Improving NASCAR Nextel Cup

Rotating All-Star event

The all-star event should rotate to different tracks each year. At a minimum, it should alternate between East and West coasts. Its present location is close to NASCAR's home base, which enhances the exhibition angle, but shouldn't the race be about the fans, which are nationwide?

Still starts

It baffles me that F1 cars, plus MotoGP and many other series, have competitive still starts (sometimes called standing starts), while NASCAR lets the cars slowly pick up speed. I've always said that NASCAR is horse racing at 200 mph. I want to see the horses charge out of the gate.

Race in the rain

Even motorcycles race in the rain! If teams are worried about ruining expensive race cars, they can do what most other forms of racing do -- use rain tires and hire drivers skillful enough to keep from crashing in the wet. Racing in the rain can be spectacular; the two most exciting F1 races this year, by far, occurred in the wet.

Fix aero

This is allegedly in the works with car of tomorrow. I am under the impression that in the current environment a Cup driver needs to have more skill with aero than mechanical grip. It's not much fun watching a group of aerodynamics experts competing for wins.

More road courses

I love ovals, don't get me wrong, but we need at least four road courses. One should be in the post-season. Infineon is a great model for Cup because it's short, not terribly difficult, and most of the track is visible from anywhere in the stands.

Better race announcers

I don't dislike the Fox or NBC folks, but it could be much, much better. Each race this year had at least one incident or wreck where I saw the cause immediately, but the commentators were baffled or ignored it. The benchmark is SPEED's F1 broadcasting crew of Varsha, Hobbes, and Matchet.

Fuel injection

Using carbeuration for internal combustion engines is only slightly more advanced than riding horses. It's bad enough that Cup engines use pushrods, but carbs? Switching to fuel injection wouldn't break the unwritten rule of minimizing technological development in NASCAR.

Ditch Daytona and Talladega

Mark Martin and most other NASCAR drivers agree that Daytona and Talladega are pathetic tracks to race on. I'd like to see drivers and TV viewers boycott both of these superspeedways. I watch NASCAR on TV to see extremely competitive racing, not ... whatever it is we see at these two tracks. Just say No to Daytona and Talladega.