Happy Hour: Races on cable, All-Star changes and more
It’s time for Happy Hour. As always, tweet us your thoughts or shoot us an email at [email protected] if you want to participate.
The All-Star Race was fun. If you like chaos, of course. We’ll get to some All-Star Race discussion in a bit. First, let’s look at what Carl Edwards had to say when reacting to the news that NASCAR was cutting even more downforce at two races this summer.
“I’m so excited about the things that are coming at Kentucky and Michigan,” Edwards said. “NASCAR is doing what it takes, the teams are doing what it takes to go out and figure out how to make this the best racing it can be. This is going to be a blast. These cars, I’m telling you, when you drive them sideways at 200 mph and you’re closing on people and you’re able to pressure them and race like that, that’s as good as it gets. I’m very excited about Michigan and Kentucky, it’s like Christmas for me.”
Edwards has been a vocal, vocal proponent of getting rid of as much aerodynamic grip as possible, so it’s not surprising he’s so excited. But we’re not sure you’re going to find a driver who doesn’t like the changes that NASCAR is making to take away downforce again.
Don’t expect the changes for the two races – if they get rave reviews – to be implemented permanently before 2017.
And while NASCAR deserves credit for being willing to make changes to the racing product to make it better, it’s also mandatory to point out that NASCAR is responsible for putting itself in a position where changes have to be made.
@NickBromberg Why is NASCAR okay with their TV partners putting races on cable, with abysmally low ratings? Need more eyes, not less.
— Ryan Comerford (@Ryan_Comerford) May 26, 2016
Money.
And the money argument works both ways. While viewer numbers for races on Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports Network may be lower than races on Fox and NBC, the broadcasts give the networks programming that they know will do well among all cable entities. And will do really well vs. any other program that would be broadcast on the cable networks otherwise.
So NBC and Fox both ponied up a lot of money as an investment of sorts. Over the course of the 10-year contract, they hope that having programming like NASCAR will mean more people will tune in to their networks on a regular basis.
And anyway, we’re at the point where if you want to watch a race on cable badly enough, you can do so if you don’t have the channel available on your TV. And no, we’re not making a backhanded illegal-streaming comment. Bars exist (you can buy one beer or another drink) and there are now streaming services like Sling that let you pay per month to stream Fox Sports 1, among other channels.
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Since this year All Star format didn’t go as planned as we all hope, I suggest next year format should be two 50 laps segments with mandatory pit stop. At the end of the each segment, 2-3-4 drivers should be eliminated in a random draw. The last segment segment should be 15 laps shootout with a mandatory green flag drive through down the pit. Now that is an easy and All Star the fans will enjoy. -Carlos
@NickBromberg Chance the basic format of All-Star ’16 is All-Star ’17? 3 favorites for the Sunday 3? Amen the Cadbury eggs stayed dry!
— Brian Cullather (@Briancullather) May 26, 2016
Give this format another shot with a tweak — you just have to make a mandatory pit stop by lap 85. No mandatory pit stop in the first segment. NASCAR can work in provisions if a caution comes out near that lap 85 mark, and it’s early enough in the second segment that if a caution does come out, a driver can pit immediately after the green flag flies with plenty of time left in the segment.
If we’re going to pick winners for the 1,268 miles of awesomeness that’s ahead on Sunday, it’s hard to go against Simon Pagenaud for the Indianapolis 500. Daniel Ricciardo posted a really fast lap during practice Thursday for the Monaco Grand Prix, so we’ll go with a second-straight Red Bull win. And for Sunday night’s race, why not a Joey Logano win again?
And before we sign off, make sure you enjoy Memorial Day and remember the reason for it. But we strongly encourage you to not be that person who gives unsolicited reminders to everyone else via social media about what the true meaning of Memorial Day really is. That’s not cool.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
