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Hosts: Charlie Turner, Steve Wronkowicz

December 5, 2008 8:00 pm CST

How To Fix NASCAR: 1. Trim the Schedule

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by Chris Leone, Special To Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

If OnPitRow.com was a NASCAR team, I’d be the development driver of the bunch. In the same way that young hotshots like Joey Logano have been driving since they were in grade school, I’ve been following and writing about all forms of motorsports since I was barely old enough to talk.

December 2, 2008 7:51 pm CST 1 Comment

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Hey, everybody. I’ve been somewhat out of commission the past few weeks, what with being sick and college applications and all. But now I’m back, and as promised, am starting my mini-thesis paper on how to fix our beloved NASCAR.

The plan is for me to do these entries bi-weekly, so they’ll (hopefully) be a little more substantial than, say, Quick Hits usually is (or isn’t). This is a series of articles on how one fan thinks that the sanctioning body can return the sport to its glory days of the mid-1990s.

Without further ado:

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Since NASCAR became a sport with regular national television coverage - start the timeline at the 1979 Daytona 500 on CBS - the sport has jumped from 28 to 36 races on the Sprint Cup schedule. (Granted, 1979 featured 31 races, but the low was 28 events in 1985.) With so many more opportunities to watch races on TV, it should be no surprise that 18 races (half of the schedule!) experienced either losses or no gain in TV ratings compared to last season.

It’s also no surprise that tracks like Texas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway) have seen “declining” attendance since the addition of second race dates at both tracks. Eddie Gossage, president of TMS, even admitted earlier this year that ticket sales at his track were flat.

(A quick note on the quotes on “declining” - this doesn’t necessarily mean that the tracks have seen less people going through the turnstiles. It just means that they have failed to sell out any of their races since being awarded second dates. In other words, while the demand for second races may have been substantial, and those second race weekends may have made sense at the time, it’s not as if either track could have filled every seat based on waiting lists and season ticket holders alone.)

The simple and obvious solution here is to get rid of a handful of races - enough to, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. suggests, “keep (the fans) wanting more.”

“We have saturated the market with race after race after race,” he told Yahoo! Sports in November. “When we were a 28-race schedule, the sport was giving you just enough to get really get excited about the next season.”

At the same time, it’s going to be pretty expensive for teams to schlep out their big and fancy 18-wheelers across the country next year as it is, so some of the events that are way across the country also put a big hurt on owners’ wallets.

So let’s have a look at the 2009 Sprint Cup schedule, shall we? Currently, it has only four off weekends: March 15, April 12 (Easter), July 18, and August 30. Compare that to 1992, when there were off weekends in almost every month: February 23, March 22, April 19, May 10, June 28, July 12, August 23, October 18, and November 8.

Eliminating the second Texas race (November 8) and the second Auto Club race (October 11) are easy enough, but where to from there? It’d be bad to have two off weekends right next to each other. The trick, then, is to find redundant races that clutter up large stretches on the schedule.

Pocono doesn’t need two races, much less two 500-mile events, but one of those races is two weeks after an existing off weekend, so the June 7 date should face the axe.

Both of Atlanta’s race dates are around off weekends, but there’s a track that doesn’t need more than one. The spring Nationwide race is gone, so why keep the Cup race (March 8)? But instead of having two off weekends in a row, it’d be easy to set in the Richmond race scheduled for May 2. Richmond has had an early season race before (namely… March 8, 1992), so it’s not as if there’s a huge adjustment.

Now, for the most difficult cut of all for me personally… the June 28 race at New Hampshire. I hate to do it, but the track does nothing for anyone. NASCAR lost two budding superstars (Kenny Irwin Jr. and Adam Petty) up here, and it’s the furthest north track on the schedule. It’s just not necessary to have two Cup races there.

Cut number six goes to the August 16 race at Michigan, because the only cars that ever seem to win there either belong to Jack Roush, Ray Evernham, or Roger Penske. Until Earnhardt Jr.’s win in June, a Chevrolet hadn’t seen victory lane at Michigan since Jeff Gordon won in June 2001.

So there you have it: six cuts to the Sprint Cup schedule to bring the schedule to ten off weekends and 32 total races (including the Budweiser Shootout and Sprint All-Star Challenge). The racing would be better, the TV ratings would rise, the fans would fight for tickets again, and the owners would save six more weeks’ worth of gas money. (Of course, we’d cut races in Nationwide and Camping World Trucks too, but I’ll fix those series later.)

As for the track owners? The IndyCar Series is going to hit its stride come the new chassis and engine package in 2010. I know Bruton Smith’s looking to bring them to a couple of his tracks anyway. Everybody wins!

Filed under: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Bruton Smith, Dale Earnhardt Jr., How to fix NASCAR, Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR, New Hampshire International Speedway, Sprint Cup Series 

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Crazy Cautions at California Speedway

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by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.

September 4, 2008 7:11 pm CDT No Comments

Our own Mindy Monday has the solution for Auto Club Speedway’s self-fulfilling caution lights in this week’s Monday Morning Crew Chief.

She really isn’t too happy with NASCAR this week.  And she’s not a cheerleader for the open wheel revolution either.

See for yourself right here.

Filed under: Auto Club Speedway, Bench Racing TV, Darlington Speedway, Jimmy Johnson, Monday Morning Crew Chief, NASCAR video 

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Johnson dominates in California heading to Chase

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

September 2, 2008 7:38 am CDT No Comments

Jimmy Johnson’s win at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana wasn’t much of a contest.

Johnson lead 227 of the 250 lap event and at times had over a nine second lead on the field.  JJ has this place flat out dialed in.

The NASCAR circus moves to Richmond International Raceway for the final race to determine who will make it into NASCAR’s version of the playoffs.

Dodge had only one car in the Chase during the 2007 season. Their only hope for 2008 is dwindling. That hope is for Kasey Kahne to make it into the Chase as their only car.  Kahne will need a lot of things to go his way for that to happen at Richmond.

And that my friends leads us to this weeks BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Which do you prefer; the old way of seeding drivers by merely readjusting their points, or the current system of seeding by wins?

This short post was brought to you by an early morning arrival back from the ARCA Southern Illinois 100.

Give us your ideas and we could use them on this week’s ON PIT ROW from 5 to 7pm ET; then listen to INSIDE ARCA from 7to 8:30pm ET

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Filed under: Auto Club Speedway, Jimmy Johnson, Kasey Kahne 

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Auto Club Speedway Will Preview the Chase

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by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.

August 31, 2008 7:15 am CDT 1 Comment

There are two races left in NASCAR’s Race to the Chase for the 2008 Sprint Cup. This week, at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana California should give fans a preview of what the competition will be like in those final ten races that constitute the Chase.

The three drivers that I expect to battle it out for the Cup championship have three of the top four Driver Ratings for NASCAR’s Loop Data at the California two miler. Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards are first, third and fourth. They have to varying degrees and at different points in 2008, dominated NASCAR’s regular season this year. I don’t see any reason for that trend to end.

Johnson tops out at a DR of 114.7. Remember back to the spring race at Fontana and the day one (the first Auto Club Speedway race was repeatedly delayed by rain and wet track conditions and finally the finish was postponed to the following day) when Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon dominated early. Neither driver won that race but J J is a two time Fontana victor. He has the best Ave Position of 7.0 and the top Ave finish - 5.3. Johnson also has the most Laps in the Top 15 with 1630 for 92.9 percent of the last seven races.

Kyle Busch, who might just be the only NASCAR driver we would be talking about in 2008 if it weren’t for Johnson and Carl Edwards, has a win at California too. He has the third best Driver Rating at 109.9, three top fives and six top tens, the third most Laps in the Top 15, third best Ave Running Position and the second most Quality Passes.

The winner of that spring California race was Edwards. He comes back with a Driver Rating of 105.6, six top fives and seven top tens to go with his single win. Carl’s only category leading Loop stat is for Green Flag Passes. He is coming off a win at Bristol after bump passing Busch - who led most of the Bristol night race. But these guys have run up front most of the season.

Is There a Spoiler out there? Anyone? Anyone?

Two weeks ago, Edwards and Busch took turns dominating at Michigan International Speedway, with Edwards winning again and Kyle second. The top four in that first Fontana race were Edwards, Johnson, Gordon and Busch. I see trends that are too hard to ignore.

Matt Kenseth is the spoiler in the top four California ratings. Matt’s Driver Rating is second best at 112.7 and he’s a two time Fontana winner. Kenseth has the best Ave Mid Race Position and has led the most laps - 248, or 14.1 percent of the last seven races at the track.

Who else is good? Tony Stewart has the fifth best Driver Rating - a strong 101.0 - and the best Passing Differential. But he’s never been able to finish at California and 2008 just doesn’t look like the year of the Smoke.

Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Gordon, Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch round out the top ten in the Loop. Kasey Kahne has won twice in 2008 on long, fast tracks. He’s won at Fontana too. But I can’t see him beating my top three this week.

Nope, its got to be one of the big three. My pick is Jimmy Johnson with an upset special possibility coming from one of the Red Bull Toyotas. I’ll take Brian Vickers.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Auto Club Speedway, Carl Edwards, Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, NASCAR Fantasy Gaming, Red Bull Racing, Sprint Cup Series 

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