Sitting at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway Friday night, I watched late-model veterans Chub Frank and Scott Bloomquist battle back and forth lap after lap in their heat race as if the 10-lap event was the Circle K Colossal 100 A-main.
Chubzilla and the Voodoo Child weren’t racing for the $50,000 winner’s prize or the unique sword and medieval knight’s helmet awarded to the race victor. They were just racing to race and to earn transfer spots into Saturday night’s 100-lap feature.
The heat format isn’t unique to the World of Outlaws Late Model Series; it’s commonplace throughout local short-track racing across the country. It’s a quick, do-or-die situation.
And that’s when the thought struck me: What if NASCAR was formatted like this?
NASCAR could implement heat races of six drivers each where the top three finishers transfer to the main event. The remaining competitors who don’t earn transfer spots through their heats could still race in two 10-lap B-mains for six final transfer spots. The A-main then could feature 30 cars, 13 fewer than the series’ current 43-car field.
Such a format would eliminate the almost absurd top 35 owner’s points rule, put an emphasis on the go-or-go-home scenario and reduce the presence of field fillers. Drivers would no longer be guaranteed a starting spot. They would have to race their way in, or try to beat the traffic home.
If Dale Earnhardt, Jr. or Jimmie Johnson fail to earn a transfer spot in their heats or in their B-mains, they don’t make the feature. It’s that simple.
Without a guaranteed spot, heat races would be almost as important as the feature itself. And coming in 10-lap hits, the races would offer up the type of hang-it-out action that die-hard race fans crave.
NASCAR spectators have seen similar set ups in previous all-star events across the street at The Dirt Track’s 1.5-mile big sister. The All-Star Race has had everything from inversions to transfer spots in the past in an attempt at Saturday night short-track style events, but NASCAR’s point-paying races continue to retain normal one-car, two-lap qualifying sessions and remain at their usual 400-500 mile, three-hour lengths.
Of course, NASCAR would never adopt such a policy in today’s money- and sponsor-driven world. What sponsor would ever pony up the money to back a car that may only be a back marker in a heat or a B-main? Would teams bounce drivers who can’t qualify for main events faster than Cup teams are currently trading competitors who can’t make the top 35 in points or who can’t qualify for races? Would fans accept the new format knowing that the Earnhardts, Johnsons and Gordons may not make the feature?
There are a lot of questions and too much risk there for NASCAR to take a step in such a dramatic direction, even if the sanctioning body has launched a program urging fans to support local tracks and local racing.
Oh well. It was a nice thought anyway.