NASCAR: 2 Ideas for Improving the Brickyard 400

The 2011 Brickyard went exactly according to the script, perfectly illustrating why so many racing fans have stopped paying attention to the event recently. The race was very uneventful, with few cautions or lead changes, and the best car never even made it to victory lane.

Here are a few ways to make the Brickyard better.

Get Away from Fuel-Strategy Races

Nothing against Paul Menard, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that his car didn’t deserve to be the one in victory lane on Sunday.

The strongest cars on the day were Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr., in that order. Only one of them (Gordon) even had a top five finish.

In a sport where you’re trying to gain new fans to fill those empty aluminum bleachers, having guys who ran outside the top 10 all day finish in the top 10 at the end of the race is confusing and unappealing.

How can races continue to play out on fuel strategy? The sport of “racing” has turned into a high-speed checkers game. The best cars and drivers in the race didn’t fare well, outside of Gordon. Don’t we want to see the best driver win, not the best checkers player?

More and more people are paying less and less attention to NASCAR (and the Brickyard in particular) and races determined by fuel strategy aren't helping. Lets go back to the good old days, when races were won legitimately by the best driver racing in the best car. 

Change the Brickyard to a Chase Race

I understand why ESPN moved the race to the end of July. They wanted to have the biggest race left on the schedule kick off their coverage.

Obviously, it’s working a little on TV with a little bit of a gain, but attendance is dropping. I think moving the race to the first race in the Chase would be a win-win situation for all.

Why not start the Chase off with the second biggest race on the schedule? We all know the Daytona 500 isn’t moving from its February date, so why not move the Brickyard? It gets the race far enough away from the Chicago, Kentucky and Michigan dates so that the schedule doesn't become overloaded.

Plus, why wouldn’t NASCAR want to have its biggest events in the playoff system? Having the Brickyard in the Chase will sell tickets itself. The current setup has some of the most important races points-wise happening at random times in minor locations.

It's like making the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl a BCS game in college football—it just doesn’t work.

Another good reason to put the Brickyard in the Chase is that it will be in mid-September and temperatures will be considerably cooler than in July. Most people have skipped out on the Brickyard for the comfort of an air-conditioned house due to temperatures being in the low-to-mid-90s this last decade.

I have personally heard many people say that the heat was the main reason they weren’t going. My response was always, "If it was cooler, would you go?" The answer was always yes.

With the excitement of kicking off the Chase and cooler temperatures, I think the Brickyard would sell a lot more seats. Getting away from a confusing fuel strategy race will help too.