NASCAR needs to make some changes if the sport is going to grow and continue to build momentum far into the future. While many ideas within the sport are great, others need to be changed for everyone involved.
Let’s dive into the five changes NASCAR needs to make for the 2023 season and beyond.
NASCAR needs more frequent, harsher penalties for drivers and teams
One of the major items on the list relates to the penalties that NASCAR hands out to drivers and teams. This has been a topic of conversation in recent weeks as many situations have taken place.
Ty Gibbs is a good example of why this needs to change soon. Gibbs slammed Ty Dillon on pit road and almost slid the No. 42 car into several RFK Racing pit crew members and NASCAR officials.
Yet, the 20-year-old driver only received a $75,000 fine and cost the No. 23 team a total of 25 owner points. The owner points are significant as the owner’s championship is where the bonus money lies in the NASCAR Cup Series.
However, Gibbs was not given a suspension, which was incorrect. This is an area where NASCAR needs to be harsher as it relates to safety. Gibbs should have been suspended for multiple races on the Cup Series side at the minimum.
It doesn’t hurt to hand out bigger penalties when it is needed. RFK Racing team owner Brad Keselowski has been on record saying that NASCAR should be handing out penalties like candy to control the garage. Harsher penalties would also help that idea.
Keselowski is correct because it will create a landscape within the sport that is fairer for drivers and teams. This comes after the 38-year-old’s team was caught modifying a NextGen car part earlier in the season.
In fact, Kevin Harvick saw this take place on Wednesday afternoon after NASCAR found a modified single-source part on the No. 4 car after a recent trip to the R&D Center. A significant penalty was handed out to the Stewart-Haas Racing team.
Harvick was penalized 100 driver and owner points while crew chief Rodney Childers was fined $100,000 and suspended for the next four races. This is the third occurrence this season after Keselowski and Michael McDowell were caught.
NASCAR should hand out penalties more often. If a driver performs something dangerous or a team is trying to bend the rules, it doesn’t hurt to slap them with a penalty. The past precedents that were set can change if it’s consistent.
There is no way to change precedents unless new ones are created. If NASCAR increases the amount and severity of penalties, it will help the sport in tremendous ways.
Related: NASCAR’s big stance on giving out penalties
NextGen car upgrades that make NASCAR drivers safer
The idea of upgrading the NextGen car so NASCAR drivers are safer is the biggest item on this list. There is no other way around it as the safety of drivers in the vehicles is the No. 1 priority for everyone involved.
Thankfully, this is a process that NASCAR started on Wednesday of this week. The sport has been working on a new rear clip and rear bumper structure after drivers have stated their opinions on being impacted at the rear of the car.
There were crash tests with the new upgrades that took place on Wednesday at an Ohio crash test facility but nothing has been publicly stated yet. If it worked well, nothing would be changed until the start of the 2023 season.
All of this comes after concussions suffered by Kurt Busch at Pocono Raceway and Alex Bowman at Texas Motor Speedway. Both injuries have significantly altered the 2022 playoff picture in their own ways.
Busch was eligible for the playoffs after winning at Kansas Speedway; however, he withdrew his waiver and allowed Ryan Blaney to make the playoffs instead. This is due to his ongoing recovery which is nearing its third month.
Bowman was one of NASCAR’s best playoff drivers in the Round of 16, but his concussion will eliminate him from the Round of 12 as it was already announced that he would miss the Charlotte ROVAL this weekend.
In fact, this is the first time in the 21st century that three drivers will miss an event due to injuries sustained in the race car with Cody Ware also being out due to injuries to his lower right leg after crashing at Texas Motor Speedway.
NASCAR needs to make upgrades to create a safer environment for the drivers. The sport has already started that process which is a positive step. This needs to happen before anything else in this article takes place.
Also, this leads us to the next item on the list when it relates to NASCAR and the drivers.
Related: NASCAR’s NextGen car raises safety questions in 2022
NASCAR needs to listen and work with the drivers more often
NASCAR’s driver movement has arrived and it is not going away any time soon. The days of drivers being reserved are gone as the voices in the garage have gotten louder in recent months.
Quite frankly, that is a great thing. NASCAR can become a better place if they start listening to the drivers more often. They are the ones who compete every weekend, so it’s logical to think they would know more than anyone.
One example of this occurred when Denny Hamlin was talking to the media at Talladega Superspeedway. Hamlin said NASCAR was told about the safety concerns but they didn’t respond and pushed to get the NextGen car on the track.
Now, two drivers are out with concussions while others have complained about the severity of crashes this season. If NASCAR had responded to this situation earlier, according to Hamlin, maybe this could have been avoided.
Other drivers, such as Harvick, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, and Kyle Larson have also been open about certain situations this season and the list grows every single week.
NASCAR doesn’t need to implement everything the drivers say to them; however, it should go both ways where the two sides truly work together more and more so the best decisions are made for the sport.
Obviously, the two sides have been workin together but it’s obvious by the drivers’ comments in previous years that it’s not at the levels it should be yet. There is a long way to go with that process.
Plus, the drivers also need to realize they won’t get everything they want in the sport. There should not be a side that gets everything because that is not fair. It’s an equal team effort to improve NASCAR’s future.
If both sides can make this happen, it will greatly improve the sport moving forward and take it to new levels that might not be attainable without it.
Related: NASCAR’s big driver movement has finally arrived in 2022
Big adjustments to the NASCAR playoff system
The NASCAR playoff system needs some more improvement. It is easy to sit on it and not change anything because it drives up the entertainment value; however, change is needed to improve the quality of the sport.
NASCAR is not like stick-and-ball sports and that is something that will be said throughout the entire season until the playoffs begin in September. Sure, drivers need to show up at the right time but that is not always fair.
The Round of 12 includes Texas Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, and the Charlotte ROVAL. The race at Texas was an unpredictable mess due to tires, Talladega is always chaotic, and the Charlotte ROVAL is a wild road course.
It has created a scenario where the best driver in the playoffs during the Round of 16 won’t even make the Round of 8 as Christopher Bell is almost in a must-win territory this weekend.
Also, the driver with the most overall points through the first five races of the playoffs is William Byron. As of now, Byron sits 11 points below Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric, who aren’t even top-10 points earners during the playoffs.
Sure, it’s easy to say a driver has to show up at the right time like teams in the NBA but this is not a stick-and-ball sport. Motorsports around the world, such as Formula 1 and IndyCar, don’t have this wild playoff format for entertainment.
The playoff system is simply not fair and only used for entertainment purposes. True consistency is not valued while victories and surviving are the only items that are valued in a three-race stretch.
NASCAR had a fantastic format with the Chase. It was a 10-race stretch where being consistent and victorious mattered without being eliminated after three races because of a broken part or faulty tires.
The 10-race Chase had a playoff feel while also creating a fun and fair environment. It was clear that NASCAR’s best driver would win every single year but that has now changed because of entertainment.
People may argue that the Chase was unfair due to the tracks. If that’s the case, NASCAR can revert back to the format and start rotating tracks in and out of the playoff system. There is no reason it needed to be changed.
The value of a NASCAR Cup Series championship is going to keep declining until the system is fixed. The evidence was provided above for Bell and Byron. The best Round of 16 driver and best playoff driver could be eliminated for no reason.
If people are angry because the best playoff driver could be eliminated this weekend, they have every right to show it. Clearly, something needs to change or the value of a championship will continue to rapidly decline.
Related: Evaluating NASCAR’s controversial playoff system
NASCAR’s practice and qualifying formats should be altered
NASCAR turned back the clock and returned to practice and qualifying for the 2022 season after it was absent for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it still needs some altering.
The practice session simply needs to be longer every weekend. This isn’t saying that NASCAR needs to have three practice sessions per weekend, but it does say that it’s inexcusable to have one 20 minute session for each group.
It would be very easy to create a scenario where one 50 minute practice session is mandatory every single week. There is no point to have two 20 minute practice sessions for different groups.
Keselowski thinks more practice would be a good thing because it allows teams to learn more about the NextGen car and still remains a better option that simulators, even if the money saved from traveling is good for teams.
If NASCAR made one big practice session for everyone, it would still be the easiest scenario. Formula 1 and IndyCar have multiple practice sessions, yet NASCAR still doesn’t have many over 20 minutes for each team.
If the sport wants to keep the groups for qualifying, it would be absolutely fine to do such a thing; however, a system should be set in place, similar to the playoffs, to stop unfair advantages by group quality.
NASCAR could make it so each group has eight of the top-16 drivers in the standings throughout the entire season until the Round of 12 and so forth. It would be a great and fair system to implement.
Every idea on this list is intended to create a situation where the sport is in a better place moving forward. There will be people who disagree, but if NASCAR implements even some of these ideas, the future will be a brighter place.