Should NASCAR consider running midweek races in the summer or fall?

NASCAR Cup Series races are always on Sundays or Saturday nights, but does it need to be that way, and would the sport be better off with some midweek experimentation?

There’s really no end to the “What could NASCAR do differently?” debates. You’ll have this when you’re in the middle of a decade-long slide in attendance (in many places, not all — we see you Watkins Glen) and TV ratings. And when you get a bunch of journalists, some of whom cover NASCAR regularly and others who don’t quite as much, like ESPN just did, you get a wild cross-section of ideas.

So while we ride with ideas like adding more short tracks and taking races away from the cookie cutter intermediate circuits (yes please), turning Texas into a superspeedway like Daytona and Talladega (intriguing but the teams would riot) and making Eldora a stop for the Cup Series as well as trucks, let’s focus in on an idea that several of the panelists brought up in slightly different contexts: putting some of the races in the middle of the week instead of on weekends.

Mike Clay thinks it should happen later in the season because of that NFL-sized elephant in the room:

"I love the idea of running more races during the week — prime time on a Wednesday or Thursday evening at Bristol or Richmond would be incredible. I think this would make a lot of sense late in the season. Like it or not, there is a large portion of the fan base that turns to the NFL in September and it’s nearly impossible to keep tabs on both your favorite local team — or, let’s be honest, the NFL Network’s RedZone — and have a Cup race on at the same time."

Both Ryan McGee and Jayski editor Scott Page think maybe summer would be even better for midweek races:

"Run four-to-six weeknight races during the summer months would be great."

There are some obvious negatives to midweek races. The first is that it’s another move that breaks with tradition, and there is a segment of NASCAR fandom predisposed to just about any change in the way things have always been done. Then there’s the fact that even in the 21st century, more people are off on the weekends than any other time, so theoretically, Saturday night or Sunday afternoon always the optimal times for a race from an attendance perspective.

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But those points are outweighed by the fact that moving some races to the middle of the week is probably the simplest change NASCAR can make to its schedule if it wants to shake things up. Compare it to some of the other ideas thrown out by the panelists. Making the season shorter? TV contracts say probably not. Moving races to other tracks? That does happen, but it’s a longer, more gradual process.

Trying midweek races would definitely be a risk, but so was stage racing and the playoffs, and NASCAR forged right ahead with those changes. It’s really past the point where it needs to be too timid about messing with tradition, because it’s taken a torch to many parts of the good old days of stock car racing already.

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Moving races away from the weekends wouldn’t be a balm for all that ails NASCAR, but it’s perhaps the simplest experiment that can be made with the schedule, as well as one that can easily be changed back if it bombs. Certainly, the powers that be have already considered it and maybe even discussed it with track owners and teams, but maybe they should ramp up those talks and see about making them a reality for the 2019 season.