5 Reasons why F1 Fans should try watching a NASCAR Race

Alright, don’t get me wrong, I’m not an F1 hater, or anything of the sort, but I made the switch back in 2007 from F1 to NASCAR, and honestly, I couldn’t see myself watching another GP anytime soon… Or so I thought, but the Australian GP actually had me sitting there enjoying the race!

So that got me thinking, if I can give F1 another chance, and rightly so; surely F1 Fans can try watching a NASCAR race in full.
Who knows, some of you may enjoy it, some of you may become fans.

1. Bigger Grids

This year the grid has been reduced in size, with only 40 cars able to start a race, instead of the previous 43, but that’s still a fair few more than F1 these days. More cars on track tends to see more action (especially on the shorter tracks) and I’m not just talking about crashes either, which leads me on to point number 2.

2. More overtaking

Overtaking is a part of racing, so who wouldn’t want to see more passes on the track?! (Unless it’s your least favorite driver, passing your favorite driver). Superspeedways, like Daytona and Talladega, can see several lead changes in one lap, but even on shorter 1.5 mile tracks there are battles taking place all over the track.

3. The races are LOOOONGG

Some might say this is a bad point, because people can get restless. But as long as the racing is good, then the longer it goes on for, the better. Obviously, some races can be a bit dull, but that’s ok, because usually that means the field has spread out, and the laps are counting down faster, to the next inevitable caution, where they’ll be bunched back up

4. It's old fashioned, but in a good way!

When I say ‘old fashioned’ I don’t mean they’re still driving cars from the 1950’s each week.
They’re old fashioned compared to things like F1, DTM, V8SC etc. The cars are heavy machines, with no assists, minimal data tracking that the team have to use, there’s not even a fuel gauge in the cars.
All this, plus the new ‘low downforce’ package this year, means that the cars slide around the track, bounce off each other, and are always on the very limit of control.

5. The finishes are close

So far this year, two of the five races this year have given us amazing photo finishes! That trend looks set to continue next week too, as Martinsville, a 0.5 mile short track, always produces dashes to the checkered flag.

So, there we go. I hope that something on this list made you want to try watching a race.
For those that do, here’s the race from Phoenix a few weeks ago, that produced one of the photo finishes I talked of.