Bobby Allison waves the green flag as Martin Truex Jr. leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series field to start the 2009 Daytona 500. (Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
A total of 28 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in 2010 will be held at an earlier time compared to 2009, with 20 races moved to 1 p.m. ET, including the Daytona 500. Moving up the start two-and-a-half hours, which will produce the earliest start time for the Daytona 500 since 2003, when the race was also scheduled for 1 p.m., Five races move earlier to a 3 p.m. ET start and three races start earlier at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The race start times for NASCAR Sprint Cup races in 2010 in the Eastern and Central regions of the country will begin at 1 p.m. ET, West Coast events will begin at 3 p.m. ET, and night races will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET. (The one exception is NASCAR’s longest night race, the Coca-Cola 600, which will have the same 5:45 p.m. ET start time.) Following the invocation and national anthem, the green flag will drop at approximately 15-20 minutes past the hour after each listed race start time.
NASCAR said they worked closely with FOX, Turner, ESPN/ABC and the tracks on this project for the fans.
It wasn’t all that long ago that nearly all NASCAR races started at either noon or 1:00 p.m on a Sunday. Believe it or not, according to the lore way back when, NASCAR started their races around these times on a Sunday because that’s usually when most people got home from church. Of course the bigger reason was that most tracks had no lights.
The first night race in NASCAR’s modern era was in 1978 at Bristol. Richmond added lights in 1991 and Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 1992. And while 28 races will be run in the afternoon next year, Richmond, Lowe’s, Darlington, Phoenix’s first race and of course the second Bristol race along with the second Atlanta race will still be either run entirely under the lights or finish after sunset.
So considering that all the night races are still there, is the fact that most of the Sunday races will now start closer together really that big of a deal? Will the uniform start times be good for NASCAR, bad, or no big deal?
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Comments
Wish they would have made them all night races. Won't sacrifice nice Sundays outdoors to watch a race inside.
So Brain France and Nascar have slapped the "core" fans around with all the insane changes the last few years and now think us old school fans will come back because of moving the start times back to where they should be? Reminds me of the guy who beats his kids then tries to make it all better by taking them out for ice cream.
This is definitely a positive change but since I watch all the races no matter what time they are on I guess I am not the target audience.
I do have to point out that the changes NASCAR is making just nibble around the edges of what irks past fans most. COT, Chase, Top 35, Darlington,,,, Where's the beef?
This is just another effort for the Brainless One to try to get back the fans he chased off to begin with. Replacing the core fans with the short attention span crowd and fad fans is biting them in the backside. Every previous effort to bring back the core fans have failed. This effort will fail too. Once bitten, twice shy. If all the day races started at 1 pm, you might get some fans back. But that's not really going to happen because of the poor coverage by 2 of the networks. Get rid of the favoritism (yes it exists),phony cautions, and make consistent rules enforcement a priority and maybe you might get a few fans back. This latest bit of PR is just that. PR. It won't get the fans back that Brainless chased away. He made his bed, now he can sleep in it.
i'm not sure really. i didn't like the late starts when they first started doing it but now i have kind of got used it. i really don't watch any of the pre race nonsense anyway so i still have a good part of my day to get things done and then can come in later and catch the race. it don't matter to me one way or the other really. when the race is on i watch it. 1:20 or 2:20... don't make much of a difference in my life.
I record all races to watch at my chosing, even thou I usually watch them live. So the start times don't really matter to me,
but it makes more sense to have a uniform start time as I always have to hunt for the time to set the DVR. I would like to see more night races, they seem more exciting!
Thank you!!!! This is the first small step of NASCAR getting back to what it was supposed to be... about the fans. The chase, the new car, crazy start times and 5 different network were all done without the fans in mind. It was all about money. This move is a positive step toward moving back to what made this sport fun and popular. Hopefully they will keep it up.
This is the most excited I've been about a nascar change in a long time! When I was younger, I remember coming home after church, eating lunch, then by that time the race was starting or had already begun. This year, with a lot of races starting closer to 2:30 and some even later...by the time the race finally starts, I've gotten tired of waiting and it's like some of the energy has been sucked out. Definitely one step in the right direction...let's hope more steps follow.
good move, NASCAR, finally. Now, do something about the POS car so that there is actually good side by side racing NOT just on the double-file restarts, shootout style (gag me with a spoon). And I hope those are really start times, not just when the pre-race show starts?
Just wait to Nascar gets their own pay per view deal worked out. We won't care what time the reces start then, because we will all quit watching them any way.
And also who started the childesh burn outs after races. Just go to victory lane like a man and lets get it over with and interview more drivers after the race. We have all seen tires smoke before.
tell cecil your life is pretty boreing then .if you aint been in a race car ,you dont have a clue how exciting it is for the driver and for his fans .go watch golf then
oh by the way nascar ,,i think its a great idea for having the times now i dont have to go seraching in the paper .now i know thanks
Great idea to finally move the times earlier. Now I can plan and know when DW and digger go off the air so I can tune in.
The new times are fine.
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