Fan's Eye View ~ Give The Nationwide Series An Eldora7/30/2014 |
**Uncle
Mark~ We’re going to miss you. Thanks for helping me to know and understand
real beer. I like the IPAs, but you can
have the Old Speckled Hen. Thanks for
playing golf with me at Pine Ridge in Hurricane Ernesto in 2006. I still feel like you let me win, and then
still bought the lunch afterwards. Thanks
for keeping Aunt Linda sane (well, sort of) for all those years, and helping
her raise two beautiful, driven, successful girls. And thanks for being my Mom’s friend, with a
loyalty rivaled only by dogs. We’re all better
for having known you, and I’ll see you on the course when I get there. Tee it up, I’ll bring the beer…~Jim** With the second very successful running of the Mud Summer
Classic just seven days ago and still fresh on the minds of many a race fan, I
began to think. Never you
mind the smoke and the escaping dust bunnies, race friends. While the wheels were turning and the gears
were grinding, I began to think that the event may now have become, should it
continue, the pinnacle race of the Camping World Truck Series schedule. It is, without a doubt, a unique event, and
it very quickly has become of of the events that
everyone wants to win. Sure, Daytona is
nice, but it is in the shadows of the biggest stock car race of the year, the
Daytona 500. The race at Eldora is a standalone race, as it should be,
and it is a race that folks walk away from asking “when can we come back?” It truly is a special event; a showcase
race, if you prefer. The truck series
has Eldora, the Cup series has the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400, and dare I
even say the ridiculousness that is the All-Star race, and the Nationwide
Series has…um, the Nationwide Series has…. Somebody help me out here… Well, let’s just put it out there, then. The Nationwide Series really has no showcase
race. The series often plays second
fiddle to the Cup series when sharing weekends at the same location. And, to me, it is missing a gem of its own. Now, I have heard talk about bringing the Nationwide Series,
and possibly even the Cup Series to Eldora.
My response to that is an emphatic “NO!”
Why? Because right now, the truck race at Eldora is special. The moment we bring another series in there
to run another race, everything the truck series has built there for the past
two year becomes less special. Sure,
we’ll always remember Norm Benning and his charge in
2013 to make the feature, and then we have this year’s memory of Kyle Larson
literally driving his car to pieces to try to get the thing past Bubba
Wallace. Those are two memories, my
friends, that do not need to be overshadowed by another series racing there, or
any other dirt track, and removing the “this is a special evening” ingredient
from the night the trucks race at Eldora. So what about the Nationwide Series? Those drivers, they do, I believe, deserve to
have their “special night” as well. No
All-Star race here, no Daytona 500, and no Eldora. It’ needs something really unique. And here it is. The Race: The
Gauntlet The Place:
Bristol Motor Speedway, a Friday night in August as a companion event to
the Cup race. The Format: A series of qualifiers to get into the
limited participation final event. The Qualifiers: Forty-two qualifiers will make the
event based on current qualifying rules. Based on those qualifying results, the top ten full-time Nationwide
Series qualified drivers will immediately advance to the finals. This leaves 32 teams. Those 32 teams will compete in a
series of three lap head to head heat races, tournament style, with seeding
based on qualifying times for the full time Nationwide
drivers. Any Cup drivers making the trip
down to the lower level will be given the most unfavorable seeding available, again, based on qualifying times. This is one driver vs
one driver, from a stand still at the start finish line. The driver to cross the finish line first
advances to the second round, the driver who doesn’t parks the car. When the first round is completed, there will
be sixteen cars parked, and sixteen cars advanced. The second round will be
completed following the bracketed tournament format, with 8 cars advancing, and
8 cars parking. This gives us an 18 car field. We want a twenty car field. All those cars that parked earlier
because they lost their heat races (presumably 24 cars) can now report to their
cars. They have a 25 lap last chance
race to run, and they will either need to win or finish second to advance. Any car not advancing to the final at this
point will be eliminated and score points from positions 21-42 accordingly. The Main Event: The two advancing drivers will
complete the 20 car main event field. The field will now be inverted,
with the last two qualifiers starting on the inside and outside pole, and then all the way down through the field until the
original pole qualifier in the rear of the starting line up. The race is now 100 laps around the
high banks of Bristol, to be settled by the 20 best cars determined by multiple
rounds of qualification. The winner is
the first car to the finish line. Well, there it is, folks.
If Nationwide is going to have a special event, this might not be
perfect, but it could be a step in the right direction. Read through it, imagine it, and see how it
fits your needs for racing. Gimmicky? Maybe, but
isn’t that what NASCAR is going for these days? Until next time, my friends…
Feel free to leave comments below, and be sure to follow me @RaceFansJim on Twitter, because sometimes I give stuff away!