That applies not to just drivers, but everyone who comes in contact with racing.

Unfortunately, I haven't come up with an idea to increase competition in "my" racing world. Guess I will have to leave that to Nascar, the engineers, the crews, and the drivers. And maybe some very informed fans.

One of several reasons I enjoy going to the race track is that I can keep an eye on the pylon and lead cars, and watch good racing taking place someplace else on the track. But attending races live is expensive and I like a great many fans can't afford to attend. My local dirt track is only $10, and I can't afford to go there every week. As good as TV coverage has gotten, it is still not close to attending a race. My great grandfather didn't want a TV to watch his beloved baseball games unless he could see the entire ball field at all times. I understand what he was saying. But between now and the time we get smell vision, if TV coverage could be improved it would a great deal.

I started this off with JMO, and I don't want to create any nasty reactions. But my ideas might give someone else an even better idea.

Not every race isn't going to be a barn burner. I prefer for NASCAR not to cheapen the race with phantom cautions. At Texas you know there will be long runs and you can expect the same at Kansas. I liked Saturday night's race, long green runs create strategy and separate the good cars from the bad cars. If a car is is off then it's the team's fault for not getting it right in practice. These cars are also so equal that it makes it harder to pass. And look at the quality of drivers. 30 drivers in the top 35 have won at least one race. 22 have won multiple races. I personally think NASCAR could use more short tracks or Rockingham like tracks. The truck race at the Rock wasn't a ten out of ten (Nelson Piquet Jr dominated and the favorite Kasey Kahne won). But it was good racing. Kansas should not have two races, I'd prefer to see Iowa on the schedule. Kentucky also should have never gotten a race, Montreal would have been better and get the cup series outside the U.S.A. But it is what it is.

iowa dont need to be added, just like richmond, kentucky earned the right to be added, with the new highways and repaving the track. any track ever gets added it should be the rock.

The thing about Kentucky is that it is just another cookie cutter 1.5 mile track very close to Chicagoland and Kentucky mostly. It was fine as a nationwide track, but with Texas, Charlotte, Atlanta, Kansas, Chicagoland, Las Vegas, and Homestead, is there really a need for more 1.5 mile tracks? Nashville would have been a better option (very cool track a 1.5 mile track yet concrete hate that they left because they couldn't get a cup date). The real reason we see more and more 1.5 mile tracks are because of they can seat more. Though I do enjoy Charlotte and Atlanta (best 1.5 tracks), Homestead has became a good track, same with Vegas, and even Texas, Chicagoland and Kansas have their moments. Races like the old Bristol and Martinsville will always be the best racing. Throw in some road races (since honestly there are only maybe 12 cup drivers who are good road racers it is entertaining to see the rest try to turn right) and those are the funnest races to watch. Iowa has shown great racing in the IRL, the Nationwide series, the truck series, and some lower racing series like the K&N pro series. It's a mixture of a super speedway and a short track.

Bring back THE ROCK!!!! It is old school racing, what our driver's grew up on! I would love to see Montreal too, it's a great road course. A lot of our Canadian neighbors are die hard NASCAR fans and they would love it. The finish with Robbie Gordon was priceless.
Cut the ticket prices in half and make it free for our troops when they come home. I don't really think you become a true fan until you can hear the roar of the engines and see the speed of the cars in person.