NASCAR cut practice sessions as a necessity during COVID. Though, as teams saw the savings from a lack of practice, that resulted in a continuation of the process. Now, teams have a 20-minute session to shakedown the car before qualifying. Teams have a 50-minute session at specific tracks, but most will be 20.
Denny Hamlin is in a unique position as a driver and owner. And it would make sense for a driver and owner would agree no practice is great for multiple reasons. That being said, Hamlin feels that the lack of practice is affecting NASCAR for two reasons that not many have pointed out yet.
On his podcast, Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin, Hamlin explained that even though practice doesn’t really affect the racing product and saves teams money, it also brings a lack of information for gamblers and a lack of storylines for fans and the broadcasts.
“I’m a team owner, so I agree with the savings that we found during COVID, when we didn’t have practice, was a large number,” Hamlin said. “I do think, though, we miss out on storylines. And I got to thinking about this a little bit and, because this this has been a topic for a very long time, no it doesn’t make a difference in the on-track product probably not…
“But how has most sports boomed? Gambling. Gambling. And so how do you get people interested in NASCAR on a recreational level? The casual fan? People love to have action on a game and I think that people that like to have action on game at least like to know something about what they’re betting. If you don’t have any practice speeds, there’s no information, they’re just guessing. And I think that people that are religious betters or whatever at all sports during all seasons, I don’t know that they get a ton of information about the sport to make informed bets, probably. I mean, if I had to guess. So when you don’t have that for information, I think that maybe limits you on that side. And I know that fantasy and sports betting on NASCAR is something that NASCAR, I think, is trying to push to help grow our audience, and to get the casual fan, we need to get more information on it.
“The next is the storylines. We do miss out on some storylines in the build-up of the weekend. There’s always who’s fast in practice, what storylines came from practice. This team’s got an engine failure, they got to go to the back. What happened? What caused it? Was there a wreck in practice? There’s just some things that, I think, you do miss out on without practice.”
The gambling aspect is very interesting. Gambling can be a way for casual fans to invest more in NASCAR. When you have some “skin” in the game, that game becomes a lot more exciting. On the other hand, if bettors lack information, it means the handicappers also have a lack of information, so the odds can be somewhat random. But yeah, people usually want to be comfortable if they’re betting, and there isn’t much to go off of right now.
In addition to what Hamlin discussed, there are a couple of other reasons that support the return of practice. One is more of a selfish reason just for myself and the media, but it’s beneficial to fans as well.
When the NASCAR Cup Series had Friday practice, Friday was more of a low-key day for drivers. As a result, drivers had more free time to talk to the media one-on-one. When I covered races pre-pandemic, I could set up multiple interviews in advance on Friday for future long-form pieces. As drivers show up on Friday night or Saturday morning, that free time largely disappears. I don’t blame drivers for valuing that Friday being with their family and friends, and some might prefer not talking to media as much as they do, but it was appreciated for sites like ours that have limited access to drivers.
Another reason to have practice is that it’s more content. More content means a higher media rights contract. A higher media rights contract means more money to teams. How much would it be worth to Amazon if they had the streaming rights to practice and qualifying sessions? Amazon, or some other streamer, pays a premium for that while the races remain on TV, getting maximum exposure. Fans at the track get more on-track action, and if the rights fees are so high that it offsets the savings, everybody wins.
[Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin]
