At the beginning of NASCAR’s origin, there were over 50 races in a season. Over time, this number went back and forth before landing at 36 races a year in 2001. Though this current normal has worked a fair bit, the sport has seen a decline in audience ever since it was implemented. And former Cup Series champion Chase Elliott believes that a shorter schedule could help regain fan interest.
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The 28-year-old has long advocated for this popular contention of a shorter season. He wrote a tweet on X back in 2022 mentioning, “Less = More.” At the time, he thought calendar compactness would generate more interest from fans and more importantly avoid competition with the NFL. He doesn’t think the latter is a battle that NASCAR could win.
Two years later, his thoughts stand. He said in a recent interview with The Athletic that the schedule is the one thing he’d like to change if he were the President of NASCAR. His words went, “One, you’re giving the people who really make the show go on — which are the teams — a chance to have a life at home, which is going to make them a happier person when they come to the racetrack.”
“It’s going to make the fans want us to be back on track with more excitement and more joy. And if you did it right, you could eliminate having to compete against football — because that’s just not one you’re ever going to win.” By this, he doesn’t mean there ought to be a lesser number of races. He just wants the season to wind up by September or October and leave the fans wanting for more.
Elliott wants NASCAR to take a page out of college football’s book
To back his opinion, the driver took note of how things play out in college football. Each team plays twelve games and if they make it into the playoffs, they continue for another couple of months. The playoffs then feature two or more games. Being a fan of this approach, Elliott wants it replicated in stock car racing. He believes it could attract larger audiences both to the stands and to the TV.
He elaborated on this to NBC Sports in 2022, “I’m a firm believer that less is more, in the sense of the timing of a schedule and when we could end our season to make the most for TV ratings and things of that nature. I think we could do better, personally.” He is not alone in this fight. Icons like Kevin Harvick have voiced on multiple occasions that certain tracks should not be visited more than once a year.
Toying with the schedule is something that RFK Racing co-owner Brad Keselowski has suggested often as well. Maybe when NASCAR finally opens itself up to hearing the words of such veterans, it will have a viable solution to an issue that it has been beating itself up over the past several years.
