It’s uncommon for NASCAR to make a that receives near-universal approval from the formally licensed plenty.
However this one — rotating the season-ending championship race amongst a handful of tracks — was mainly met with only one delicate critique: Why weren’t we doing this all alongside through the playoff period?
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Can’t repair that, however can discover methods to take full benefit of a rotation that can start subsequent 12 months with Homestead-Miami. And earlier than shifting on to the plain looming query of how that rotation may look, let’s tamp down any unfavorable vibes relating to which tracks
The speedway in Homestead brings every thing NASCAR desires in a season finale, together with the massive Miami market and scenes like this.
THRU THE GEARS
First: Daytona. It’s quieted down lately, however there have all the time been followers who want NASCAR would bookend the season with two Daytona visits. As soon as NASCAR moved Daytona’s summertime race from July to late August to finish the 26-race common season, such discuss largely died as a result of the brand new setup looks as if an incredible match.
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Possibly most significantly, as you possible observed, fairly a little bit of hype surrounds the Daytona 500. It’s a year-long cycle of promotion, ticket gross sales, sponsor gross sales, and so on., that begins a critical ramping-up from season’s finish into February.
A championship race could be a lot of the identical. You don’t put two main occasions at a venue inside a number of months of one another.
And at last, Daytona is what we as soon as known as a “plate-racing” observe, and nonetheless is although with totally different know-how than restrictor plates. Now we will name such issues “pack-racing,” or “drafting tracks,” because the trade labels them.
That sort of racing is nice for underdogs who relish the uncommon alternative to contend, however not precisely nice for figuring out a deserving champion.
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Subsequent on the no-fly checklist: Talladega and Atlanta, for the above motive. Geographically, each would supply good probabilities of first rate November climate (and possibly first rate probabilities of good climate!) however they’re off the grid.
Charlotte? It’s a giant and rising market and the climate ought to work, however they’d must ditch the Roval as a result of NASCAR signifies it’s not prepared to contemplate a street course for championship prospects.
Bristol and Darlington? Enjoyable to contemplate each venues with a championship at stake, however the markets don’t scream Huge Occasion. Indianapolis? Attractive, however the climate is just too dicey. Identical with St. Louis and Richmond, no less than for my thinning blood.
The NASCAR championship rotation may appear to be this
So how will that rotation look? Except a brand new observe sprouts in Southern California, the place nothing sprouts with out operating an entrenched gauntlet of roadblocks, it should possible embrace all, or no less than 4, of the next.
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Homestead-Miami.
Phoenix.
Las Vegas.
Nashville.
Fort Price.
Huge markets throughout and strong speedways, all between a mile and mile-and-a-half.
These 5 additionally supply a mixture of tracks owned by the 2 greatest gamers: Daytona Seashore-based NASCAR (Homestead and Phoenix) and Charlotte-based Speedway Motorsports (the opposite three).
If the rotation shall be 4 and never 5, the perfect guess is without doubt one of the three Speedway Motorsports tracks shall be excluded. And since they rattling certain received’t exclude Vegas, that might imply both Nashville or Fort Price is bumped.
However what about …
Using shotgun with this dialogue is how future Cup Collection champs shall be topped at no matter rotation of locales is chosen.
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On and off this season, a brand new playoff committee is kicking round concepts for revamping a playoff system that is been revamped and virtually overhauled because it got here to life in 2004. Notably, many are wanting one thing apart from a winner-take-all within the closing amongst 4 surviving contenders.
No offense, however that is how Joey Logano grew to become champ final 12 months — kinda-sorta snuck into the ultimate foursome and soared at Phoenix. A system that requires multiple nice run on the very finish is a greater strategy to decide a worthy champ.
However they will not return to something that brings the potential of a sizzling racer virtually clinching the championship earlier than the season’s closing inexperienced flag waves.
That may mainly defeat the aim of all that dialogue up above.
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(This story was up to date so as to add a video.)
