It happened again.
Rain played into yet another race weekend, this time delaying Saturday’s action at EchoPark Speedway. In fact, it delayed it so much that the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race didn’t start until almost 90 minutes after its originally scheduled time.
As track drying neared completion, it became clear that the time between the Truck race and when the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series was scheduled to go green was dwindling, putting NASCAR in the position to make a difficult decision.
Boy did that announcement go over like a ton of bricks. Fans were in an uproar and even Corey Heim wasn’t pleased with the decision after the checkered flag flew.
“It reminds me of growing up racing quarter-midgets when you had a curfew,” Heim told Motorsport.com after the race. “It just kind of feels like I’m a little kid again, and you get told that your race is getting cut short.”
The implication put the blame on The CW and its exclusive broadcast deal for the entire O’Reilly schedule. But as it turns out, according to the network’s Vice President of Corporate Communications and Sports Publicity Rob Moynihan, that wasn’t the case.
“I want to make it clear that The CW had no input or say in the decision-making to shorten the truck race,” Moynihan stated in an email to Frontstretch. “The decision to do so and call was made solely by NASCAR, not by The CW.”
That may be true, but the reality is that even if NASCAR was the sole decision-maker in this situation, it was done with the broadcast partners in mind. While one network took the brunt of the blame, it was more than likely a joint consideration for both FOX and The CW.
The unfortunate reality is that the sanctioning body also has its obligations to each broadcast partner, meaning there is some expectation of delays, whether because of inclement weather, a large number of wrecks or even an extended red flag. It’s when those delays get excessive that it becomes more of an issue.
The verbiage for “adverse race conditions” rule Section 8.5.7.6.C reads, “NASCAR may determine that completing the advertised distance is impractical. If so, a predetermined time for the race conclusion will be communicated. Once the race leader crosses the start/finish line after this time has expired, the next lap will be the white flag, followed by the black and white checkered flag, with no overtime.”
That seems clear enough, right?
Actually, it’s about as subjective as many of the sanctioning body’s rules. What constitutes impracticality when it comes to running the distance? Most frequently, this rule has been used at tracks that don’t have lights when a race has been weather delayed and there isn’t enough daylight to run to completion. Safety seems like a pretty damn good reason to cut a race short.
But Atlanta has lights, right? Well, yes.
Why not just run the Truck race after the NOAPS checkered flag, then? Again, it comes down to broadcast obligations. Keep in mind that the originally scheduled run time for the Truck race was at 1:30 p.m. ET, but it didn’t go green until almost 3 p.m. By that time, FS1 had only one hour before its scheduled coverage of the Oregon vs. USC college basketball game, which was to be followed closely by Georgetown vs. Seton Hall. In fact, the rest of Saturday’s FS1 broadcast schedule was filled with multiple college basketball games, leaving little flexibility to run the race afterward.
Allowing broadcast partners to have such a hand in the distance a race runs, regardless of whether it was direct or implied, sets a dangerous precedent. Because the rule is so vague and simply allows NASCAR to “determine completing the advertised distance is impractical,” it opens up the possibility of seeing a race cut short for any programming. Can you imagine seeing a NASCAR Cup Series race cut short by FOX because the newest episode of The Masked Singer is set to air before it would run to completion?
Perhaps, then, a compromise of some kind is worth adding to the rulebook for these adverse race conditions. Sure, it’s not often that NASCAR is even in a position to use this rule in the first place, but what if the sanctioning body had additional provisions to help speed up the race itself?
I admittedly didn’t time it, but each stage caution ran six laps, and the race was cut short by 10 laps. Logic says by not slowing the field for the 12 laps spent under the stage cautions would have allowed the race to run to completion, eliminating a large number of the complaints. The amount of technology NASCAR brings to the racetrack each week would allow for stage points to be awarded appropriately, and keeping the field green definitely increases the chances that all laps will be run before the checkered flag flies.
Of course, you can’t predict what those final 10 laps would’ve brought had they been run. For all we know it just as easily could’ve been a multi-truck wreck that slowed the field and didn’t allow it to run to completion anyway.
But it’s worth it for NASCAR to consider adopting an additional set of rules in the case of adverse weather. At least then, there’s a better chance of running the full distance, or at least the appearance that it’s doing everything possible to make it happen.
I know its hard to grasp for Nascar or racing fans in general, but ratings for college basketball will always be better than the truck series. So Fox would have had no incentive to push anything back. Their only option would be to finish the race and go late to the first basketball game. Given ratings, they would have been stupid to do that. Missing the first few minutes would work, but not 3/4 of the game.
Totally legit to complain about the stage breaks and long caution flags, though. If the goal was to get the race in full, I can’t believe they didn’t eliminate the stage cautions in order to get the race in. If I remember, they were about 10 laps short when the checkers flew. That could have been the difference.
How about no caution after the 2 stage flags. Keep racing. Caution flags were brutally long. I think they could have shortened them a lap or two. Announce no GWC at end of race. The race will end under yellow if need be after the full race. Wouldn’t have been hard to do.
I agree, NASCAR takes way to long to run caution laps, especially when it’s only for a spin when there’s minimal clean up. It will be worse this weekend on the road courses, where one lap takes forever under caution and yet they still take 5 or 6 to get back to green. Just getting rid of the stage cautions would help, but the networks aren’t going to give up two scheduled commercial breaks.
The frustrating part of Saturdays truck race was we more or less got what a lot of us have wanted to see happen in Cup, race times starting around 1:00 est, and it still bit us.
As an fan of F1 and Indycar and someone whose crewed in Trans Am and IMSA teams, timed races don’t bother me if you know it’s possible ahead of time. F1 has a time limit, but it’s quite generous and because they race on road courses I think it’s based more on darkness and logistics, not TV. I think Indycar has a time limit for some of their races that I’m sure is because of TV, at least to some degree. IMSA has almost always run timed races, not distance races. Trans Am races are 100 miles in length and though not a hard limit, are designed to last about 90 minutes. This is easy to accomplish when you race without pit stops and rain or shine.
Agree with you both. I don’t quite grasp why networks want the stage cautions so bad. I’d rather miss four minutes of green flag racing than have a six minute break in the action for stages, with two minutes of commercials on either end of the break.
Given side by side coverage is so prevalent now, I’d think advertisers would prefer no breaks as well. I tend to watch races on a delay, as do many I know, then forward through commercials and cautions. I’d think people would be more apt to watch commercials if they’re following green flag racing.
Also think NASCAR should look into an equivalent of F1’s Virtual Safety Car for minor issues. There is no need to have a six minute caution for a piece of debris to be retrieved.
I don’t think finishing the truck race after the O’Reilly race would have been realistic. You’d either have to allow ticket holders for the truck race watch both races, or have a dance swapping audiences back and forth twice. If you allowed the former, the O’Reilly ticket holders would be understandably miffed when many of the best seats were already taken, and that doesn’t even take into account stuff like luxury boxes.
Off topic, but I wish more series offered what F1 does, which is no commercial breaks during the broadcast. For some races/series, I’d pay a premium to have uninterrupted coverage.
I know World Racing Group with there DirtVision streaming service does very limited advertising during class change overs if there is multiple divisions on the broadcast that night but none during races.
Hey, thanks for some cool info there! NASCAR has worn out its welcome with me, and may check this out. Could fill a gap in my racing viewing, adding dirt to F1 and IndyCar.