Now we blame NASCAR for the rain; why not? | HEY, WILLIE!

HEY, WILLIE!

Why is it that NASCAR is so determined to run the Cup races mostly on Sundays? And later in the day when it almost always rains in the Eastern part of the U.S.?

Then, as they did this week, they end up racing in front of no spectators, and no TV watchers on a Monday. All those people went to work. 

NASCAR has zero connection to the working man or woman today.  

They could schedule the Xfinity or some other race on Friday or Saturday prior to the Cup race.  

Makes zero sense to me.

STEVE

HEY, STEVE!

This one has a certain feel to it. Kinda like, “Well, we’ve run out of everything else to blame NASCAR for, so let’s blame ’em for the weather!”

I saw something someone posted, or re-posted, saying 17 of NASCAR’s 25 race weekends this year have included weather delays or postponements — but that includes the Truck and Xfinity circuits.

Michigan this week was the fourth Cup race bumped to a Monday in 2023. Yes, that’s higher than the norm, but no, there ain’t much you can do about it, unless you want to build a giant roof and have everyone sign carbon monoxide waivers.

ON THE POLL Bubba Wallace, Ty Gibbs in (for now) Daniel Suarez looms. Who makes the NASCAR playoffs?

Sure, it stinks to see an excellent crowd show up on Sunday, only to get rained on, and then see only half of them (at most) willing or able to come back on Monday.

Karen Carpenter famously crooned about “rainy days and Mondays” getting her down, and she wasn’t even a NASCAR fan. It’s not just a racing problem; rain has been interrupting plans ever since Noah was in freshman shop class.

NASCAR SPEED FREAKS How you like Chris Buescher NOW? Gonna miss the Indy road course?

HEY, WILLIE!

I think NASCAR got it wrong by calling the postseason its “playoffs.” Isn’t that for football and other sports that people “play.” 

Sounds kinda stupid to me. How about “Race-offs”? Get with the correct wording, NASCAR. 

DAVID T

HEY, DAVE T!

Here’s some extremely trivial trivia regarding NASCAR’s postseason, which debuted in 2004 when Nextel was the Cup Series’ title sponsor — Nextel replaced Winston that year.

In January, just prior to the start of the ’04 season, the first playoff system was announced and was given a rather catchy name — Chase for the Championship. No “playoff,” but a chase, which seems reasonable given the sport in question.

By the time the last press release was handed out — figuratively speaking, of course — someone was passing through again, retrieving them and heading to the shredder. Actually, I’m not sure how long it took, but looking back, it seems like it was a matter of minutes before a new press release came off the printer touting, instead, the “Chase for the Nextel Cup.”

Ugh.

Paying millions for naming rights trumped neat alliteration. They should’ve gone ahead and scrapped the “chase” part, too, but I imagine they were suddenly in a hurry and had no time to roundtable, white-board, or whatever corporate buzz words were in vogue back then.

Anyway, for all the gripes we have on occasion, shedding the attachment to corporate naming rights, and the every-few-years changing of signage that goes along with that, we should be grateful at simply calling it the Cup Series these days, regardless of how you want to label those final 10 weeks.

HEY, WILLIE!

Your line, “And granted, all of my big-time marketing knowledge, if neatly folded, would comfortably fit inside PT Barnum's watch pocket,” about made me shoot coffee out of my nose. 

Nice work!  I'll have to steal that from you when appropriate.

DAVID H

HEY, DAVE H!

I’m aiming for a Cheerio.

NASCAR'S PGA MODEL NASCAR may look for marketing help ... from Chase Elliott? PGA Tour led way | KEN WILLIS

HEY, WILLIE!

You raised a point I hadn’t heard before in your piece about Shohei Otani. 

It seems quaint that people were shocked when Babe Ruth was paid more than the U.S. President. Otani will be paid more than all of them combined. 

Question, though. Who will be paying him next year?

REESE

HEY, REESE!

When the Angels refused to trade Ohtani at the recent deadline, many considered it a worthy and gutsy gamble.

Ohtani will be a free agent at season’s end, and the Angels might lose him and get nothing in return — and, yes, they could’ve gotten a whole lot of somethings in a trade.

Such loyalty and devotion to chasing a playoff spot this season, with Ohtani leading the way, might provide some sway when it comes negotiation time this winter.

But then the Angels fell into old habits and began sliding out of the playoff picture, which can only remind Ohtani why his seasons have been ending way before his neighbors’ on the other side of Los Angeles.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR and rainy Sundays too common; and change the 'playoffs' label