NASCAR president: ‘Everything is in play’ for 2020 schedule changes

None of the various ideas to spice up the 2020 schedule has been ruled out yet.

NASCAR is dying. Or it’s as as exciting as it’s ever been.

Those two wildly opposing ideas are circulating right now (albeit with the former mentioned more often that the latter) on the heels of the season that just wrapped up on Sunday in Miami. The NASCAR Championship weekend was anything but predictable, as none of the favorites won in any of the final races for the three national series.

Still, TV ratings and track attendance continued a downward trend they’ve been stuck in for most of this decade. NASCAR isn’t sitting back and just hoping things will improve, but next year is already off the table for major changes.

Not so the 2020 schedule, which could be anywhere from a little to a lot different. At the very least, many possible modifications will be considered, as NASCAR President Steve Phelps told the media (via Jayski) at Homestead.

"In short answer, I think everything is in play. So we’ve heard from our fan base that they would like to see more short-track racing. They want to see more road courses. They want to see less cookie-cutter tracks, whatever that means. I think that we are looking with our broadcast partners and with our tracks and with our teams and drivers to get input on what each of them believes would be an ideal schedule, and then we’re obviously doing fan research as part of it."

Phelps went on to highlight a number of schedule concepts that could be brought into play, so let’s run them down in a rough estimate of most likely to least likely to happen.

More short tracks – This seems like a given, because both fans and drivers have made it clear they’d like to see it. If new tracks are added to the 2020 schedule, they sure won’t be intermediate circuits and are likely to be one mile or less.

More road courses – The wildly successful debut of the Charlotte ROVAL attracted plenty of buzz. Yet NASCAR probably won’t go crazy seeking out new road course venues. What is very possible is that tracks with two dates and a road course layout that is already mostly in place — think Pocono — might look at making the second stop a road course/roval-style event to give each race its own unique flavor.

Mid-week racing – Holding weeknight races is an idea that certainly seems to be picking up more steam, but NASCAR won’t just wade into it without careful consideration. It needs to be the right track and the right time, probably in the summer. But it would not be a shock to see a mid-week event on the 2020 schedule to test the waters.

Pulling the season forward – Presumably, Phelps means starting the season a little earlier, though that’s difficult because it can’t run into the Super Bowl, and ending it earlier. Shortening the schedule would be even better, but that isn’t likely with so many tracks in the mix, new venues trying to get into the mix and sponsors needing some certainty about how many dates their money is going to get them. Two years from now feels too soon for a move like this, but getting the NASCAR Playoffs away from the teeth of the football season is a worthy long-term goal.

Double headers – This idea is the least likely on this list, even though other American racing series like IndyCar do it. If we’re thinking further into the future, though, there is some merit here. Instead of visiting, say, Bristol twice, could NASCAR run two Cup Series races, one on Saturday afternoon and one Sunday night, or something like that? It could go hand in hand with more short track racing and keep more people in the stands for the Truck and XFINITY races if they are weaved in around two Cup Series events on one weekend.

The only thing NASCAR can do that would be universally panned is to roll on with no changes at all. It’s reassuring to hear Phelps say that the entire scheduling process is being approached with an open mind, so now all that’s left is to hope that leads to some kind of shakeup for the 2020 season and beyond.