What about moving The Winston to another date?

[Jared]

With the schedule next year to be at 36 races, and with the ever-increasing demands on teams, what do you think about moving The Winston to the end of the year, a week or two after the last race at Atlanta?

The owners of Charlotte Motor Speedway (I will not say Lowe's Motor Speedway, even though I just did.) say that they need to keep The Winston in its current spot in order to have some build up to the 600.

I say that having the race at the end of the year will allow drivers to go completely all-out and lead to better racing. (As if this event wasn't competitive enough) Since they will be building new cars for the next season, they could wipe out a car if they get into a wreck. This would also allow drivers to heal, should they become involved in a wreck. (not that anyone wants to see drivers hurt, but it happens)

What do you all think? Hey, while we're at it, throw in a million dollars for the winner!

[Lee]

Jared,
I could see two reasons that it wouldn't work. One is the fact that at most of the tracks, at that time of year, the weather would be unsuitable. If you've ever been to the Atlanta track (I'm originally from the Atlanta area) in Novenber, when the last race is held, the weather can be pretty bad, any later and its miserable. Most other tracks are in locations where the weather would be much worse. The second reason is that, a couple of weeks after the season would cut into the driver/team's already short off-season. At this time they are extreamly busy getting prepaired for the up comming season, sometimes working 24hrs around the clock in shifts, plus what little time they have to spend with familes.
A very good question, but I'm afraid it would be unfeasible. Take care.

Lee

[Heeltoe6]

Running ti at the end of the year wouldn't work, but putting it on the Fri before the 600 would not be a problem. The same thing should be done with the Bud Shootout.

[Lee]

Heeltoe6,
Your right, exactly the same, the Bud Shootout. You know, with the need for dates for all of these new tracks, I think maybe it would serve better to either elminate these two non-points, speciality races, or hold them the same weekends as the "main events", which from the scuttlebutt going around, appears to be what might happen with the Winston. That would free up two dates for new races. What I think might be better is to have the sponsors (Winston, and Budwiser) races sponsor a points-race at one of the new venues (Nashville, Gateway, Kentucky or where ever). Sometimes, I really wonder if there is answer to this question of who gets what race, where, etc.

[Redneck]

I personally would like to see more of these events. These races are very similar to the sprint racing I did when roadracing motorcycles, eight laps of maniacal racing. I think it is the most exciting race that Winston Cup does.

[Jared]

Running the special events right before the "big" races, i.e. the Daytona 500 for the Bud Shootout and the 600 for the Winston, would not work because, in present-day Winston Cup, it is all about the championship. Do you think they are going to run flat-out and take such chances when they are going to run the points race a day later? They are going to worry about getting hurt and missing points races.

Overall, I think NASCAR really needs to take a break from counting their money and look at the future. A schedule of 36 races and 2 special events, plus all the new tracks that want dates, is going to kill the teams. They need to take race dates away from some tracks that have two now and reduce the schedule.

[Lee]

Running speciality events right befort a big event would not pose a serious problem as far a equipment loss is concerned since most of the teams run different cars than they do in the main events. Mark Martin chose to run his "600" car for the Winston, and lost it, due to some idiotic driving on the part of Tony Stewart, and it was a week prior to the "big" race. The results were the same reguardless of the seperation being a week or a day. As to fear of injury, if they are so fearful of injury keeping them out of the points races, why do Cup drivers drive, or should I say, why do team owners allow their drivers to drive in the Busch Grand National events (a practice that I don't agree with) on the day prior to many Cup races? Chance of injury is just as great in these events.

I agree with you that NASCAR needs to stop counting their money. Greed is killing this sport. As to taking dates from existing tracks, the problem would be, who loses a date. The greediest individual on the circuit, O. Bruton Smith, is making noises about litigation against NASCAR because he doesn't have a 2nd race for his track in Texas. He had a "hissy fit" when NASCAR announced races at Kansas and Chicago. Someone a while back, on one of these forums, I can't remember which one, had an idea that might work. Tracks with two dates, built before the 1972 season (start of the so called "modern era" of stock car racing) get to keep two dates, all tracks built after 1972 get only one date. I sent NASCAR a proposal that I think would work as fairly as possible in everyone's intrest. Track owners would scream bloody murder, (amazing how they say its in the best intrest of the sport if a race is taken from someone else's track and given to them, but its detrimental if the race is taken from one of their tracks and given to someone else's track, just goes to show, they are not intrested in the "good of the sport", only intrested in themselves, yes Bruton, I'm talking about you, more than anyone else here) about the lost dates, but it would be fair. Every track gets ONE, and only one, Winston Cup date. I would leave Daytona and Darlington with two dates, not because they are owned by International Speedway Corporation, (that is to say NASCAR) but because of tradition. Daytona is NASCAR's "flagship" track, holding the biggest, and most important race of the year, the Daytona 500. The "Firecracker 400", I still use the old name, in the same way that I refuse to call Charlotte anything other than Charlotte Motor Speedway, is a 4th of July tradition which I would keep. Darlington because of the place it holds in NASCAR history, as NASCAR's original, and oldest superspeedway (Indy does not count here, yes its older, but it has only been a NASCAR track since 1994) it rates two races. Southern 500, Labor Day tradition, and its other race. Everybody else gets one. Tracks that loose a 2nd race would have in its place a Busch/Truck, Busch/ARCA, some kind of combination to make up for the lost date. This way, there would roughly 20 Winston Cup races on the schedule. This would leave room to add tracks without overburdening the teams. NASCAR, of course never replied to my suggestion. Why should I be supprised?