NASCAR’s Mike Forde confirms that in response to fans’ complaints about fuel saving during superspeedway races, NASCAR has discussed potential changes to stages at Daytona and Talladega.
While every generation of NASCAR stock car has its issues, a few key issues continue to pop up with NASCAR’s next-gen car. Among these are the car’s issues on short tracks, road courses, and superspeedways.
The issue with superspeedways is less about the tracks’ racing product and more about the large amount of fuel-saving that happens during these races, as drivers are constantly doing everything they can to save fuel and spend as little time on pit road as possible. While there are plenty of suggestions to fix this problem, one often suggested by industry members like Dale Earnhardt Jr is adding a fourth stage to these races.
As of right now, the Coca-Cola 600 is the only NASCAR race with four stages. But according to Mike Forde, NASCAR’s Managing Director of Communications, not only has NASCAR discussed tweaking the stage lengths at Daytona and Talladega, but it has also discussed adding this fourth stage to those races.
On the September 10 episode of Hauler Talk, Forde said that this change has not been “seriously discussed” but suggested that making stages shorter could result in saving fuel being a “waste of time.”
“We have talked about stage lengths for Daytona and Talladega. . . Even going as far as, it hasn’t been seriously discussed, but adding another stage period. So that there would be no concerns of, you’d have this stage short enough where their fuel conservation would be a waste of time.” — Mike Forde
A question that may come to mind when hearing this is ‘What about Echopark Speedway in Atlanta?’ While Echopark is technically a drafting, pack, racing style track, at 1.5 miles in length, Forde suggests that the track does not have the same problem as its 2.5-mile counterparts, saying that the track is “not really an issue.”
For the most part, NASCAR’s most recent Superspeedway race, the playoff cutoff race at Daytona International Speedway, was considered one, if no the best, superspeedway races of the Next Gen era.
Now, this race’s success could be attributed to several factors, like when cautions fell. Still, nonetheless, it was a solid morale boost for a vocal fanbase following the lackluster showings at the Daytona 500 and soaring Talladega race.
But, if Talladega is considered to be a return to form for the Next Gen car, and the pack is in fuel conservation mode as much as possible, should NASCAR consider this additional fourth stage?
For the most part, the fanbase seems to circle the middle on this issue, with some saying that anything is worth a shot, while others fear that it’s not worth the addition of yet another ‘gimmick’ to a race, and one that may not fix the issues at hand.
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