Denny Hamlin misses the mark with comment about NASCAR race lengths

It's been difficult for Denny Hamlin to not win as of late, but a comment he made Tuesday regarding the length of NASCAR races missed the mark. 

Hamlin, who won Sunday's Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, said the latest episode of "Actions Detrimental" that Nashville's annual Cup Series race should be shortened to 300 miles. He later doubled down on his take in a reply to a fan on X.

"4 hours of racing is too long," Hamlin said. "4 hours of anything is too long. Stages are needed for TV."

Hamlin's viewpoint is understandable. Sunday's race lasted for nearly three hours and 45 minutes, and compared to Formula 1 and IndyCar, NASCAR races are usually longer. 

NASCAR shouldn't shorten races

However, long, grueling races have always been a cornerstone of NASCAR. Races at Dover and Pocono that are now 400 miles used to be 500, as was the case at Texas Motor Speedway. Both Atlanta races are also down to 400 miles from their original 500-mile length, while the spring race at Martinsville runs only 400 laps compared to its prior 500. 

And while Hamlin contends that stages are needed for television purposes, they've been around for less than a decade. Natural cautions — and hence, the opportunity for TV partners to run their all-important advertisements — are still around. With side-by-side ads becoming more commonplace among NASCAR's TV partners during green-flag racing, stage breaks aren't imperative for the sake of appeasing NASCAR's television partners. 

But perhaps the biggest reason why NASCAR shouldn't feel the need to reduce the length of its races is the overall decrease in on-track activity throughout a race weekend. Cup Series drivers today only receive about 25 minutes of practice each week. Even split into two groups, that's roughly only 50 minutes of practice on a Saturday for fans to consume. Aside from one or two laps of qualifying following practice, that's all of the on-track activity available during a Cup Series weekend.

For fans at home and especially those who paid money to be at the racetrack, that's peanuts compared to what used to be a vast weekend schedule that consisted of two or three practice sessions and up to or over three hours of practice every weekend. 

The opportunities for storylines lessen, as does the value for fans who come out to the track on Friday and Saturday. While there may also be ARCA Menards Series, Craftsman Truck Series or O'Reilly Auto Parts Series action, the Cup Series is, of course, the main attraction. And there simply isn't enough of it to justify shortening races. 

While it's true that Formula 1, which features a hard two-hour time limit for races that usually take around an hour-and-a-half to complete, has exploded in popularity with younger viewers, NASCAR spent too much time chasing stick and ball sports trying to be something it isn't. It shouldn't be led to make the same mistake again and take away more action from fans who are already starved for it.