This past weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader experiment proceeded with mixed results at Michigan International Speedway. The racing overall was lackluster at best at, but one thing became apparent — it’s time for the sanctioning body to implement more condensed races moving forward.
This is an advancement that those within the sport have been campaigning for, for years, and rightfully so. While these athletes are conditioned for endurance, racing excess of 400 miles for almost 36 weekends out of the year is bound to take its toll, especially when most of these events produce a monotonously bland product.
We’re accustomed to seeing shortened races at venues like Phoenix Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway on a bi-annual basis. While the competition at these tracks before the use of the PJ1 traction compound has been dull, the overall longevity remains consistent. Typically a tick above 300 laps with an elapsed time ranging from two-and-a-half to three hours.
With COVID-19 forcing NASCAR’s hand to get creative in rescheduling events, we’ve now seen a reasonably large sample size of condensed races at venues that are notorious for hosting prolonged contests; Charlotte Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, Darlington Raceway and Michigan, with Dover International Speedway looming in the coming weeks.
All of these events held constant similarities. For starters, each race ran well under three hours. This is vitally important in keeping the attention of avid race fans and casual viewers, as attention spans across the globe are diminishing. The finale at Michigan rang in at an astonishing two hours and nine-minute runtime, which worked out because had it been any longer, it would have been a drag with the competition on display.
Ironically, drivers like Kevin Harvick, who’s won half of the shortened races this season, revealed the teams hadn’t felt this change in pace, and there’s a logical explanation for this.
From the drop of the green flag, it’s an all-out battle of intensity in a sprint to the finish. This, in addition to various pit strategies at play, to advance your position as quickly as possible. The days where you’d typically bide your time and methodically make your way to the front are gone with these races, and it certainly adds an element of excitement that was missing at these venues in the past.
Overall this format that’s been long overdue has garnered substantial reception from both fans and those involved with the sport.
“I’m all for shorter races,” Harvick said, following his 55th career victory. “I think shorter races obviously make things happen a little more frantically. It really makes the pit strategy mix things up, the stages happen quick, and then you add in a competition caution. There’s just a number of things that happen a lot quicker.”
It’s unknown whether these condensed races will exclusively be paired with doubleheaders moving forward, but it’s an option to explore. Given the split entertainment value at Pocono and Michigan, some may not be all-in on this method, but we’ll have another opportunity to see if the twin events work at Dover in two weeks.
Another avenue the sanctioning body may opt to go in is the running shortened races as standalones on weeknights. While this may be popular amongst drivers and avid fans, the ratings for the three scheduled primetime events this season were drastically underwhelming.
With NASCAR’s progressive actions in advancing the sport from a competition standpoint with the choose rules and doubleheaders, it’s a safe assumption that shortened races are likely to be implemented in the near future.
