Your Turn: 10 reasons to love NASCAR

It’s that time of week again – the time for you to sound off on all things NASCAR.

If you’ve got an opinion you’d like to share – and the more diverse the opinion, the better chance you have of getting published – you can be a part of Your Turn by emailing us your rants right here.

We’ll kick things off with Fred Voltmer of Half Moon Bay, Calif., who’s got 10 things for NASCAR fans to be thankful for, including Your Turn:

I’m going to go against the grain and rant about the top 10 things I like about NASCAR:

1. The 36-race schedule. I like the length of the current schedule. It’s not so short that a bad stretch could mess up your season before it even begins (like say the NFL), it’s not so long that you blow it off until the playoffs (like say MLB), and only the best make the playoffs (unlike say the NBA or NHL).

2. The foreign manufacturers. Seriously, who doesn’t let out a little cheer when a Chevy or Ford or Dodge beats a Toyota to the checkered flag?

3. The driver nicknames. “Smoke,” “Shrub,” “Junior,” “Cousin Carl” and the list goes on. I especially like that Chris Berman didn’t dream up any of them.

4. Multiple TV networks. I don’t think I could handle an entire season of any of the existing networks.

5. Pre-race coverage. Without it, I’d never get any of my weekend house-cleaning done.

6. The tracks. I can’t think of many sports where the venue is as big of a factor in the outcome as the participants are. You can almost see the fear on drivers’ faces every time Talladega pops up on the schedule.

7. The cars. Hard to believe that no side-view mirrors or fuel gauges can bring so much intrigue to a race.

8. The pit stops. I ask you, can you think of any other sport where the “off-court” action is so intense? “Dude, check it out, they just called for a time out!” or “Bro’, did you see how smooth that pitching change was!” I don’t think so.

9. The fans. NASCAR has the most educated fans around. What a blessing. Everyone knows what’s wrong with the sport and how to fix it.

10. Tuesdays. I think you know why.

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Dave Garnett of Lufkin, Texas, rants about, well, read on. It’s worth it:

Can we rant just a little bit? Drivers outside the Chase now have to tiptoe around the Chase drivers when they try and pass them and should basically move over and let them crawl by to not possibly hinder their chances in the Chase?

Now even the drivers are calling the fake cautions late in the race for what they are, phantom cautions used to tighten up the field for excitement because the races are so lousy with the new cars inability to pass and the leader often leading by numerous seconds due to the “clean-air” effect.

The 35th-placed driver in the Chase has just a smidgen under $3 million in winnings so far this year, yet all we hear is about how money is so tight due to the recession. Not bad considering it’s almost to the point now where the 35th-placed driver could be a start and parker.

They can move the date for the California races to any dates they want, and still we’ll be guaranteed of having the most boring races on the schedule on those two weekends. And to make matters worse, we have to wait until mid-afternoon for the race to start. I can say “we” here because, from the masses that appear to fill the stands there, there can’t be but 70,000 NASCAR fans in California.

And speaking of boring races, half of the Chase races are on the exact same type of tracks, mile-and-a-half downforce tracks which guarantee crappy racing.

We can rant all we want, and as long as NASCAR and their tracks keep making their millions, ain’t nothing gonna change, they ain’t gonna listen to us because they just don’t care.

I gotta quit before my blood pressure goes any higher. We could go on and on all day and never cover the same problem twice, that’s how many problems NASCAR has.

So do me a favor and treat me like a NASCAR fan and just delete this email so I’ll know my opinion is highly valued.

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Zak from Altamont, N.Y., thinks sprint races are the answer to boring racing:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If you want the ratings to go up for NASCAR and bring some more of the excitement back to the sport, make the races more of a “sprint” than a “marathon.”

The drivers always run hard at the end. Why? Because the race is almost over! The middle of the race is where people are tuning out or, like me, taking a Sunday nap.

NASCAR is saying that it’s always open for ways to make things better, and I find it hard to believe that I’m the only one who has thought of this suggestion.

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Darryl Thornton of LaFollette, Tenn., has a scary thought:

Look out for all of the Dale Jr. fans out this Halloween. They will be the big kids with the paper bags over their heads! Jr.’s theme song is “Poor Poor Pitiful Me.” Ah ha!

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Paul Malone of Glendale, Ariz., has the answer to Junior’s problems:

I think I just discovered the mystery of why Junior has run so poorly this year. The three Hendrick cars in the top seven spots, within 100 points of a championship, all have yellow (numbers while) Junior’s number is red. So, put a yellow No. 88 on the Amp car for Talladega and the rest of the season and get some wins to prepare for Junior’s championship next year.

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Jeff Crook of Long Beach, Calif., gets the final word:

NASCAR needs to do what is right and let Carl Long back without paying the penalty. A 5 Mega Team sport is not the direction NASCAR needs to go.