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With the adoption of NASCAR’s Next Gen car two of the big concerns that NASCAR had was how well the car would race at the road courses and short tracks. One aspect of the NASCAR schedule that fans seemed to leave by the wayside were the cookie cutter intermediate tracks that peppered the entire season. So today we look into NASCAR becoming a victim of their own success with the Next Gen car racing well at the cookie cutters. This is NASCAR’s cookie cutter conundrum.
Video Credits:
ABC Sports
Adult Swim
Bologna Burger
ESPN
FOX Sports
Motorsports on NBC
NASCAR
NASCAR on FOX
NASCAR Productions
NascarAllOut
NBC Sports
NWP
Segeric
Turner Sports
Thumbnail Credits:
Getty Images
NASCAR
NASCAR Images
Outro Song:
Strange Animal (Crowder Remix) by Gowan
Songs:
Adult Swim Bump – Carelessly Lazy by Segeric
Adult Swim Bump – Dry July by Segeric
#NASCAR #Motorsports #Racing
50 comments
Do you want more or less cookie cutter tracks?
less
I think they’re at a decent spot right now but definitely could use some tweaking.
For cookie cutters, I’d like to see fall Vegas dropped for Chicagoland. Would also like to see a second Michigan race (even if it’s a double header weekend) Drop Nashville and maybe bring back Kentucky. Would love to see the Rock again too.
Make Texas a super speedway and host one each at Texas and Atlanta.
Drop the Chicago street race, Indy Roval (for brickyard), add Daytona Roval. At least as a place holder for auto club.
Go back to 2 concrete Bristol races and make spring Richmond a dirt race. 1 race each at AC short track eventually, Nashville Fairgrounds, Wilkesboro, and Martinsville.
I get Phoenix having 2 races while it hosts the championship but if that were to change, I’d like to see their spring race dropped for an added Loudon race. Maybe drop Gateway too.
I realize that these may not all be feasible changes. Just what I’d personally like to see lol.
@Micah Kinton I want both Rockinghams in NASCAR. US and UK.
Me? More.
Bring some back.. but like.. Chicagoland, Rockingham, and North Wilkesboro
The unfortunate thing about the 1 1/2 tracks is that they don’t really have different racing lines, leading to everyone having the same type of racing strategy.
Tbf stage breaks don’t help so the strategy always looks the same.
I think that’s what has always set Kansas and Miami apart for the 1.5 tracks for me, they’ve always been super versatile
@ZIGAG That’s why I say get rid of the stage cautions. Stage racing would probably be more accepted if there wasn’t always a caution coming out to slow the race down and make the race longer.
With the 2017-18 package, I’d agree. The cars produced so much side force that passing could really only be successful through pit strategy.
I don’t like the term cookie cutter but I understand where it came from. Most 1.5 mile tracks are good or great. Thanks to schedule diversity, we are finally getting a good balance of tracks. Tracks considered in this category I want back are Chicagoland and Rockingham.
It’s a great moniker and Rockingham is not a cookie cutter track.
@GarbagePlate I totally agree but the video and other comments I’ve seen call the Rock a cookie cutter.
Most 1.5 milers aren’t great, they just happen to have asphalt that races well right now
Keep Chicagoland off the schedule, bring back rockingham. Chicagoland proved that market wasn’t right for nascar, yet they’re going back to Chicago. For a street course, really?
Nascar fans a few years ago ” get rid of all cookie cutters”
NASCAR: “alright” [gets rid of Kentucky ,Chicago, autoclub]
Nascar fans: “noooooo Nascar sucks now”
@Willing Nascar auto club was awful for the majority of its lifespan. It’s not really cookie cutter either.
@Trìstìängames I hope you’re joking. Texas as it is now absolutely sucks. It’s og configuration was great. And LV produces good races and has almost always been a fan favorite since its banking was raised
@Soul-Heart yep plus Las Vegas is pretty bumpy now. There’s no reason to change it now.
@Soul-Heart went to that track from 2000-08 it’s never been good people are nuts. It has ALWAYS been every position seconds apart with no passing. I remember most races having zero clue who was where and it didn’t bother us to leave ten laps to go to avoid the 200,000 people there. Texas has always needed a reconfiguration. Throw a dirt jump and S curve in the backstretch, maybe some boost pads.maybe then we might get some good racing there
The biggest issue is that no track other than Daytona and Talladega needs 2 dates. Bristol, Martinsville and Richmond don’t fill the stands like they used to, no reason for 2 dates. You can easily give Chicagoland (the street race will be terrible), Kentucky, and Rockingham. Take a date away from Vegas Atlanta and Kansas and give to Iowa, Milwaukee, and wilkesboro.
I honestly miss the Charlotte 500 fall race
The NASCAR fanbase, as a whole, has no idea what it really wants. And the schedule is a clear example of that.
We’re just as divided as the Star Wars fanbase.
Facts lmao
I personally don’t care what happens as long as Vegas isn’t touched and we eventually get a race up here in Washington
facts
I remember the days where basically the bulk of the schedule was cookie cutter 1.5 tracks. I’m happy that NASCAR is branching out with new tracks and more road courses.
Road course racing has been pretty good besides Indy
@Bob Hope nah road course racing has been dull. It’s too much of a good thing.
Dude just be happy it’s not all cookie cutters
I actually don’t hate the mile and a half tracks like a lot of people do. Atlanta was one of my favorites until the current configuration now I get it, it was time to repave it. I think homestead is a great track. I think Kansas is still underrated for how good the racing has been. And hopefully Chicagoland does come back
Well, after watching this video, I do agree about bringing Chicagoland back because I think it should have been brought back this year instead of the Chicago Street Course being added to the schedule. Also, when it comes to Iowa Speedway, I still wish that it had been given a shot at hosting a Cup race, but I wonder if that’s what The Iceberg meant about Iowa. All-in-all, in the end, that’s all I’ve got to say, so goodbye!
With Kansas being my home track, I really enjoy it. I feel like the racing is normally pretty good
Also my home track!
With NASCAR unveiling the package change for short tracks and road courses today, we will see how does the gen 7 car runs at these types of tracks as soon as 1st Phoenix race.
Variety in a schedule is always good, they’ll eventually get these cars racing better at the short tracks and road courses. Bulldoze Texas Motor Speedway and salt the earth where it once stood.
Texas is the only track I don’t have to get on a plane and fly to. I’ve been there 20 of the last 22 seasons. They ruined it when they reconfigured it in 2017. So selfishly it can stay for the proximity for me. I didn’t go to either race last year. I may go to the fall race…
I think that the diversity of tracks is good, the issue is how well (or in this case poorly) the car performs at the short tracks and road courses.
Great video. I had basically these same thoughts as last season played out. I also agree that NASCAR and the fans are on different pages right now. with that said, this season has a chance to be an absolute banger. the 1.5 milers should present good racing again, and with the newly announced short track and road course package, with the downforce reduction, it theoretically should lead to looser cars, and a better ability to pass, as it should limit the dirty air issues when they get up behind someone. Here’s to hoping!
The new short track package remains to be seen though. Pfft
I still like the direction the schedule is going in. I just hope they figure out how to improve the racing at short tracks and road courses. I’m not sure what they could do for road courses, but for short tracks maybe they could try out a package that uses smaller brakes.
Believe it or not according to bob pockrass, Nascar’s trying a smaller spoiler at the short tracks and road courses (minus bristol and dover) and they’ve even removed the diffuser which was the main problem
Homestead-Miami tend to be grouped with the cookie cutters because of it’s length, but I noticed it’s pretty much not mentioned. Maybe because of it’s unique (non-D shaped) shape compared to other intermediates?
They announced a new rule package for the short tracks, and I’m excited to see the results. Anything will beat what they had.
Even if the short track races still end up becoming a snooze fest, we can all agree that the racing will be better. We’ll just have to find out how Martinsville, Richmond, and most of all the North Wilkesboro All Star Race performs.
I think these types of tracks are very important to have on the schedule, Las Vegas being one of my favorites, but I am also glad we have track diversity. I do think they should add back a second Homestead instead of two Phoenix races, but I understand why its that way. Outside 1 1/2 miles I think they should add back the Daytona RC in place of the Indy RC.
I agree D2 Eagle
While I began to tire of the cookie cutters, the reasoning for focusing on that style of track in the day was sound. Pass in the grass, one hot night, the finales at Atlanta. People were eating that up. The chance to have those highlights so much in the season with more and more people wanting to come to the track all made sense.
But by the time Nascar had peaked in popularity, running those tracks had become a sanded down science.
Just gut feeling tells me that their presence at key points in the schedule helped Jimmie become the record tieing champion that he did. With Texas, Atlanta, Kansas and especially Charlotte right down the stretch it’s no wonder he had that extra level of success. And that too really dampened the feeling of competition around these tracks.