Should NASCAR follow F1 and put a time limit on races?
In the wake of the havoc that Mother Nature rained on the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600, should NASCAR consider taking a couple of cues from the world’s other leading motorsports series, Formula One?
Specifically, F1 has a two-hour time limit on its grand prix races, and it awards only half the normal points if a race has to be halted before it reaches three-quarters of the scheduled distance.
In the open-wheel series, if weather slows the cars so much that they can't complete the scheduled distance within two hours, officials simply wave the checkered flag after that period. Two hours would be too short for most NASCAR fans, but some time limit would certainly benefit both fans and competitors. Many of the Sprint Cup teams at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Monday might have made very different decisions before pitting during the caution for rain that eventually ended the event. Fewer crew chiefs would have been left guessing whether or not a race stood any chance of resuming if they knew they were up against the clock.
Spectators, meanwhile, wouldn’t have had to sit out in miserable conditions if they knew the time limit would expire before a race could be resumed. And the victor in a rain-shortened event might still be able to celebrate while there were still some fans around.
Whether awarding partial points for shortened events would have any impact on NASCAR is an issue that would have to be studied. In F1, only the top eight finishers of the 20 starters score at all and there are fewer points offered, while in NASCAR all 43 cars on the grid earn points, so it might not make as much difference.
Odds are NASCAR officials won’t adopt either of these ideas, but they certainly need to give some consideration to formulating better plans to deal with the kind of situation they faced this week, because sooner or later, they'll face the same problems again.
