What Other Formats might NASCAR experiment with.

The trend lately within NASCAR has been to make the races shorter. What if they went the other direction and added an endurance event, lasting 6, 12, or even 24 hours. Each car would have a team of drivers for it. Cars would need to have modifications made, but it is doable.

Take models directly off the production line. Remove the glass, add a roll cage and fuel cell. Then RACE! This could be a single annual event sponsored primarily by the manufacturers.

Several different ways to implement this. Maybe invert the original qualifying order. Maybe invert the order of finish for restarts after the stage wins. Maybe do just the top 15, not the entire field.

Very controversial. The speeds that these race cars were approaching on the super speedways made that style of racing much more dangerous. However, safety technology has improved greatly. Maybe it's time to do more testing at the superspeedways to see if we safely increase the speeds.

Maybe there needs to be more ways to earn points than stage and race finishes. Award points for laps led. Points for cars passed. Points for starting vs. finishing position differential.

What if once a year, every full-time driver in the NASCAR Cup Series got to race in an identically prepared car. Then it would really showcase the driver's ability because you are removing many of the variables.

This would be somewhat of a reversion to an older racing format with an added twist at the end. Allow teams to accumulate points throughout the season. Race wins need to be emphasized so either award each win a VE RY large point bonus OR a win guarantees your entry into the championship race. This would be the last race of the season and would ONLY involve the drivers and teams that qualified. Maybe it would be any team that won a race plus the top 5 point earning teams. The exact formula could be tweaked. Consistency throughout the season should be rewarded while still making winning the most valuable component. Similar to the mid-season All-Star race, not every team will get into the championship race and those that due will be racing only against other contenders. Win the Championship race. Win the championship.

Maybe as an exposition event. Maybe as part of the regular season. Alan Kulwicki is a NASCAR legend for several reasons. One of the last true small team owner / drivers. Won a championship against much bigger, better funded teams. And he popularized what has become known as a Polish victory lap where the winning driver takes his victory lap in the opposite direction around the track. This gives the driver a better position to see, wave to, and hear the fans.

Now imagine if we ran an entire race in the wrong direction. Go Fast, turn Right. Everyone from the drivers to the engineers, to the pit crews, to the tire manufacturers would be thrown for a loop and have to rethink the entire process. Easier to accomplish on some tracks than others, but it would definitely shake things up.