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Drivers Can’t Seem To Make Up Their Minds About Daytona Surface

For years, NASCAR drivers have complained about the old, worn out racing surface at Daytona International Speedway. Now that International Speedway Corporation has announced they are going to repave the giant 2.5-mile oval, driver after driver at Daytona this past weekend waxed poetic about how they will miss racing on the old track.

Go figure.

Last resurfaced in 1978, the ‘World Center of Speed’ Daytona oval has long been the world center of dips, bumps, cracks and tar repairs. Any grip the track once had is long gone. Trying to race a modern, low slung, ground hugging NASCAR vehicle on it is like roller skating on a washboard coated with cooking oil.

Yet, throughout the weekend at DIS, driver after driver professed how much ‘fun’ they were having on the 200-mile per hour slip and slide. Unless we’re mistaken, weren’t these the same drivers that were ready to plow the place under in February when the Daytona 500 was delayed twice because of a car-eating pot hole in the middle of Turns 1 and 2?

The talk now is that a new, super smooth asphalt surface will somehow kill the character of Daytona. The drivers are saying the track will now be a narrower version of Talladega, another ISC facility that had a resurfacing face lift a couple of years ago. Supposedly, all the ‘handling’ characteristics teams had to master on the Daytona surface will be replaced with aero and pure speed challenges.

That’s true to a degree, but the racing won’t suffer. It will just be different. Will there be huge packs of cars and the ‘Big One’ multiple car wrecks? Sure. Then again, how is that any different than what we saw Saturday night?

Times change, things need to be periodically updated. It’s been more than 30 years since Daytona has been repaved. The racing changed then too, just as it did when the first Beach Course was moved to a new location. We’re confident a lot of drivers missed the Beach circuit too especially when they got their first look at the new Daytona International Speedway in 1959.

Talk about a seismic change.

The resurfacing of Daytona is only about 15 years late. The track – which hosts some of the most notable auto and motorcycle races in the world every year – is substandard compared to the vehicles that compete on it. New millennium vehicles require state of the art surfaces to race on.

Finally, Daytona International Speedway is going to provide that.

New Nationwide Car

Frankly, we were a bit skeptical about the introduction of the new Nationwide car and the graphics package attempting to make it look like a production Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger, Toyota Camry or Chevrolet Impala. But after seeing the cars this weekend, we have to give everyone involved an “A” for effort.

Don’t get us wrong – the new race cars don’t come close to the shape of the street legal version of those vehicles – but the graphics packages do give a sense of branding, something that has been missing in NASCAR racing for awhile. The new cars looked cool, were easy to determine which was which on the track and actually raced pretty well.

Also – kudos to NASCAR and ESPN for the very cool animated piece about the new car prior to Friday’s race telecast. Done in blueprint style, the piece was very informative as it detailed all the new changes to the car.

Bottom line – look for these changes, along with the model branding in the Cup Series by the start of the 2013 season.

Last Call

TNT’s ‘Wide Open Coverage’ Saturday night again proved what we have been banging the drum about for years.

Along with ESPN/ABC ‘Side By Side’ coverage of Indy Car races, the concept of keeping the event on the majority of your television screen while a commercial plays in a box is way superior to breaking away for advertisements during the event.

EVERY NASCAR race should be telecast in this format, not just one a year at the July Daytona event.

NASCAR has shown it is willing to make sweeping changes in an effort to make the sport better. New cars, a ‘playoff’ system, and the renovation of shopworn raceways are proof of that.

Fans don’t tune in to NASCAR races to watch commercials. It’s time to tell the advertisers that their slice of the pie – in this case, their portion of the television screen – just got changed too.

the event on the majority of your television screen while a commercial plays in a box is way superior to breaking away for advertisements during the event.

EVERY NASCAR race should be telecast in this format, not just one a year at the July Daytona event.

NASCAR has shown it is willing to make sweeping changes in an effort to make the sport better. New cars, a ‘playoff’ system, and the renovation of shopworn raceways are proof of that.

Fans don’t tune in to NASCAR races to watch commercials. It’s time to tell the advertisers that their slice of the pie – in this case, their portion of the television screen – just got changed too.

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