NASCAR icon Mark Martin has been one of the loudest voices asking for a change to the format of the NASCAR Cup Series. The current elimination-style system that is in use has earned a lot of criticism following the 2024 Cup Series championship, and the biggest demand is to go back to a full-season points-based format or even the Chase format that was in use till 2016.
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Martin, speaking to Shannon Spake, expressed recently that the sport will lose its core fanbase if it doesn’t make changes to the current format. He reasoned that the traditional fans watch the pre-race show, the post-race show, and the entire race. They’re entertained by both photo-finishes and the days when a single driver dominates the field.
But this isn’t the case with the new fans that TV brings in. He said, “The new fans that they’re looking to bring to TV are different than that. And while you chase those fans, you’ve alienated those classic fans a lot because they just don’t recognize what they see.”
He also explained that the broadcasters had already told the NASCAR committee that had been set up to plan changes to the format that any shift from the current system would be hard to sell. He asked, “When they said that, I’m like, ‘Well, what are we having these meetings for then? We’re wasting our time if it’s going to be a hard sell.'”
Any changes to the elimination style format will legitimize the competition further, but it may make it less exciting for the new fans, or so Martin believes. He also went a step further and detailed what exactly is wrong with the current system.
Martin said, “A lot of the things that were done for the playoffs for a good reason have turned out to be sour. So, it helped this (the sport), but it hurt that. Let’s say ‘win and you’re in.’ Somehow, making winning more important than ever has taken away from the importance of winning…
“But it’s just, ‘He won, he’s in.’ That’s all you talk about… Winning a race is huge. It’s the biggest deal. And you lose that. That’s not what you talk about all week. You talk about now he’s in the playoffs.”
The goal for NASCAR at this juncture is to find a middle ground in which it can retain its traditional fans and keep adding new ones. While each party only appears to be making a case for what they think is right, there seems to be no amicable solution on the horizon.
