from a NASCAR Fan’s View
Since the 2020 NASCAR Cup season is done and the awards have been given out, this fan wanted to close out the year with his thoughts on the many happenings of the year 2020 in NASCAR. It has not been a fun year for any of us but, NASCAR did manage to pull off a complete season and crowned champions in all three of the main series, Trucks, Xfinity and Cup. That in itself was quite a feat and, in the rearview mirror, showed one reason why NASCAR has been reasonably successful over the course of its existence. In fact, they led the way for other sports to at least try to open their seasons. However, it is important to note that the year 2020 was the season for NASCAR that almost wasn’t.
First of all, the year started off much like normal. It seemed it was going to be another year of racing the schedule with the different rule packages and all was well entering into speed weeks at Daytona. The stands were full of fans, the racing was good and everything seemed as though it was going to be a banner year.
Shortly thereafter… well, you know the story. The pandemic hit and the racing stopped, most of the people of the Untied States were forced to stay home and business, sports and a number of other things came to screeching halt. People were forced to become something they really weren’t all in the name of “safety for people” and “control of the virus.” Life changed for most of us for at least two months and, for many of us, it hasn’t changed all that much since, a full eight plus months later.
During that time in the Spring, people were looking for something to do and watch and someone came up with the idea to broadcast iRacing. At first, it was something many hadn’t been exposed to and it was interesting to see how real their platform was and how real the racing looked, even though there were no cars on tracks anywhere other than virtually and the drivers had their rigs set up in their homes. I suppose the decision to broadcast was made by Fox Sports to broadcast at least something to draw their viewing audience back or fill some time with something instead of so many rebroadcasts.
At first it was a novel idea and people, especially non-gamers, were exposed to something they probably didn’t know existed. I know I was and, since I’m not a gamer, I was completely impressed by the look and virtual racing. Of course there were noticeable flaws but they did show they had done everything they could to make it look completely real.
Admittedly, I was impressed the first week and continued watching just to see how things would pan out. Unfortunately, they did things for TV that made it come off as fake, like celebrating a win as though they were in front of real live fans. It became obvious to me they were apparently doing things for the TV audience and that is when I lost interest. It was just too much to take in, knowing it wasn’t real. I do have to admit I did consider buying a rig but soon found they were much more expensive than I could afford and I did talk myself out of it. You see, I’m a racer at heart and I didn’t want to race to finish second. If I was going to do it, I wanted to have the equipment that would give me the possibility of a winning advantage. Sure, I knew if you got fully involved, there was the possibility of winning money and that was the biggest thing. Next to finding a way to race again and not having to worry about fixing wrecked racecars, the possibility of winning big money did have a major draw to it. Fortunately, common sense prevailed that it would not be a good investment of money I didn’t have anyway.
During that time of virtual racing and then the return to the real thing, I felt NASCAR and the network made some pretty political and unfortunate decisions (which they were entitled to do) but I decided not to join the many that either threatened to, or did leave NASCAR because of those decisions. I don’t regret hanging in there and saw some very good racing whether there were fans in the stands or not although I did take some heat here and there for the decision I made to stick it out.
When it comes right down to it, it was a pretty dramatic and intense rest of the year. The playoffs were about as interesting as any in the past, maybe more so and were filled with unexpected happenings and finishes. Probably one of the biggest surprises to me was Kevin Harvick not making the final four. I thought it might be Denny Hamlin that wouldn’t be in but I was proved wrong. When the final four were established and being a Hendrick Motorsports fan, I had high hopes Chase Elliott would win his first Championship but really didn’t expect it to come about. I really thought Joey Logano or Brad K. had a better chance than the other two but, Chase showed he is made of the right stuff and this fan is sure he has just begun to write his legacy.
Possibly the biggest disappointment to me in the NASCAR 2020 season was how the whole pandemic affected the departure of Jimmie Johnson from the sport. He was a true Champion and sure to be a Hall-of-Famer. I know he isn’t totally finished with racing, but he will be missed next season even though you and I both know there will be plenty of other stuff going on and many new faces in places we maybe weren’t expecting them to be.
I know there are a lot of other things this fan could talk about from this last season but that is enough for now. Besides, you’ve heard most everything more than once already. So, until next season, this will likely be the last NASCAR Fan’s View unless something really big happens deserving comment from this Fan’s View. So, from the year that was in NASCAR 2020, this fan is glad it wasn’t the year that wasn’t…
See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© November 20, 2020 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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