Last Lap: Saturday night all right for racin'?

No sporting event accelerates my heart rate quite like the Bristol night race. And until Virginia Tech is featured on Monday Night Football, I don't see anything measuring up.

	Marty Smith

Richmond is wonderful at night, too. Daytona is always an awesome show, and Charlotte is tolerable. But the thought of night racing in California is like free hot chocolate in July -- I could take it or leave it.

And 80 percent of the time, I'd choose the latter.

To me, night racing is like business travel -- it's a welcome diversion from the routine, but quickly loses its luster when you do it all the time.

But more and more, it seems NASCAR wants to go nocturnal.

Why? Several reasons.

First, and most simply, is that come Labor Day the sanctioning body wants no part of a battle with the National Football League for television viewers. Presently, NASCAR doesn't have a chance. It'll take a decade of network devotion and another generation of fathers teaching sons about the unconditional love of a driver before the NASCAR marketing machine catches up.

In the overall scheme of sports television, the NFL is the lone entity that currently surpasses Winston Cup Series competition. No one else can hang.

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Hence, it only makes sense that NASCAR would prefer running Saturday night shows -- even if that means offsetting the college football giant.

Which leads us directly into the second reason -- network pressure. When football is removed from the equation, Saturday night ratings are most often higher than Sunday afternoon ratings. People are at home at night, not out running errands.

And while NASCAR's Sunday ratings are currently astronomical -- Darlington was up 22% from last year, with a 4.9 overnight rating on TNT -- they've yet to take on the NFL head-to-head. That test comes this weekend in New Hampshire. There will be no 4.9 this weekend.

The final benefit of Saturday night shows is alleviation of the strain on crewmen, not to mention a built-in rain date. With the schedule growing both in number of events and in distance from NASCAR's Charlotte, N.C., hub, any extra time at home is treasured.

Racing on Saturday means boating on Sunday. And in a sport where days off are as hard to come by as a hair on Todd Bodine's head, that is truly a Godsend.

Those are the benefits. But what about the glaring drawback -- the effect on local Saturday night short tracks? As NASCAR continues to move Winston Cup races to Saturday nights, how is this going to affect local short track racing?

We'll get to that in a moment. First, I must address a pressing issue:

1Shady20Fan: What are you thinking? With all the things going on around you pick this topic? Why? Why are we not talking about the weekend that Harvick had in both the Busch and Cup races, or Vickers moving up the ranks of stock car racing and putting a winning driver out of a job, or how our none the less model citizen of a NASCAR champ's season has looked more like a horror flick of nothing but bad luck, or you could ask our views on how in the hell to stop fuel mileage races, but instead we get this? My answer is, drum roll please, don't know, don't care. NASCAR is only going to run a total of what 7 night races, I think that the short tracks can handle that, if you must ask.

Hey Eminem, here are some brief answers to each of the above topics, in order: 1. Because we already wore the post-race altercation issue so completely out three weeks ago that the mere mention of it is nauseating. 2. Because Vickers' promotion was discussed in both Track Smack and (dis)believe last week, not to mention that I wrote a piece last weekend regarding Nemechek's reaction to the news. 3. Because no one cares. 4. There is no answer to "how to stop fuel mileage races." That's like asking "How do you eliminate racing accidents?" It's impossible. It's part of racing.

Now, on to something pertinent.

PYLrulz2003: In a way, it's gonna affect the local Saturday night races. NASCAR would be taking away a potential crowd that would normally go to a local Saturday night race on days NASCAR races on Sundays.

Maybe if NASCAR went to Sunday nights for racing, these short tracks can still retain the business on days NASCAR would have normally had a Saturday night race. Besides, in my opinion, Saturday is for the little guys, Sunday is for the big boys.

Well done, Private Pyle. You have no major malfunction. Sunday is undoubtedly for the big boys. But there's one point you're missing, here. Saturday night Winston Cup races won't only affect the local track in the area of the big event -- it will also affect attendance nationwide.

Face it. Many new NASCAR fans are drawn in not by the actual competition or religion that is racing, but by the aura of a particular driver. Hence, they'd be more apt to stay at home and watch the Winston Cup race on television than go out and support their local track.

That, in turn, would directly affect the future of the Nextel Cup Series. The local tracks are a major portion of NASCAR's feeder system. If they suffer, Cup inevitably will, too. It's like a colleague said to me last week: If the night-racing trend continues, NASCAR's future will come from Tuesday night bandolero races, not Saturday night short tracks.

Dale Rusty Bill disagrees:

829Fan: Hard to say, but I'm more inclined to think that it will hurt the TV ratings than the local short-track races. Obviously, if there is a NASCAR Winston Cup event in the area, more fans would want to attend that race instead of those at the local track.

However, I do not see the local short-track being hurt too much by Saturday night NASCAR races that are not in the area. After all, a large majority of NASCAR night races are televised on TNT or FX so as to not conflict with prime time programming on NBC or FOX (The night race at Daytona being an exception.) Since TNT or FX are not as easily accessible, some race fans may not have the opportunity to watch the race at home.

Plus, you have some short tracks that run races on Friday nights. That would avoid any conflict with a Saturday night NASCAR race, but it would have to be scheduled well in advance.

DRB makes a good point, there. Short tracks will often move their respective festivities to an alternate night so as to eliminate having to compete with Winston Cup. For example, New River Valley Speedway, the track where I got my start, doesn't even hold events on weekends when Winston Cup races at night.

They can't move the event to Friday -- high school football is sacred where I come from and NRVS simply couldn't compete with it. And they can't have Sunday, either. Sunday is for church.

And I didn't even touch on the ramifications to those actually competing at the local level. Ladies and gentlemen, Al Harrington:

alhdej8: It's easy to tell the local guys to work around NASCAR. However, many racing series already run through the weekend. I attend races at 3 different tracks in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series in the Midwest Region.

Many of the drivers race at all three tracks Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Drivers racing for the championship can't very well run in two races at two different tracks in one day.

And you think it has no effect on short tracks? Think again.

reedtaylor: Who cares how it affects back woods dirt racing? The fact of the matter is this: NASCAR is going to put the races on whenever they can get the best ratings. As long as I have Tivo it doesn't really matter to me when it comes on.

See there, what'd I tell you? Who cares about local facilities? I care. Hundreds of thousands of short track fans across this country care, Chuck. It gives guys without a ton of money or opportunity a place to fulfill lifelong dreams.

No lucrative television deals. No motorhome lots. No special moneymaking paint schemes. Just dreams.

That's as important as any race at Daytona, if you ask me.

alhdej8: 1) I don't see it significantly affecting the attendance levels at local short tracks. However, will local short track racing affect the coveted Nielsen ratings NASCAR is striving so hard to win? Maybe fans won't tune in when their local heroes are racing for the championship? 2) Fans love night races, but we love races on Sundays as well. Why not Sunday night racing? Put NASCAR up against the NFL and watch the sparks fly!

You'll get your wish next year, Al. The inaugural Labor Day weekend gig at California will run Sunday night in primetime. Eight o'clock eastern, baby.

What's that sound? Oh, sorry, that's just me, regurgitating.

DeaconDoug: I totally agree with more Saturday races in the fall once NFL starts. I for one would definitely watch more of the race if it was on Saturday than on Sunday afternoon when I want to watch football.

The Ultimate Fall Weekend -- Sleep in Saturday morning, NCAA football Saturday afternoon, NASCAR Saturday night, Worship the Lord Sunday morning, and NFL Sunday afternoon and night!

Not much time for household projects or working on the car though. :)

Can't argue with that in the least, Dougie Fresh. Throw in a cold ones and a grill full of chicken, and you're right, that is a perfect weekend. Congratulations on the whooping your Demon Deacons put on the Wolfpack. Well done.

UamazedME: If you think about it, every move NASCAR makes is about the money ... So it doesn't matter what we think. If the powers that be think moving a race to a night race will bring in more bucks they will.

Like for more viewers on TV or to put more butts in the seats by giving people more time to drive home after the race for work on Monday (a trip they might not normally make) They don't care what we think anyways!

No doubt, NASCAR is walking a thread-thin line between growing up and out-growing their britches. The sport's expansion over the past five years is unlike anyone imagined.

Here's hoping they continually grow bigger and better, while always remembering the little guy.

Marty's mailbag appears every Tuesday at 3 p.m. The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.