The Problem with Racing Coverage

6-16-12

[Old journal entry, but it still applies. Besides the NASCAR championship just got resolved.] This was telling. I can now finally understand my dissatisfaction with NASCAR. The Indycar race from the Milwaukee Mile was delayed for two hours by rain. Blue sky and the sun came out, and the race began. After a few minutes, I felt uncomfortable, ill at ease. There was a sensation that I hadn't felt before while watching a race. It took a moment to realize what I was feeling: I was waiting for a commercial, cringing in advance. After 15 minutes, I realized that one wasn't coming. Perhaps over the course of the rain delay, they'd got in all their sponsorship obligations. I sat back, and I enjoyed the race. Again, I'd nearly forgotten what that felt like while watching a race.

The first, and only commercial break of the hour came after a yellow flag pitstop. In the meantime, I was being treated to close racing and battles all over the track. There was a continuous flow to the action that I'd been missing for so long. Unfortunately all good things come to an end. The NASCAR Nationwide coverage, which had been bumped to ESPN News for the pre-race, swapped channels with Indycar. Within 15 minutes of the NASCAR race, there were already two commercial breaks. My disinterest returned, and I stopped watching.

Now I can't pretend to understand all the economics of putting on a race, all I can say is this: if you guys can show 45 minutes of uninterrupted coverage of soccer matches during the World Cup, why can't you commit to no more than two commercial breaks per half hour, preferably when under caution? How about eliminating phantom debris cautions? How about NASCAR, the drivers, the teams, and the track owners getting together to figure out what to do about the restrictor plate races? How about getting rid of the Chase? Replace it with a system that only hands out championship points for finishing in the top 15. Set the race winner’s points at 50% more than second place. Now that the championship is going to be very hard to predict under my points system, how about putting the final race on over the air TV so I can watch. Deep breath. Calm. NASCAR, please do a better job of not running me off as a fan.