As New Schedule Raises Eyebrows, Bob Pockrass Avoids NASCAR Insider’s “Championship-Worthy” Question

2023 has been a very eventful season for the NASCAR world. The Golden Boy of Hendrick Motorsports got ousted from playoff contention. Spire Motorsports broke all records to make a $40 million purchase from Live Fast Racing. NASCAR removed stage cautions on road courses and brought back the same at the Charlotte Roval, to name a few. On that note, a pertinent question has been lurking around the minds of every NASCAR fan for quite some time now.

The wait is over as NASCAR has finally revealed the 2024 track line-up for its three top-tier racing series. While some are happy to have the changes in the schedule, others have voiced out opinions to the contrary, but not without reason. The crew of the Door Bumper Clear podcast invited veteran journalist Bob Pockrass to their show and sat down to debate their views about the newest lineup.

Bob Pockrass picks his favorite for hosting the Championship 4 race next year

While there are significant changes in the schedule for the upcoming season, one thing remains the same—the round-of-eight battle. The familiar tracks of Las Vegas, Homestead Miami, and Martinsville will host the penultimate round of the titular championship battle. However, the DBC crew wasn’t very happy about it as they sided with Bob Pockrass’s top pick.

Bubba Wallace’s spotter Freddie Kraft asked Pockrass to pick the tracks in the current schedule that he felt were not “Championship worthy.” Pockrass tried avoiding the question and said, “I wouldn’t have your championships at Daytona or Atlanta.” However, Brett Griffin wasn’t taking that for an answer.

Griffin said, “If we were gonna have a lottery, if we had little balls in a big bowl, we’re going to spin them around, what little ball doesn’t deserve to be [in the Championship]?” To Pockrass’s relief, Freddie took charge of answering Brett’s question and stated blatantly that all he cared about was the Championship 4 race to be on a 1.5-mile-long track. Kraft continued, “I don’t care which one. Just a mile-and-a-half-track. That’s what’s producing our best racing right now.”

Pockrass finally opened up, exclaiming, “It should be at a track where you don’t go to at all during the year. Isn’t that what made Homestead so good at times?” Everyone on the grid agreed. Kraft, too, did. He said, “Homestead should be the place, but at the same time, you are giving an advantage to guys like Larson and Reddick who can just get on the wall and run the wall better than everyone else.”

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Brad Keselowski’s veteran spotter, TJ Majors, argued that no matter what track NASCAR goes to, somebody would have an advantage because everyone had different driving traits and characteristics. Again, everyone agreed.

The new schedule brings forth an array of changes

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Perhaps what would appear on the highlights of the 2024 schedule is the comeback of Iowa Speedway on June 16th for the first time since 1952. But that’s not all; next year’s round of 16s will take place a week later than usual.

What’s more; the postseason starts off with Atlanta Motor Speedway and the road course of Watkins Glen makes its way from being a seasonal race into the playoff rumble. Interestingly, Watkins Glen replaces Texas Motor Speedway, which according to Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s senior vice president of racing development and strategy, will “shake up the playoff schedule a bit”.

Moreover, the regular season comes to an end with the crown-jewel race of Southern 500 at the track that is “too tough to tame,” bringing Daytona’s second race of the year back to the penultimate seasonal race.

According to NASCAR, Kennedy said, “We’ve had kind of status quo the past few years, and I know we shook it up a ton three or four years ago,” Kennedy said. “I think the diversity that we have and types of tracks in that first round is going to be fun to watch.”

What are your thoughts on NASCAR’s 2024 schedule? Which track would you wish to be included? Let us know in the comments.

Read more: Should NASCAR Continue Running on Road Courses or Limit Itself to Oval Layouts?