The All-Star Race in recent years has become NASCAR’s skunk works in order to try out new things. Things tried here in recent years that have made it into the Cup Series full-time include the new hood escape valves that are on the Next Gen car, along with the travesty that was the 550 horsepower package.
Sunday really didn’t have that much. They did have a mini Pit Stop Competition and something like the 13th different format for the race. What it did have were some strange decisions from both FOX Sports 1 and NASCAR.
Before we get going, a couple of things to cover. First off, news broke over the weekend that Dave McClelland has died at the age of 85. For those of you that are big into drag racing, McClelland was the voice of the NHRA for decades. If you were watching John Force, Kenny Bernstein, Don “The Snake” Pruedomme, Joe Amato or Bob Glidden have it at in the 1980s or 1990s on ESPN or TNN, he was probably calling it for Diamond P Sports.
Secondly, we’re starting to get close to the beginning of negotiations for the next NASCAR TV deal. As of now, there are still 2.5 years remaining on the current 10-year deal that runs through the end of 2024. SportsBusinessJournal’s Adam Stern reported back in February that NASCAR wants to do another long-term TV deal, but the Race Team Alliance (RTA) may want a different split since track ownership has changed substantially since the current deal started. We’ll ultimately have to see what will happen going forward, but I honestly couldn’t tell you what the TV landscape is going to look like in 2025. NASCAR has a lot of properties that can be monetized, but whatever happens will likely be much different than what we currently have.
Honestly, Sunday night’s All-Star Race will be best remembered for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. suffering his second flat right rear tire on the last lap. One of NASCAR’s new rules for the All-Star Race is that the race must end under green, no matter what. As we all know, that…
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