Does NASCAR Need to Compete with the NFL?

This Sunday marked the official start of the most anticipated event of the year.

I’m sorry, what’s that? Playoffs? Playoffs??

I was referring to the start of the NFL regular season. After a seven-month hiatus, America’s new national pastime started anew to great fanfare with wall-to-wall coverage that actually started Thursday (Sept. 5) night.

While the crowd in Atlanta wasn’t sparse, it wasn’t exactly a sell-out similar to what we saw at Darlington, Daytona or even Michigan the weeks prior. With a season that runs from Valentine’s Day to almost Thanksgiving, it raises an honest question: Does NASCAR really need to try to compete with the NFL this time of year? This week, Trenton Worsham and Wyatt Watson defend the respective goals in 2-Headed Monster.

Read the Room: Less is More

While every sport wants to be on top, simply saying it with conviction won’t make it so. While we can sit around with rose-colored glasses remembering when NASCAR was on par with, if not surpassing, the NFL, this is not now.

NASCAR must focus on itself and the sport and be its best without worrying about what a stick-and-ball sport is doing or when they’re playing. This line of thinking has led us to the controversial playoff system, which can lead to fake game 7 moments or something not of a driver’s doing taking away their chances. While shocking and storyline-driving, it does not crown the best driver of the entirety of the season. What will be next, Monday Night NASCAR? Thursday Night Lights? The DaleCast? 

If NASCAR truly wanted to compete with the NFL and college football, they would listen to drivers like Denny Hamlin and his concerns about the charter deal. That deal was signed by all but two teams, with murmurs of arm-twisting with owners speaking on anonymity. 

Formula 1 and IndyCar thrive in their own worlds, one of them all over the planet, while also racing on Sundays. F1 got a popularity boost through the Netflix docu-series Drive To Survive. The NFL has Hard Knocks and Netflix series. If anything, copy this and give the fans more NASCAR access behind the scenes. A pit-crew-focused show would be a great example of something new they could try. What they DON’T copy or try are the things they should. F1 has the luxury of being worldwide with their races so the times don’t always overlap with football games.

NASCAR, however, has a 3:30 p.m. ET start time at tracks without lights.

The schedule is the core…