Nascar fans?

[mickey cassiba]

How about the new format?

[Chris Rosenberger]

I liked the old way. They raced all year & the driver with the most points was the champ. The NHRA is doing the same type of thing now, only it is worse than NASCAR. In the Funny Car class of NHRA the 10th place driver moved from 10th to 1st after just 2 races. I have been a fan of both since the early 70s. Now I do not watch either much anymore.

[mickey cassiba]

me too, Chris. I do, however find myself at the local 1/4 mile tracks, dirt & drag, a lot more these days.

[scott spencer]

I don't mind the new format, but I don't like that so many races aren't televised on the main channels. I'm also afraid that if they keep bringing in names I can't pronounce, that NASCAR will fade into oblivion unnoticed.

[Ed Hazel]

I do not have a problem with the new format.
I sure would like to see more equality in the teams really tired of watching the same few drivers win most of the races.

I do not like the new car.

I am also surprised at how many vacant seats there are.

[Steve Southwood]

Nascar has shot it's self in the foot. Dega' was a joke, new format is a joke, new car is a joke. Give the drivers a car they can drive and let them drive. Let them beat and bang. They are going to let it get to where there are only a few teams. Easier to make just a few owners happy than a bunch. Should be a 2 car team limit. I could go on and on. Nascar is just not the same as it was. Bring Tim Richmond and Dale back from the grave.

[Bill Arnold]

Say what you will about the format, car, or anything else. Everyone operates under the same rules. There seems to be such an uproar this year because Jimmy is on the verge of making history. No matter - everyone is running under the same rules that reward consistency.

Example: Kyle Busch won a lot of races, but shot himself in the foot on too many occasions. Rather than drive the car he had on a given day, he ran the wheels off of it then crashed and burned. Jimmy made the Chase because of consistency.

I could cite other examples like Tony and Mark, but the bottom line is and should be consistency. Early in his career, Jimmy would be running well, then shoot himself in the foot and do something stupid. He got his head on straight, the team stayed behind him and now the TEAM is reaping the rewards of their efforts.

[Ed Hazel]

If Jimmy wins the championship fine they earned it.

The problem from my point of view is the racing just seems less exciting then in the past. Couple that with the same teams winning most every race = boring.

[Ted Shrader]

I like the double file restart. It has the flavor of a Saturday night at the local track.

The new car is horrible. Bring back something they can drive. Some of the safety features are good, but the body is too tall and boxy. And get the restricter plates opened up larger than a pinhole.

Bump drafting is good. Let the drivers police themselves - that always worked in the past. The fans like it too.

Speaking of fans, have you noticed the stands lately? When was the last sell out?

Three car per team limit. More variety in the field that way.

The scoring needs to be tweaked some more. If the chase has to stay, let the top twenty drivers compete in the last four races. That would be more like a playoff than the two separate seasons it is now.

Ted

[mickey cassiba]

Say what you will about the format, car, or anything else. Everyone operates under the same rules. There seems to be such an uproar this year because Jimmy is on the verge of making history. No matter - everyone is running under the same rules that reward consistency.

Example: Kyle Busch won a lot of races, but shot himself in the foot on too many occasions. Rather than drive the car he had on a given day, he ran the wheels off of it then crashed and burned. Jimmy made the Chase because of consistency.

I could cite other examples like Tony and Mark, but the bottom line is and should be consistency. Early in his career, Jimmy would be running well, then shoot himself in the foot and do something stupid. He got his head on straight, the team stayed behind him and now the TEAM is reaping the rewards of their efforts.

Consistency is a key I agree. I'm afraid though, that in the years to come, we will witness a champion who did not win one race, just managed a top five every week with no DNFs.
I've followed stock car racing all of my life, and am dismayed at the limits placed upon the owners, builders and drivers. I'm afraid that NASCAR has devolved into a 43 car IROC race. When the king brought a SuperB to the track, it didn't fit any template. And a quick look under the hood of any of the seventies era cars would have revealed a lot of ingenious modifications, which would now be banned under the ambiguous rule of "detrimental to the sport" .
As for JJ winning a fourth consecutive cup, more power to him. He's a fine racer and has figured out the system. My main complaint is that there is way too much system now. I'm not at all sure that the pre-race driver's meeting is not just to inform all involved who this weeks winner will be.
All that said, I still watch the races. Getting all the weekend chores finished in time for the green flag. (Icin' down the beer, buildin' a nacho that would make my doctor faint, and kickin' the dog outa my recliner.
Mickey(fan since my dad took me to my first race in '65)

[Josh Reet]

Don't mind the chase. Too many people forget that the championship race was over way before the end of the season FAR too often in the old system. I'd rather have a bit more excitement if we are going to make a big deal of being a champion. I do think they need to put more focus on winning and less on consistency once they get to the chase.

New car has been a mixed bag. I like how it seems tougher, particularly in the side panels. I don't mind the looks, but I do wish you could point at one and say that's a ford that's a toyota. They all look the damn same. However, if the Natiowide COT is any indication, we are going to see a difference there in the near future. I don't think it has done much for the racing however. I don't like reliance on bump stops or "crabwalking" cars.I do think that it is saving the teams money, so that's good in some ways.

No testing has been a bad idea, particularly for rookies. Too many 1.5 mile boring tracks are also a bad idea. Bring back more small tracks or build more of them in a new market.

NASCAR has missed the boat on "new media" ways to interact with the sport. The internet race coverage of the IRL kills NASCAR. Turner gives us racebuddy for 6 great weeks, but then "goodbye". Sirius can't broadcast it's nascar channel on the internet. Too many things in NASCAR are all owned by the same france-family connected companies. TV guys get threats whenever they say critical things about the sport, access is restricted when reporters step out of line, etc.

I'm a fan and will still be a fan. But for the first time in years, catching the Seahawks game has become more important then watching the last races of the season.

[Paul Ryan]

I could ramble for hours on the problems with nascar. I have been a fan for over 20 years, have been to multiple races. I have watched a total of 5 races the past 2 seasons. Nascar is a Joke now. Those of you that think, they all drive the same cars, that have the same rules, yada, yada, yada. It is clear you really don't know that much about nascar. They all don't operate under the same rules. Why do you think Hendrick is so dominante? MONEY, MONEY, and more MONEY. Nascar got to greedy and let Toyota in. What that caused was the budgets to skyrocket and wreck the sport. It is a complete Joke now. In the last 30 years you haven't had domance from one team like you do now. 30 years ago it was who had the most money, and who could cheat the best. Now it is just who has the most money. Nascar needs big, big change to win me back. Dale Sr. would have never allowed nascar to get like this.

[Bill Arnold]

... It is clear you really don't know that much about nascar. ...

Isn't it rather arrogant of you to say something like that? What are your credentials to allow you to speak so authoritatively?

[Brian Elfert]

The main reason for such strict rules on cars is for parity. How would the racing be if one driver ran away with it because he had 25 more HP than the other guy?

In the early days, the guy who was still racing last year's car had a distinct disadvantage versus the guys with the newest current year cars. Early on at Daytona or Dega a driver with an underpowered car discovered drafting and won the race.

Yes, the Dega race sucked since no one could pass.

[Paul Ryan]

Bill,

I agree it is rather arrogent of me to make such a claim. The reason is because I have followed Nascar closely for at least 20 years. I have seen the good days and bad days. I have been a fan before nascar became the behemith it is today. I really makes me sad as to what it has become. IMHO the casual race fan sees the rules and believes, "well they all have to operate under the same rules." So that should be it. It has become some ridgid as to what can be done with the cars, what can be done with the engine, the suspension, even the rear end gear. So what does that leave you. A IROC race, it should be the driver, and team right. Not so fast. Money, money buys you better employees, materials, R&D. It is really sad that you can basically write off 33 cars every week as to who has a chance of winning. I am not a Roush Racing fan by any means. But the day Jack Roush had to sell basically 1/2 his team to finace what was needed in the comming years, that was the end of nascar for me. A motor sport that has such rich history as nascar, and to see it turn into basically MLB, and get away from its roots, it is sad. I have no credentials except 20+ years as a diehard fan. I was at Daytona in 2001 when Dale Sr. died, that was one of the sadest days of my life. And another reason nascar is such a mess right now.