Gasp: NASCAR Trying To Grow Their Game By Slowing Cars Down

Many strange and soul-sucking acts are tolerated in golf. Except one: a regulatory reversal taking away distance from elite players!

We’ve been told the masses would trash their clubs, courses would voluntarily close, priests would be summoned. And yet, NASCAR is doing the golf equivalent of taking a few yards off drives to win back fans. Who, it seems, were not captivated by a season long cup race and who miss daring race moves that helped NASCAR ascend in popularity.

Note this is now a year into their efforts and the most watched sports event last weekend was a NASCAR race from Las Vegas (not the Lakers-Celtics or PGA Tour golf).

An unbylined AP story from a year ago explained NASCAR’s efforts to win back fans focuses on an overhauled “rules package” with an eye on restoring excitement.

The new package uses aerodynamic ducts and a tapered spacer to reduce engine horsepower — in simplest turns, it should slow the cars and bunch them closer together to increase passing attempts and improve the overall competitiveness. It will debut in the second race of the season, at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

One major difference between NASCAR and golf’s technology influence: how the best separate themselves.

While a case could be made that modern golf technology masks deficiencies and makes it hard for supreme skill to separate from the field, NASCAR’s push was viewed as potentially muting the elite.

The old package permitted a handful of teams to move so far ahead of the competition it took too long for anyone to catch them, the racing suffered and fans stopped watching. Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. combined to win 20 of 36 races last season, though the “Big Three” lost to Logano in the championship finale.

The new package is controversial because it is supposed to level the playing field, and elite drivers believe it will diminish the advantage their talent has given them.

A year in, however, reviews suggested the driving has been more interesting and confrontational. No one is complaining about the loss of speed since the cars still go very, very fast.

Just like drives dropping from 330 to 310 yards still go very, very far.
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Continuing on the topic a year later after the Daytona was trending huge until rains came, The Indicator from Planet Money podcast covered the NASCAR push to improve the “product” via rules changes. Thanks to reader Bobby Ricky for this…