I watched my last NASCAR race on Sunday afternoon.

I don’t mean my last race of the season, but my last race period.

That is until NASCAR makes some changes.

I have threatened this for a couple of years now, but I mean it this time.

I am sick and tired of watching cars go round and round following each other because they are unable to pass the guy in front of him either because of the tires, the track or because NASCAR feels that every car has to be exactly the same as the next one.
That’s not competition!

When more passing is done on pit lane than on the track – I am done with it.
I didn’t think you could ruin the racing at a place like Talladega, but NASCAR found a way.

While I appreciate the fact that the new cars are much safer and drivers have walked away from some pretty spectacular accidents, that doesn’t mean it makes for good racing.
I had high hopes for this car because some of the changes were similar to the ones used in the truck series and there is some seriously good racing at that level.

But after nearly a full year of watching this car on the track – it just isn’t cutting it.

The drivers hate it, the owners hate it and the fans hate it.

The racing is so bad and lacks drama.

And NASCAR realizes it too, but won’t admit it.

How can you tell that they know the racing is poor other than looking at the empty seats in the grandstand?

It’s those late race cautions that bunch up the pace nearly every weekend.

Those infamous debris cautions with less than 25 laps to go when the cars are strung out all over the track.

If there was real racing going on, you wouldn’t need to create phony drama.
What am I watching, the WWE?

If that isn’t bad enough, NASCAR likes to tinker with the rules constantly to make the playing field even.

Since when does a level playing field create a good product?

Yes, I agree you need to have rules, but those rules shouldn’t mean that if one team finds a way to be better than everyone else does, then you change the rule so that everyone else has the same advantage.

That’s not competition.

What if all the other sports changed their rules constantly?

Boy, you can image what fun it would be if your favorite baseball team got out to a double digit lead in the standings only to have the commissioner tell you that your best pitcher could only throw every nine or 10 days instead of four or five days because he gave you an unfair advantage.

NASCAR doesn’t need to create its own drama. It’s already built in.

Guys driving cars at nearly 200 mph. inches apart from each other is its own drama.
When one team figures out how to do it better than the other guys do, then it’s time for the other teams to figure out how to beat that car.

Now that’s competition.

And you don’t tell drivers an hour before one of the biggest races of the season that they have to change their driving style.

I am not even sure you tell them that when they show up at the track.

So listen up NASCAR, you want to fill those empty seats at the track? You want to get more people watching the races on television?

Then stop tinkering with the rules and let the drivers drive, the crew chiefs find those gray areas in the rule book and get back to the racing I and a lot of other NASCAR fans enjoyed.

Somewhere along the way, perhaps when you started attracting all those wonderful sponsors to your door, you forgot why they were there.

They were there because the competition was great, the drivers were colorful and the stands were filled with fans.

The economy has surely taken a toll on the sport, but NASCAR fans are a hardy bunch and they would find a way to get to the track if there was a reason to be there.

NASCAR likes to pretend that it’s making all these changes for its fans.

Don’t believe it for a minute. They are doing to it for the owners, who are complaining about rising costs.

I understand that.

But I can keep costs down without ruining the racing.

Don’t field three and four car teams. Get back to having a car or two. That will cut your costs in half. That of course was a must-have when NASCAR put limits on the amount of time teams could test.

So what did owners do? They took advantage of the rules and were able to test more because they had more cars.

You don’t need to have multicar teams to win championships.

The legends of NASCAR didn’t have two, three or four car stables. They won championships because they were better than the other guy was. They were able to figure out a way to get to the front and stay there better than the next guy.

The racing was better then too. Maybe not as safe, but better.

There has to be a way to make this work. There have got to be people at NASCAR and at these teams who are able to figure out how to make a safe car that races better.

Until that happens, I am through watching NASCAR races.

Scott Novak is sports editor of Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com or by phone at 687-7702.