I Want To Miss NASCAR

1 Week After Championship & Denny Hamlin Fallout, NASCAR Keeps Bleeding Out

Thank goodness the afterthought that has become NASCAR’s awards banquet was only held two days after championship weekend. If it had been held the traditional two weeks or more, yeesh.

For everyone’s sake, the 2025 season needed to be taken out to curb as quickly as possible before the smell got really bad.

When something’s been sitting in the fridge for 28 straight weeks, no one wants to touch it. If case you needed a reminder, the NASCAR Cup Series season ended with a record 28 straight weeks of races. After the gap between the Clash and the Daytona 500, the series’ one and only bye week was in April.

That’s insane. To put it simply, the NASCAR season is too damn long and the offseason is too damn short.

Since 2001 — the first year of the sport’s modern TV era — the Cup season has consisted of 36 points races and two exhibition events, a result of NASCAR’s boom period and its constant money chase.

The last time Cup had a season with fewer than 33 points races was 1997, the only season consisting of 32 events.

That magical number 36 isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, thanks to the current TV deal and charter agreement

But hey, who knows if the charter agreement will even be valid next year? That could be determined in a North Carolina courtroom come next month.

My main point is this: for the last quarter century NASCAR fans have hardly been allowed time to miss the sport.

While all the reasons I gave at the start of this column have some degree of validity, some blame needs to be placed at what’s become of the racing calendar. Simply following the sport on a regular basis has become a chore.

At the same time, while Cup TV ratings continue to wilt in the fall, the NFL’s keep reaching record heights.

Say what you want about NASCAR’s launching the playoff era in 2004 in order to spice things up. But no matter the format, it can’t distract from the fact that NASCAR still hopes you’ll sit through 38 weeks of racing.

That was never going to be tenable, especially when your two exhibition races essentially became normal Cup events but with heat races.

There are reasons why it has experimented with a Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track, the Chicago street course, the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and next year’s military commercial in San Diego.

NASCAR needs to take stock of this: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. If you have to have 38 races, find ways to shorten the season and let the NFL run rampant in the fall.

I urge the powers that be to revisit the idea of mid-week and doubleheader races it was forced into in 2020 out of necessity.

Kansas Speedway doesn’t need two race dates. Make it a doubleheader.

Other NASCAR-owned tracks with two dates: Darlington Raceway, Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and Phoenix Raceway. I don’t think many fans would be upset over Phoenix only having one race date.

How about two mid-week races? One for each half of the season, held at a track within a reasonable distance from the Charlotte hub, in order to make things easier on the teams.

The Real Frustration With the Cup Title Result

NASCAR executives have said when it comes to TV ratings, they have a built in expectation that at least two races will be a wash due to weather. Transfer that mindset to mid-week races.

Burnout is real. If NASCAR doesn’t do it for the fans, they should do it for the industry people.

The argument can be made that 25 seasons of 38 races has led to shorter careers, not just for drivers but also for crew members.

How many star drivers who’ve retired in the last 10 years would have stayed a little longer had they been able to enjoy the equivalent of four more weekends off in a year?

Whatever you do, NASCAR, shorten the season.

Let us miss you. Help us be excited to see you again.