Watkins Glen Once Again Brings Up Case For Change In Chase
As we prepare for Sunday’s second and final road course race of the season, what has become a yearly argument raises its head once again.
Given that the road courses at Infineon Raceway and Sunday’s host, Watkins Glen International, are important enough to remain on the Sprint Cup schedule, why then are there no road course races in NASCAR’s marquee event, the Chase for the Sprint Cup – and part of a much larger argument overall.
Logic would tell you that if NASCAR wanted to display its best drivers during the best time of the season, it would also include as wide a variety of tracks as possible, starting with road courses.
Unfortunately, we have none.
We also don’t have places like Bristol Motor Speedway, Daytona International Speedway or Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway or Indianapolis Motor Speedway, all considered among the most prestigious tracks on the Cup circuit, yet they’re left on the outside looking in when it comes time for the Chase.
I’m not knocking some of the other tracks in the Chase, but shouldn’t NASCAR be putting its best foot forward and showcasing its best places in the 10-race “playoffs,” particularly in the current economic climate where fans want the best bang for their buck?
What’s more, given how some of the luster of the Chase has worn off during its first five years, wouldn’t one way to get some of that lost luster back be by having places like Daytona and Bristol – two of the most popular tracks in the sport – on the Chase dance card?
We keep hearing rumors of major changes coming within NASCAR in 2010, which are typically followed by denials of those rumors by chairman Brian France or one of his spokesmen. Well, maybe one of those rumors/denials should actually wind up being true, and we’ll see a major overhaul of the Chase format and the tracks – including adding a road course – that are part of it.
We could only be so lucky for such a common sense decision.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/05 at 08:55 PMI’d go one step further Jerry. I agree a road course should be in the chase, but I also believe that there should be one or two “revolving” locations. The tracks not already in the chase, by random draw, would give up their normal race weekend and have it moved into a chase spot if the track owner agreed.
Now that I think about it, what looks good on paper, would never work. How about this…
Five of the chase tracks are the same every year; five change from year to year. The schedule is adjusted to accommodate the chase format.
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