Need for Speed
by Jared Turner
Fewer three-day race weekends are a good idea
April 12, 2008
More blog postings from Jared Turner
Three-day race weekends aren't always necessary. Never is that more true than when the race is on a Saturday.
Take this weekend’s schedule of events leading up to Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix, for example.
Rather than having drivers get on the track for the first time Friday morning as they would on a normal Friday through Sunday race weekend, NASCAR scheduled its drivers to hit the hardtop for first time on Thursday at 12:15 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. Qualifying for tonight’s race was held four hours later.
Nearly a full 24 hours elapsed, however, before the cars returned to the track for the first of two Friday practices. More than 24 hours will have passed between the start of the final practice and start of Saturday night’s race.
Notice any kind of pattern here?
There are unnecessarily enormous blocks of time between on-track activities for Sprint Cup teams.
Why not schedule the proceedings closer together and shave a day off of the weekend, especially for a Saturday race?
Have drivers and their crews arrive on Friday morning just as they would for a Sunday event.
Sure, it may require more careful planning on the part of NASCAR but that seems like a small price to pay for everyone at the track to have an extra day off.
Two-day race weekends are not unprecedented. It’s time they become a habit.
Take this weekend’s schedule of events leading up to Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix, for example.
Rather than having drivers get on the track for the first time Friday morning as they would on a normal Friday through Sunday race weekend, NASCAR scheduled its drivers to hit the hardtop for first time on Thursday at 12:15 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. Qualifying for tonight’s race was held four hours later.
Nearly a full 24 hours elapsed, however, before the cars returned to the track for the first of two Friday practices. More than 24 hours will have passed between the start of the final practice and start of Saturday night’s race.
Notice any kind of pattern here?
There are unnecessarily enormous blocks of time between on-track activities for Sprint Cup teams.
Why not schedule the proceedings closer together and shave a day off of the weekend, especially for a Saturday race?
Have drivers and their crews arrive on Friday morning just as they would for a Sunday event.
Sure, it may require more careful planning on the part of NASCAR but that seems like a small price to pay for everyone at the track to have an extra day off.
Two-day race weekends are not unprecedented. It’s time they become a habit.
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