NASCAR listens to fans, institutes standard starting times for 2010

NASCAR caught flak from its passionate fanbase last year for being too overbearing and hard headed when it came to rules and changing them. NASCAR did show some leniency when it came to instituting the new “Double file restarts: Shootout style” after fans saw the excitement the restarts brought to the Sprint All-Star Race.

One other common complaint from fans throughout last season was NASCAR’s inconsistent start times. The Daytona 500 began at 3:40 p.m. Eastern and ended after 152 laps because rain rendered the track too wet to dry. The Brickyard 400 began at 2:20 p.m. and almost every other race that was run in the Eastern time zone began after 2 p.m. Not in 2010 though.

NASCAR announced they’d be instituting standard starting times for each race in 2010. Fans and drivers alike rejoiced. NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., is excited about the start time changes. “I'm super-happy about [the start time change]” he said. “When I was a kid, one thing I counted on was rushing home from church to catch the start of the race. There’s something really awesome about that routine.”

Now if we could ask NASCAR to move the Brickyard 400 back to its traditional Saturday afternoon, it would be like NASCAR in the 1990s all over again. And that wouldn’t bother me one bit.

The NFL is the top dog in sports here in America, ranking number one in viewership and TV ratings. NASCAR has climbed to number two but had a rough year last year. To counter the NASCAR brass is loosening bump drafting rules at Daytona and Talladega, changing the appearance of the car and letting drivers do more self policing.

“We’re going to put it back in the hands of the drivers,” vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said. “The boys can have at it and have a good time, that’s all I can say.”

“There’s an age-old saying that in NASCAR, ‘if you ain’t rubbing, you ain’t racing,’” NASCAR President Mike Helton agreed. “I think that's what the NASCAR fan and NASCAR stakeholders all bought into and all expect.”

But to also mirror the NFL—the chief competitor to NASCAR in the fall—the heads of the sport decided to institute standard start times. For all races in the eastern section of the country the green flag will drop at 1 p.m. except the Coke 600 which will keep its 5:45 p.m. starting time. For races in the west (California, Texas, Phoenix, Sears Point and Las Vegas) the green flag will drop at 3 p.m. and Saturday evening races will commence at 7:30 p.m.

NASCAR fans everywhere rejoiced at the news of standard starting times. No longer will they tune in an hour late or an hour early trying to guess what the broadcast meant by 1 p.m. start time. And Martha Stewart, if she follows NASCAR, would agree that it definitely is a good thing.

In 21 days the NASCAR season will get started at 1 p.m. with the drop of the green flag at the Daytona 500. And for once the Daytona 500 will actually get started at a decent hour. I’m excited, are you?