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You hear it all the time if you follow NASCAR or just follow stock car racing in general. “Ahhhh, there’s just nothing like Saturday night racing at a short track.” Well, it’s true. there really is nothing like stock car racing under the lights on a Saturday night. Whether you’re a fan, a driver, an owner or just plain like stock car racing, you probably grew up going to the races at your local track on a Saturday night.
I know I did. From a very early age my parents took my sister and me to the races almost every weekend. We were fortunate. Our town had two tracks, both dirt, and whether it was on a Friday night, Saturday night or a Sunday afternoon, we were often there. Now, it is true, as a family, we couldn’t afford to take all of them in, but we did make it to one of them almost every weekend and usually, Saturday night was the night.
Of course, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is different than those local short tracks when it takes place on a Saturday night, under the lights, but the feel is the same. For some reason, the cars look better and the racing is generally better and much more intense. Emotions always seem to play an important part and tempers often surface whether in the cars, the pits or even the stands. It will be the same at Richmond tonight. (Well, that is IF it doesn’t rain…)
Before I spend more time reminiscing about Saturday nights and my thoughts on Richmond, I do need to say a few words about Bristol. It was nice to finally see some good racing for much of the race at Bristol. Maybe it was because it was typical short track racing or maybe it was because the shorter tracks just fit the new rules better. Whatever the case and from this fan’s view, it was nice to watch considering how the season has gone so far.
If you remember, last week I mentioned my thoughts for making qualifying better. It seems NASCAR must have heard me because this week they changed the qualifying procedure at Richmond. Three, five minute, sessions to qualify in whatever order they end up in. I don’t know about you but, this fan thought this weekend’s qualifying was much more interesting and, even though there were tons of complaints from drivers, crew chiefs and others, it wasn’t a long drawn out waiting period so they could all go out in the last three minutes.
Well, in all honesty, I seriously doubt they read or listened to my blogcast, but they did institute pretty much what I mentioned in last week’s article. I don’t know what you think about this week’s qualifying, but I thought it was much better and perhaps they should think about doing it the same way at larger venues, too. I think it simplifies the process and still accomplishes the task. (You know, that old, “The end justifies the means” thing.)
Whatever the case, I hope they at least consider this week’s process for qualifying as a regular format over the next several races. It is much more dramatic and exciting, especially from a fan’s view. Oh well…
I know I keep harping on some of the same things, week in and week out but, I can’t help but wonder if the Chevys are ever going to win a race this season. Considering how they dominated at one time, it has to be frustrating for them to have fast race cars but not be able to seal the deal at the final checkered flag. I still think it has to do with the Camaro body style but I’m not an engineer and I don’t know what they saw in it as promising over any other choices they could have made. I realize all three makes look pretty much the same, but something is different about the Camaros compared to the Toyotas and Fords. Is it underneath the bodies that the Chevys don’t measure up or are they just that much further behind the other teams in making everything work?
Lately, it does seem the Chevys are making headway but every week the results are the same. It has to be frustrating for the drivers and teams to continually talk about the improvements they’re making but never see better results. Well, at least not so far.
All I can say about tonight’s race at Richmond is that I hope it doesn’t rain it out or shorten it in any way. A shortened race just isn’t what I want to watch even though I know things do happen that way. If they have to move it to Sunday, well… let’s just say it loses that “Saturday night under the lights” appeal. Sure, it will still be a short track race and have much of the same drama and emotional racing but, it just won’t be the same in daylight as when they go “under lights” at Richmond. This fan is hoping it goes the distance and it does it “under the lights on a Saturday night…”
See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© April 13, 2019 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated