Unless racing fans are following a series in-person to every track, they have the luxury of not considering their favorite championship’s week-to-week logistics. NASCAR offered a glimpse behind the curtain by livestreaming a cross-country drive of one of its haulers earlier this week. Please understand that by glimpse I mean sitting up against a windshield for two days.
The NASCAR Cup Series wrapped up its annual visit to Sonoma Raceway in California’s Wine Country last weekend. Next weekend, the series heads to Dover Motor Speedway in Delaware, necessitating a nearly 2,900-mile drive. Unlike Formula 1, every event for stock car racing’s most prestigious championship happens in North America. The sanctioning body ships its equipment using a dedicated fleet of Mack tractor-trailers. When NASCAR announced an extension to its exclusive deal with Mack Trucks in 2020, the organization claimed that it covered approximately 450,000 miles every season with Mack-built vehicles. One can only imagine how astronomical the costs would be if NASCAR were to shift to air freight to cover the West Coast portion of its 36-race schedule. For comparison, Formula 1 utilizes a fleet of six Boeing 747 freighters for both the championship organizers and all participating teams.
NASCAR experience some technical difficulties
The drive itself isn’t quite digital yule log material. The livestream operated relatively smoothly during the nighttime section of the drive. However, things took a turn once the Sun rose above the horizon. It doesn’t take an astrophysics degree to know that the Sun rises in the east, which complicates things when the hauler is rolling eastbound on highways from California to Delaware. Driving directly into the Sun blew out the image being broadcast to viewers. The camera’s exposure was lowered to compensate, but it didn’t help the video’s quality at all.
It’s clear that NASCAR is experimenting with ways to engage its loyal legion of fans. The moderator interacting with the YouTube live chat stated that the online broadcast was a test run. Hopefully, NASCAR staff can make improvements and do another livestreamed hauler drive like this in the future. Whether across the globe or within a country, organizing a racing championship is a monumental effort that should be showcased to fans, even if it’s just background material on a TV screen during a workday.
