Bristol and Daytona Join the NASCAR Playoffs

Changes are coming to NASCAR. But while two of the more popular tracks are now in the spotlight, what does it mean for the sport overall?

When NASCAR started a playoff series in 2004, I thought it wasn’t going to be the best thing for the sport.

They were weighting races late in the season ahead of those during the season. In essence, saying one race or track was better than the other.

The problem was it created an inevitable hierarchy system among tracks. And this affected Bristol Motor Speedway adversely.

One can say that BMS is still popular, still the best track to watch a race because you can see the whole thing instead of cars inadvertently passing spectators by.

But BMS was no longer selling out. It was no longer accompanied by the media relations types telling us how it was the most popular track in NASCAR.

Bristol Motor Speedway is the third-largest NASCAR track in terms of seating capacity. It’s summer race moves from late August to Sept. 19 in 2020.

Perhaps the powers that be felt Bristol was popular enough to stand alone, without needing to join the playoffs, just like Darlington.

But that is going to change next season when both BMS and Darlington are put in the NASCAR playoffs.

Here’s a safe bet. The Sept. 19, 2020 Tennessee and Virginia Tech home football games that will played on the same day as the Bristol Night Race…