NASCAR and IndyCar are constantly vying to be the number one motorsport in America. This is at least when F1 or MotoGP are not in town. So there are occasions where drivers from either discipline take shots at the other. The latest one came when New Zealand driver Scott Dixon admitted that NASCAR was hard to watch. While his comments have triggered a bit of outrage, it has also given birth to an interesting conversation, with a NASCAR head seemingly echoing this concern.

Recently, NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Ben Kennedy spoke about affected viewership. He told the Rubbin is Racing podcast, “There was something incredible about driving a vehicle, going 500 miles and being the best. In today’s world, every single vehicle is going to finish a race, or they should finish a race. It’s evolved from that [and the audience has changed], and the audience has changed today.”

His point stands to reason because NASCAR has been around for over 75 years. During that time, the landscape has changed massively on several fronts. This also includes the audience, who are getting younger and younger, raising questions about whether NASCAR needed to change as well.

“If you think about the lengths of the races. In my opinion, they’re pretty historical. So it was more about endurance and finishing the race than who the best driver, competitor was, every single weekend,” Kennedy stated. “You would have cars that finished laps down; you would have cars that would break midway through the race.”

In the modern era and the age of social media, the average consumer’s attention span is shrinking. With the rise of TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and other short-form content, NASCAR has no choice but to adapt as well.

Rubbin is Racing host Michael “Large” McCarthy also agreed with the sentiment. He observed that the younger generation is mostly on TikTok and predominantly consumes 30-second clips. So sitting through a three-and-a-half- to four-hour race will be incredibly tedious for them. Large also confessed that there will be points in an average race where nothing is going on and proceedings get a little boring. So who could blame anyone for sneaking in a small nap?

Some NASCAR races are considered sacred and shouldn’t be altered

With all this talk of tweaking races to make them shorter and more exciting, some lines shouldn’t be crossed. Kennedy admitted that truncating the races should be explored thoroughly. However, he also knew that there are some races which should not be tinkered with, specifically the Crown Jewel races. There is sense in that sentiment, because a Daytona 500 shortened by anything other than weather doesn’t quite have the same impact.

He continued, “Mindful of that, but where there are opportunities where people might not have traveled as far a distance. Especially when you think about some of these exhibition races, the Clash. Let’s condense it, shorten it a little bit. Let’s try different formats, and then see how the feedback is. I think that’s what we’re really thinking about: how do we test some of these when there are lower stakes on the line. Then measure it, see what fans are saying, teams, drivers, then we can start to make those changes in the future.”

With other races, it is fair game, and NASCAR has been making minor tweaks to the race distance. According to Kennedy, it is all about striking the right balance. He insisted that NASCAR isn’t just making all these decisions on its own. Instead, the association has been talking to fans and incorporating their input. After all, many who show up to the racetrack travel hundreds of miles to get there for race day or camp for the entire weekend. Many are willing to watch the race for three and a half to four hours and get what they paid for.