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NASCAR moves quickly. If the last decade isn’t a lesson of that, I’m not sure what is. And I think for the most part we’ve seen some good changes come out of the sport (you may disagree). Not everything they’ve suggested though has been great. And I think the latest idea to come out of the folks at NASCAR is a little out of left field.

Our friend John Daly over at The Daly Planet reported last week about a question that was leaked from the weekly NASCAR Fan Council Survey. Here is an excerpt of that question:

NASCAR is exploring the idea of running some NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races throughout the season using a new “heat race” format in which approximately half of the trucks run a preliminary “heat race” followed by the other half of the trucks running in a separate preliminary “heat race.”

These “heat races” would then be followed by “The Main Event” which would feature a slightly longer race than the two “heat races” and would consist of only a certain number of the best finishing trucks from the first and second “heat races” competing in “The Main Event.”

After the queasy feeling left my stomach, I had to wonder why? What’s the point of doing this? I think in theory it could probably eliminate some of the start-and-park teams and perhaps lower some costs, but is that worth the chance that NASCAR could drive away some fans? And just when things are looking good for the trucks?

Have you seen the ratings for the series? SpeedTV put out a press release this week touting year-to-year ratings increases since July – including increases in the last four races. What this tells me is that people are watching and interested. That also leads me to believe that there probably isn’t anything too wrong – certainly not bad enough to consider changing the entire format of the series.

While the Truck Series has long been NASCAR’s proving ground, I think the sanctioning body is inching ever closer to damaging it. I realize they’re attempting to be proactive to keep the racing interesting, but when does the series get a consistent format?

Obviously this is just an idea, these surveys are one way for NASCAR to gauge interest in a potential change, but that they’re asking about this makes me think they’re serious about it. Now I’m not saying this idea can’t work, or that it wouldn’t be interesting. What I am saying though is NASCAR needs to seriously consider the ramifications of the rolling changes – people get sick of it (I’m getting sick of it). Why fix something that really isn’t broken?

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I know this is getting beat to death around the NASCAR world, but I think it’s a worthy subject. I’m talking about NASCAR, at least preliminarily, relenting on changes to the COT.

As of right now nothing has been done and nothing has been announced and all we’ve got from NASCAR is  “maybe talk,” but truly it’s a great start. Throughout the season we saw a sanctioning body more engaged with drivers and team owners, holding town hall style meetings and asking their opinions on a wide number of subjects.

In addition the sanctioning body is utilizing the Fan Council and tapping into the sentiments of the most important people involved in the sport. While they’re only occasional surveys, I promise NASCAR is listening. You screamed about Digger and they brought it to David Hill; he unfortunately didn’t listen.

Back to the COT though, this is something NASCAR has consistently refused to make changes to in the years since its introduction; and honestly that probably wasn’t a bad thing. Can you imagine being a crew chief or driver and trying to figure out a car they were constantly making changes to? It would have been a disaster.

Now they’re talking to drivers and owners and looking at making a change to the car. A wing or a spoiler? It makes no difference to me. I’m not offended by the aesthetics of the car (and certainly don’t have to drive one), but I know I’m in the minority on that. What effect will it have? I honestly have no idea. The reaction to it is clearly mixed throughout the garage. We’ll see how it works on track.

The point is NASCAR is listening; and they’re actually considering changes based on what people are saying. This really is huge. In addition to the possible changes to the COT, they’re expected to make some rule changes. The media tour is next week; NASCAR’s turn is Thursday, so expect some announcements from them.

I know this is hard to believe sometimes, but the folks at NASCAR really do want you to be happy. Happy fans, make for good bottom lines. And as we say here so often, this is a business.

A Clarification on the #26 Points Situation

We had a question in Ask the Insiders this week about the points situation of the #26. Here was my response:

I honestly haven’t heard anything about this deal, but it’s my understanding from the way NASCAR has done things in the past that they won’t be allowed to sell owner points. The problem arises because the past team owner would be listed as the owner. As Jack Roush already has four teams he can’t be listed as an owner on another car (this would be the same issue for RPM). This is very similar to the DEI-Ginn points situation (they would have exceeded the car limit). NASCAR allowed DEI to sell the points to RCR and Front Row last year because they didn’t exceed the car limit. You’ll notice Teresa Earnhardt is listed as the owner on the #34 and Bobby Ginn as owner of the #33. If NASCAR operates like they did in the past I would expect the points to disappear.

Well NASCAR didn’t operate like they did in the past and allowed Roush to essentially sell the points through a “comprehensive services agreement” to a new team owner. NASCAR clarified today (story here and here), saying this was a ONE TIME deal that they were allowing because they were forcing Roush’s downsizing. Fair enough.

In these situations in the past NASCAR has required the team owner transferring the points to somehow be involved in the team. That’s why you see Bobby Ginn listed as a team owner at RCR and why Smith Ganassi Racing has Ganassi in its name (and why Ganassi is listed as the team owner of the #42). Obviously neither of these men has anything to do with the teams that took their points, but it placates NASCAR so that’s what’s done. For all intents and purposes, while they don’t technically allow it, the points are sold.