The 2022 running NASCAR, IMSA & other racing things thread

Just an opinion from an extremely casual follower of NASCAR (will watch during basketball playoff commercial breaks). The parts of this thread where posters talked about how little one could watch of a race at Talladega was to me a most telling example of why this sport is in trouble plenty. You all are by definition highly invested in NASCAR as reporters, former reporters and fans. You know a great deal about the sport and the organization. And yet, some of you devotees admit there's no need to sit through one of the biggest races on the calendar (and by extension the other restrictor plate races, which includes the very biggest race on the calendar). If that's how you feel, then more casual fans are probably thinking "I'll just catch the finish and/or big wrecks on the Internet later."

 

I would think office-type race day staffing would be the least of the concerns. Pull in people from Bristol and Charlotte. I haven't been to either place in a decade, but I know back then, it wasn't uncommon to see some based at one track working a race weekend at the other.

 

NASCAR did that to themselves with crate cars that are too reliable, contrived finishes, preplanned cautions, and the Chase making all but the last few races meaningless once you are in.

 

Final stage is too long.

 

The Monster Mile's other Cup date in limbo? It was behind a USA Today paywall, but NASCAR has a history of feeding stories to them (especially when they had big ad buys).

Maybe that's where the North Wilkesboro date comes from at some future point.

 

NASCAR and Gannett are made for one another.

 

Trading Dover for North Wilkesboro is like trading in a yacht for a nice fishing trawler. You might like both, but it’s plain stupid.

I guess it’s more about what Marcus Smith wants than Daytona wants. He’s already said he doesn’t see anything beyond maybe a truck series race there. He also said the track likely wouldn’t reopen, so …

 

I probably as big a Wilkesboro nostalgia honk as anyone, and even I don't see it being a good move to try to bring a Cup date there. You'd have to tear the place down and start over, and then it wouldn't be the same track.

 

Was it the sponsors making the buys or the sanctioning bodies?

I really wish there were a racing equivalent of Camden Yards. The Nashville Fairgrounds renderings made it look like it could be that, but renderings.