With several races now postponed, how should NASCAR go about squeezing them into the rest of the year?
Adam Cheek: Weekday races, doubleheaders and an extension of the season are the best routes. If they do intend to squeeze in all races for each series (36 for cup, seven of which will be missed with the current postponement plan), those would be the most reasonable options. If it takes rearranging the schedule slightly based on proximity of the tracks, that could be an avenue as well.
Joy Tomlinson: As of right now, they should try holding mid-week races and doubleheaders for the regular season races. But that’s if they don’t postpone any more events. This is still a fluid situation and it is unclear whether they will go back to racing at Martinsville Speedway. I say wait a few weeks and see what the local and federal government recommends for outdoor gatherings.
Vito Pugliese: At this point it will likely be a multi-tiered approach. Midweek and weekend combo races depending on location and proximity; running Bristol Motor Speedway, Martinsville and Richmond Raceway would make sense, truncating things down to a one-day show. Some races might very well need to be canceled. As much as we want to complete a 36-race schedule, forcing smaller teams who have been missing out on purse money or per-race sponsorship activation are going to be struggling as it is. Making them haul all over the country two or three times a week might be too tall of an order.
Amy Henderson: There are definitely options. Midweek races are certainly possible at Bristol, Richmond, and if necessary Martinsville and Charlotte. Texas could host a double-header fairly easily, as could Dover. Talladega poses a problem because too many cars get torn up for a double-up and it’s pretty far from Charlotte for a mid-week showdown, but there are a couple of off-weeks that could be used there. Charlotte would almost have to be a mid-week because the road course race makes doubling up impossible. The issue is that that’s a very short turn-around for some smaller teams, who don’t have a shop full of personnel working on cars while they’re at the track or a fleet of cars should one get wrecked. As of now, a full season is doable. If the shutdown goes past May, it won’t be–and someone will end up a big loser, because not only do the tracks depend on the revenue, but so do the surrounding areas.
Some teams have already informed members they will be on leave without pay until racing resumes. Do you think any teams will permanently fold and which ones face the greatest risk?
Pugliese: It would pain me to see Jordan Anderson’s team to not being able to survive things, as well as Josh Williams and the Mario Gosselin-owned DGM Racing team he’s been running so well with the past few weeks, hitting way above his weight class in a non-Cup affiliated racecar. Seeing anybody struggle through this is a heartbreaking and harrowing endeavor. Let’s stay positive and hope we can get through this as quickly as possible without as much damage to teams and livelihoods as possible.
Cheek: I’m no expert on team funds or their situations with this postponement, but if I had to pick one full-time stable for each series, I’d say MBM Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series, Our Motorsports in the Xfinity Series and Reaume Brothers Racing in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. Other than the fact that these are some of the more underfunded teams in their respective series, I don’t have much basis for them being my choices. However, a lot of the teams are safe during this time – but again, the postponement will absolutely have an effect on the lower-budget teams.
Henderson: I think more teams are in trouble in all series than people realize. Many depend on race purses to pay employees as well as to get to the next track. The big teams can afford to pay their employees while they stay home; smaller ones cannot, and that means many will lose valuable personnel in a best-case scenario. I think Xfinity and Trucks will take a bigger hit–they may struggle to fill fields (more than they sometimes already have), but there are Cup teams that could have to make tough decisions, too, even with charters in place.
Tomlinson: I don’t know if any will permanently fold (hopefully none), but Anderson’s team in the Truck Series may be one at risk. Also, perhaps a couple of new Xfinity Series teams – Martins Motorsports and Our Motorsports. I don’t know all the teams’ financials, but the underfunded teams are probably at the most risk.
Several NASCAR personalities participated in an iRacing event last week. Would you be in favor of continuing the season on iRacing?
Henderson: No. eRacing is fun, and the races have been surprisingly entertaining, but not every driver plays them often, and it would be unfair to teams to crown a national series champion in this format. I love that there are races available for fans to watch, and that they’re so easily accessible to fans. It’s fun to see which drivers are playing, but it wouldn’t be as much fun if they made everyone participate in a form of sport they don’t play and expect them to compete for a real-life title.
Tomlinson: I don’t mind NASCAR having iRacing events to pass the time while the season is on hold, but they shouldn’t continue the season there. A driver’s talent on iRacing may not be the same as in real life, though some drivers do benefit from the program. And let’s face it, virtual racing is just that – virtual. Even though they would be real drivers racing, they wouldn’t be in real cars.
Cheek: No, at least not continuing the 2020 season on iRacing. I love racing games, I’ve been playing a few myself to kill time during this period of staying inside as much as possible; I grew up on them. I can’t say I’m a fan of the whole eSports fad, but these iRaces do give us something to watch and it’s realistic enough to get drawn into it. It’s also fun to see the drivers get involved, like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Parker Kligerman and others did last weekend. So while I oppose the idea of making up the missed 2020 races on iRacing, having top-level drivers participate in these virtual events is cool, and at least it gives us something to watch.
Pugliese: I guess it’s something to pacify everyone for a few weeks and keep the sport and the names fresh in people’s minds, as well as tap into a captive gaming audience that might become regular views is an effective modern strategy. My only fear is if we start down the road of making this a regular thing to the point where we start seeing “top 10 iRacing moments,” and that will just be depressing.
Should the NASCAR postseason format/ qualification requirements be changed in any way due to the postponed races?
Henderson: Here’s a thought: if the regular season can’t be made up in its entirety before the scheduled start of the playoffs, scrap them, and crown the champion on points without any resets. Too short a regular season and 16 playoff berths isn’t a fair way to determine the champion. It would be an interesting experiment as well–if it was as well-received as I would expect it to be, NASCAR could use it as a reason to scrap the format permanently without having to admit outright they made a mistake with it in the first place: “The fans loved it so much, we decided to keep it” sounds better than “we’ve been doing this for 20 years and fans still don’t accept it” in terms of saving face, and everyone can walk away happy.
Pugliese: Yes – scrap it entirely! This would be a good test and could segue to do away with the playoffs. They simply don’t make any sense, and having drivers 16th in points being able to be considered a championship contender is borderline fraudulent. Since some schedule shuffling might be needed to pull any semblance of a season off, let’s just scrap the playoffs and go back to a cumulative points format.
Tomlinson: If any more events need to be postponed, NASCAR should reduce the Cup playoffs to 12, which would begin at Las Vegas. Maybe they could move some of the races around, like switch Martinsville in November with Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September. Or have Darlington Raceway switch with Las Vegas so it stays as the first race in the playoffs. Either way, it would be a shorter playoffs but would be just fine for the Cup Series.
Cheek: For now, the playoff format is safe, but if the postponement goes any longer it might be time to nix them for 2020. If they do want to get the entire schedule in for this year, they may have to reschedule some races and doubleheaders past the start of the playoffs, and that would really, really mess up the postseason. You can’t hold a race scheduled for the regular season after the start of the playoffs without major restructuring, so completing this season based on points alone would be the way to go if the season’s put on hold longer than it’s currently slated to be.
The Frontstretch Staff is made up of a group of talented men and women spread out all over the United States and Canada. Residing in 15 states throughout the country, plus Ontario, and widely ranging in age, the staff showcases a wide variety of diverse opinions that will keep you coming back for more week in and week out.