George Diaz:
NASCAR schedule tweaks aren’t enough.
NASCAR is going to blow up its schedule for the 2018 Monster Energy Cup season. The strategy is simple: Boom or bust.
NASCAR has been rolling snake eyes lately. The numbers don’t lie: Sports Media Watch documented that excluding rainouts, eight of the first 10 Cup races this year had TV viewership declines — five by double-digits.
NASCAR needs juice. Enter the 2018 schedule, and changes announced Tuesday afternoon:
Las Vegas Motor Speedway will serve as the kickoff race in the Monster Energy Cup series playoffs, replacing Chicagoland Speedway, on Sept. 16. Chicago will still host a regular-season race on July 1.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway will move from its date in late July to Sept. 9, serving as the cutoff race for the playoffs.
Richmond International Raceway, the host of the 26th race since the playoff format began in 2004, will become one of the 10 playoff races with a Sept 22 date. That adds a second short track playoff venue, joining Martinsville in the mix.
And for the first time in playoff history, a road course comes into play because Charlotte Motor Speedway will host a race on the venue’s road course instead of its 1.5-mile oval on Sept. 29.
Daytona will still kick off the season on Feb. 18, but Feb. 11 will now feature a doubleheader — the Clash and Daytona 500 pole qualifying.
The changes address several challenges facing the sport, including complaints from the fans that the playoff schedule – which has remained the same since 2004 – is too stagnant.
“Moving a short track into the playoffs is what we heard our fans loud and clear wanting,’’ said Jim
Cassidy, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Racing Operations. Likewise, Cassidy said that it was “loud and clear that fans wanted a road course in the playoffs.”
But the problems NASCAR faces simply won’t go away by mixing things up.
NASCAR is still searching for the next great thing in troubled times. A lot of star power will leave the building when Dale Earnhardt Jr. retires after this season. Danica Patrick, a polarizing marketing queen who has foundered on the track, may step away, too.
Attendance remains a problem, too. Richmond, once a giant draw in a venue that sold 112,000 seats a decade ago, struggled to fill 60,000 in a recent race.
This week’s Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, run on Sunday night, will also be a good testing ground for NASCAR, especially after the disappointing scenario of last weekend’s All-Star race, where there was limited passing in any of the segments.
“We’ve been talking about our problems, lack of passing, rivalries, every week,” said Fox Sports analyst Darrell Waltrip ,a NASCAR Hall of Famer. “Obviously there are some really smart people involved in this sport, and if there is a solution they would probably jump right on it.
“It really comes down to that old saying, ‘it is what it is.’”
Waltrip, a NASCAR traditionalist but a forward-thinker, has an idea that makes sense:
Cut down on all the rules. NASCAR has gotten more progressive with technological changes, a not-so-good thing for a sport etched in the fury and fire of individual racers.
“We spend so much time working in the cars and changing the rules on how they inspect the cars. It’s always all about the cars,” he said.
Maybe it’s time to dumb things down from a technical standpoint and let everybody go racin.’
Major endorsement
Alex Bowman has the best possible endorsement to become the guy to fill the No. 88 seat permanently after Dale Earnhardt Jr. retires: A thumbs up from Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“Alex Bowman to the 88 next year — is that what you guys want?” Earnhardt Jr. asked fans who were following his Periscope live stream from Charlotte last weekend.
“That would be pretty awesome to see Alex in that car. That’s the plan, I hope. … Yeah, Alex in the 88. That sounds good to me. That kid earned it last year. He ran good.”
Bowman, 24, was a replacement driver for 10 races last year when Earnhardt was out with concussion issues. Earnhardt, voted the most popular driver on the circuit 14 consecutive seasons, will retire from full-time racing following the 2017 season.
The final call on who fills the slot ultimately belongs to team owner Rick Hendrick.
Thanks for your service
In honor of Memorial Day weekend, NASCAR will honor those who served during the “600 Miles of Remembrance” tribute at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
For the third consecutive year, windshield headers on all 40 Cup cars will be replaced with the names of fallen military service members during Sunday’s CocaCola 600.