The recent bashing of NASCAR and the most recent race at Talladega, has created quite a bit of conversation all around the world-wide web. Is all of this justified? Some is, and some is unfair. So what are all of the complaints about?

Many have criticized NASCAR’s last minute change to the rule to eliminate the “bump-draft” in the corners at Talladega. This latest change was implemented to keep the drivers safer and prevent another Carl Edwards moment. But Jimmie Johnson made a point to show that this change really didn’t impact the outcome of the race.

“First of all, bump drafting hasn’t been allowed in the corners for some time, so they didn’t allow push drafting. Mike wasn’t sure what phrase to use in the drivers meeting because it’s kind of a new thing that is a product of this new car. So I don’t think that that had as big of an impact on the race as people want to make it up as.”

But there was another change that was made this past weekend as well, and that did change the mentality of the driver and the way the race was driven. NASCAR mandated smaller restrictor plates to drop the horsepower by 40. This was to slow the cars down, thus keeping the drivers safer. But Johnson indicated that it did change the way they ran the race.

“The real impact was we didn’t want to wreck.  We knew we were going to wreck. We knew we were going to cause a big wreck, it’s just what that racing does, and everybody was minding their manners and be responsible up until we could see the checkered flag essentially and that’s when things started to get crazy and we crashed.

NASCAR we’re on a different style of car that was supposed to make the racing more exciting at these bigger tracks and really all tracks, and it has made it more exciting and allows us to close and make passes on the restrictor plate tracks, but it also is the exact thing that causes the big wrecks. We went to a smaller restrictor plate to help keep the cars on the ground and make them safer.  That didn’t work.”

Johnson went on to say that in order to really fix the problem at Talladega, they need to change the track, they can’t make any additional changes to the car to make a difference.

“At the end of the day I hope people realized we have messed with enough in the garage area with cars, threatening drivers, regulating some people think they’re over-regulated, other people think we’re under-regulated, but the bottom line is we’re going to have these issues until we’re required to let off the gas going into the turns. I don’t see any way possible with the safety rules that we need to pay attention to for the safety of the drivers and the fans and the way the cars are built that we can do that without eliminating banking in the corners.

I was just on a phone call with Mark Martin not long ago, and he said for 15 years now, he’s been saying to people that would listen, they need to take the banking out of the corners and make us lift. I think finally the overwhelming public is understanding and starting to recognize that you can’t change the cars anymore. You can’t scold the drivers almost. We’re going to ride single file for 490 miles and make it boring and then wreck everything at the end.  So the only way we can get the racing to change is by changing the track. It’s the only thing left. We’ve messed with every other area and nothing has worked.”

So having hear this coming from the soon-to-be four time champion, I would think that NASCAR would listen. My thought is to quit tweaking things at the last minute to make adjustments to this car that you are not allowing anyone to modify.

Speaking of the COT, that is another sore point with many fans, not only is it now a big shoebox that looks nothing like any manufacturers product, but NASCAR has mandated that no one can modify or work on except springs and shocks. Drivers have said over and over that the wing on the back makes it too difficult to see “through” the car to A) avoid potential wrecks in front and B) see the hand signals from drivers ahead or behind you. With the recent announcement of the Nationwide Series COT, I noticed that they removed the wing and stuck with a traditional spoiler. It looks like they were listening, but why can they not make that same change to the Cup Series? If it is all about safety, listen to the guys in the cars, they hate the wing.

Not only give them a spoiler back, but let these crew chiefs have some flexibility and leeway. These guys are very smart and may find things that NASCAR is overlooking that would make the actual race more exciting to watch. The rigid regulations implemented have tied many hands and in return, competition has suffered.

Now one change that was made this year to help competition was the double-file restarts. This was a great move by NASCAR which has been well received by fans and drivers alike. It made a huge difference at all of the tracks, and the one that I think it had the biggest impact on, was Bristol Motor Speedway. The Spring race was for all intensive purposes, boring and very Non-Bristol like, but with the implementation of the double-file restarts, the fall race was much more like the Bristol of old and revived one of the premier tracks on the circuit.

Another pain point has been the Chase itself. Many are screaming that the Chase needs to be completely revamped or eliminated. Some are saying that the Chase needs to have a separate points system in order to keep the Chase going all the way to the last race. Others are saying get rid of it and move back to the old system which rewards an entire season of hard work, not just the last 10 races. And finally there is a group saying just leave it like it is for a few more years and quit changing or meddling with it every single year. It seems that the Chase format, which has only been around since 2004, has seen multiple variations in such a short period of time. Since 1949 there have only been 12 changes to the points system, this system has seen three adjustments in six years. And the best recommendation that I have heard, was to slowly eliminate drivers as the chase goes on, so in the end, there are only three cars eligible to win it based on finishes throughout the Chase.

The final big complaint by fans has been the television coverage. With races not being as exciting, the coverage doesn’t seem to make up for it. PRN and MRN are so much more exciting to listen to and many are saying that watching the race and listening to the race, it seems like there are two completely different events going on. Now I know that this is not a NASCAR problem, but they seem to be getting blamed for it. I think that the choice of play-by-play announcers needs to be re-evaluated and color-commentators need to have more excitement about them and not talk so much about “their team” and “when I was racing”. There are some high-points, but there are also a lot of low-points.

Is all of this criticism towards NASCAR warranted? In a word, no. But there are a number of fans and drivers who are not happy with the product, and NASCAR really does need to listen. If they can’t keep fans in the seats, and they can’t keep them in front of the TV, it is going to get more and more difficult to keep sponsors in the sport.

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