This year NASCAR will stop the running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway following the completion of the second stage for a 30-second moment of remembrance.
I hate this idea.
Charlotte officials first did this in 2009 when the Coca-Cola 600 was run on Memorial Day due to rain the previous day. At 3 p.m. Eastern on Memorial Day there is a National Moment of Remembrance where people are asked to pause for a moment.
The race is run on Sunday.
Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC, will host the Coca-Cola 600 on May 26 – the Sunday before Memorial Day.
Track officials asked NASCAR to bring back the moment of silence.
Let me be as clear as I can be. I once served in the Air Force, I have American shorts and will do my best to celebrate the holiday but I hate this idea. NASCAR, a sport filled with gimmicks is now again adding another. Remember already the cars are running with special Goodyear tires to honor the troops, drivers will race with fallen military personnel names on their cars, and their will be several American themed cars in the race.
The time between stages in NASCAR is already too long. A red flag stoppage is never just 30 seconds – remember you have to bring the cars down pit road, stop, turn off the engines, have the moment, refire, and drive back onto the track. Worse is after this cars will then have to come back down pitroad for scheduled pitstops between segments.
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz. I love America. I cover NASCAR but I dislike this idea.
My question is, with all the other things Charlotte Motor Speedway is doing for Memorial Day why is this even needed? It’s unauthentic. Had Charlotte Motor Speedway and NASCAR simply did it without making a big pr splash about it I would have been onboard.
