Denny Hamlin stoked the hornet’s nest with his recent comments on Actions Detrimental. Hamlin wanted people to understand that delays and caution flags increased the race length by a significant margin and that NASCAR should shorten the total time. He came off as someone who was preaching for shorter race weekends due to a smaller number of laps.

Even though many from his community agree with him over the aspect of shorter races, Matt Weaver thinks that it is going to be a betrayal to the fans who show up to the track every weekend.

In a social media post, Kenny Wallace posted a snippet of his conversation with Matt Weaver.

“I do think that we have a problem with what happens when the stages end. I like racing; I am not going to sit here and tell you that I think we should have less racing,” Weavers says, delivering his verdict about Hamlin’s comments.

“I think of the amount of content that has been cut from fans. You know, our race weekends used to be you taking your camper out on Thursday. You reach the racetrack through a practice session on Friday, qualifying, and happy hour on Sunday. Maybe Trucks, the ARCA, or the Busch Series—there was so much content. I have a hard time reconciling having taken away so much practice, the amount of content that we have midway, and things that we can do around the racetrack.”

The on-track experience for NASCAR fans has indeed become increasingly difficult to manage. The aspect of camping around the racetrack for days and enjoying every bit of the race weekend has always attracted many fans. However, the costs for the same have been rising rather steeply.

So for those race weekends to actually matter for the fans who show up, NASCAR needs to provide a good enough spectacle. As Weaver rightly mentions, the lost practices from a racing weekend have already made the experience rather dull for fans. For example, the CW Sports Bar at select races this year was a welcome addition that allowed them to enjoy more over the weekend, and they requested more tracks to follow this routine.

Since a lot of NASCAR tracks do not have such experiences, fans will feel like they are watching less racing for more prices. And at the end of the day, they are going to revolt at NASCAR for the same. So Hamlin’s idea might be related to fatigue and exhaustion. But it does seem like NASCAR fans have no problems with the same, as long as they think it’s worth the price they paid.

Although there is another major flaw that shorter races would create that hasn’t been brought up yet.

The sheer drop in broadcast quality in smaller races

Earlier this year, fans saw one of the worst broadcasts during the race at Bristol Motor Speedway. At that time, NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell blamed it on the length of the race. He explained how broadcast companies need to run these advertisements due to the sponsorship obligations and their partnerships.

So if we apply the same login in this case and shorten the race, then the broadcast quality would drop by a significant margin. The NASCAR audience already hates the commercials that broadcasters like FOX and NBC put in between the stages, often leading to missed moments from the track. So the consequences of increased ads during smaller races would become disastrous for the sport.

For a sport like NASCAR that has faced a lot of difficulties in entering an era of stability for now, angering the audience is not going to be a good idea. Also, the governing body can’t simply drop the number of laps from the race and expect everyone to follow along. They will have to make massive changes to the entire schedule and work with the broadcast partners in order to provide the best experience for the fans.

And NASCAR has already been through a lot of controversies and fallouts in recent years. They simply do not want to risk losing more fans now that they are actively trying to regain their fanbase with efforts targeted at the nostalgia and relevance of the racing product.