Since NASCAR returned on May 17th, they have held racing events not just on the weekends but also on weekdays. Today, NASCAR announced more schedule updates, and the only race scheduled to take place on a weekday is the All-Star race from Charlotte, which will be held on July 15th. The rest of the schedule has them back to racing weekends for all three NASCAR series.
BREAKING NEWS: NASCAR announces next installment in return to racing schedule. Details: https://t.co/c0Oof32GGq pic.twitter.com/Osjbyruoh1 — NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 4, 2020
Since their return, NASCAR has had some midweek races, that the fans love. The topic of continuing weekday races has raided the airwaves and racing blogs, even the blogs and social media accounts of the drivers. Fans and drivers love the weekday races. The ratings for NASCAR on a midweek day have not been bad. The Darlington midweek race drew a 2.1 rating or 2.09 million views, and for the Charlotte race, that brought in a .91 rating and averaged 1.51 million views. While these ratings are not mind-blowing to some, they do open up an opportunity to have more midweek races.
By having racing the last couple of weeks during the weekdays, NASCAR has seen a friendly response to those races. I think there is room for a lot of midweek races, given how so many sports leagues are competing for viewership’s. When they all play games at the same time, it is hard for viewers to choose just one event.
A great example of midweek racing is the Dirt racing circuit. Dirt racing takes place just about every day of the week. There are plenty of dirt racing organizations that schedule their races during the week, especially in the summer and fall. NASCAR does have some midweek racing particularity in the trucks series that make stops at the Bristol and Eldora tracks. Having midweek racing in the summer is great for the sport. The only competition NASCAR would be competing against is the NBA and NHL playoffs. As for the fall, it’s a toss-up. NASCAR competes against the king of sports, football. Everyone is pretty much-watching football games on the weekends from college to pro. While the networks want to air NASCAR on Sunday afternoons, especially NBC, to compete against football, the ratings for the fall are not profitable.
Having a midweek race in the fall could be an experiment. NASCAR could hold a midweek race in the early fall on Wednesday’s, but once the NHL season starts, they could move the races to Tuesday or Thursday night. It’s something that NASCAR could look into.
The benefit of having a midweek race in the fall is simple; they don’t have to compete against the NFL or college football. The only sports they would have to compete with are the NHL and NBA.
Having more midweek races is something I would love to see in the future, and I think it can help NASCAR in a big way. NASCAR won’t have to compete against many leagues and have the night to themselves. The fans, along with the drivers, want to see more midweek races. I hope NASCAR considers a change in schedule and considers weekday racing.
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