Poll Position: NASCAR picks perfect time for its 'Super Bowl' event
CBSSports.com editor Brian De Los Santos, writer Pete Pistone and a chosen member of the community (for a pure fan perspective) share their thoughts on this week's poll question.
Would NASCAR be better served to move the Daytona 500 to the end of the year or is it best as the season opener?
No other sport begins its year with the biggest event on the schedule and NASCAR should relish in that fact. Every year the annual mid-February gathering in Daytona puts NASCAR in the public eye at a time of the year when not much else is going on in the world of sports. With the NFL season over and college basketball still weeks away from March Madness, Speedweeks at Daytona and the 500 is the perfect opportunity to grab the attention of thousands of fans outside the racing community who are looking for something to watch and follow in the dead of winter.
While I've toyed with the idea of also ending the year at Daytona and moving the track's annual Fourth of July stop to the season finale, it's probably not fair to decide the championship at an unpredictable restrictor-plate race crapshoot. Even if the powers that be decide down the road to bookend the schedule in Daytona, "The Great American Race" should always be the first green flag of the season.
BRIAN DE LOS SANTOS: The people unfamiliar with racing often wonder why NASCAR holds its biggest event at the start of season rather than at the end like nearly every other major sport known to man.
And quite frankly, I don't have a great answer. It just seems to make sense. No football. No baseball. The only competition for the sports headlines comes from midseason NBA, NHL and college basketball action. It seems the perfect event to get the racing juices flowing for the long season ahead.
But does it really make sense to begin the season or are fans simply conditioned that way because that's how it has been done for decades? NASCAR fans are a prickly bunch; they don't do change well. I can't even imagine the uproar if NASCAR ever moved the Daytona 500.
That's not to say I necessarily think it's a bad idea. I'm not a traditionalist. I don't believe everything needs to stay the same until the end of time. This is an ever-evolving world we live in and I embrace change.
Could the Daytona 500 be even bigger as a season finale? After all, both a Daytona 500 winner and series champion would be crowned. But that's also the rub. How would NASCAR properly recognize the Daytona 500 winner as well as the series champion if they're not one in the same? Could both accomplishments be treated with equal zeal by NASCAR and the media or does one end up overshadowing the other?
Ultimately, my vote is that the Daytona 500 works best at the start of the season, but if NASCAR officials were ever brave enough to move it, I wouldn't fight it.
Hawks N Cards: The glue that holds most sports together decade after decade is the concept of tradition. Whether it is a World Series, Super Bowl, Indy 500, Ohio State vs. Michigan football game or the Daytona 500, fans look forward to an event they can enjoy year after year. These timeless events create a bond (or rivalry) between fans that cross generations.
In recent years, NASCAR has been turning its back on decades of tradition in an effort to micromanage fan interest on an almost weekly basis. Its consistent effort to be inconsistent is at the heart of fan frustration. Not just the new fans, but those who have followed NASCAR since the early days. The cool cars are gone, replaced with cereal boxes with a wing. The driver personalities are no longer real as the image consultants are working behind the scenes with polling data and focus groups. The rules? Well, apparently, that depends on a lot of things.
NASCAR doesn't even have faith that the race you will pay $100 a ticket to attend is enough to keep you interested as a fan. It felt the need for the Chase, the Race To The Chase, The Go Or Go Homers, The Top 35, blah, blah, blah. I go to a race to see cars race, and race for a win.
When my 85-year-old father, 33-year-old son and 8-year-old grandson get together to share our interest in NASCAR, what is the remaining point of common interest -- spanning four generations -- that we can share? The Daytona 500.
The Daytona 500 has a proud tradition and it is one that occurs in February at the start of the season.
