Fan's Eye View ~ Starting Off The Chase With A Fizzle
09/17/2013
Jim Fitzgerald
I’m just an honest race fan here, speaking my piece, and putting it out there for all interested parties to read. I’m not trying to change the world. I’m just voicing my opinions about a small piece of it; something we call NASCAR. I write for my own website. We’re no Jayski, and we’re certainly not NASCAR’s own website. It is just a simple plot of land in the vastness of the World Wide Web with a few good writers who have great ideas, and as a result, we get a few thousand hits per week.. We’re not shaking the world, by any means, but we can hope, through sharing and social media, that our words are eventually spread to those who make the decisions.
It is of decisions made I wish to opine about on this day. As this column is being written, the date is Friday, September 13, 2013. It will not see the pages of the internet until the date posted above: Tuesday, September 17th, 2013. I can only assume that the upcoming race at Chicago will have been completed by this time. I don’t know who has won the race, not even who was on the pole. I do not yet know how it will have played out. Controversy? Retaliation? All mysteries to me at this point. The only thing I know is that the race was schedule to run on Sunday, September 15th, 2013 at just after 2:00PM Eastern Standard Time.
Why?
On the heels of what could possibly be the most controversial race in the Modern Era, The Commonwealth Catastrophe, where Chase manipulation was attempted, and resulting penalties were handed down, and a good portion of NASCAR fans vowed never to watch again, our beloved sport needed a spark.
True, when the race was scheduled, it was unknown that what would happen at Richmond would have happened. That, however, is not the point.
The point is that the Chase for the Championship was schedule to begin this week. A race, the first of ten which are used to determine a Champion, was scheduled to run on a Sunday afternoon. It was scheduled to run on a Sunday afternoon, on the second week of the NFL season. It was scheduled to run on a Sunday afternoon, at a track which has lights specifically installed for night racing.
I ask again. Why?
It is the second week of the schedule of the most popular sport in North America. The NFL is always the main competition for NASCAR when attracting fans is the goal. NASCAR has even moved the Daytona 500 recently to prevent a Superbowl conflict, so the powers that be recognize the tug of war fans could be having between the NFL and NASCAR. If that is the case, why has NASCAR chosen to go up against said opponent, head to head, in what should be one of the most exciting races of the Chase: the first one. The field has been reset. The challengers are locked in. This is a race to showcase. We have the ability to run it with no opposition from the NFL, and we have the ability to run it in prime time, which we know has been successful in the past. We have the ability to run it as a night race which is usually quite popular with the fans.
NASCAR has all of these opportunities, yet chose to run the Chicago race, the opening race of the Chase for the Championship, on Sunday afternoon. Not during prime time. Not under the lights. Not free from fan tug of war.
Why?
Another question to ask is, especially after last week, is it really beneficial to have the Championship determined by the Chase? If you’re following any major form of social media, you probably would have noticed the used of #ERASETHECHASE. There is a huge outcry from NASCAR fans everywhere to get rid of the Chase for the Championship as the method to determine the Champion. It has been said, also, that if there were no Chase for the Championship, the mischief and skullduggery which occurred at Richmond probably would not have happened, and NASCAR would not find itself in the unenviable situation in which it does. We may find ourselves in the situation where we determine a Champion with two or three races left again, but with the level of competition now, that may no longer be the case. Additionally, the sponsors of, and the thirty-one race teams themselves will not find that they have been automatically eliminated from a chance to win the Championship with ten races still remaining in the season.
I never claimed to have all the answers. In fact, I mostly just have questions which go on eternally with no official answers…from anyone. Again, this space is just my littler corner of the world where I get to voice my opinion. If you agree with anything I have said, feel free to spread the word and share the link with others. You are strong, NASCAR Nation, and our voices can be heard if we scream loud enough.
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