In my house on Sunday, we don't watch football. We have NASCAR and snacks. And arguments over cautions, and bets on who is going to win. My house has been like that since I was a child, and I wouldn't want to have it any other way.

Growing up a fan of NASCAR and being around the track in my adolescence, NASCAR was a three hour bonding experience with my family. We would sit down and watch big races together, and get excited about the snacks, and being together for that whole afternoon. When my family were going to races, it was experiences that I would never take for granted of. I wanted my children to experience the race track like I got to, but sadly NASCAR is changing with the new times.

NASCAR announced a new system where instead of one long steady streak of racing, there breaking the race down to three stages where winning is crucial, and then the top 10 finishers of each "stage" gets points to move on to the playoffs. Oh and if your a NASCAR fan reading this, yes it is called the "playoffs", not the "Chase" anymore. To me, this seems like it will shorten the races each season. It's a way of making the drivers that don't perform feel like they can have more chances to succeed. This takes away what NASCAR was, what NASCAR started off as, and the prime of NASCAR. NASCAR and racing used to be just one long race filled with excitement, and cautions and wrecks. This stage format doesn't even really make sense to me. NASCAR isn't a sport that needs "quarters" so to say so another team can try to catch up. NASCAR was one straight start to finish sport, and that's how it always should be.

NASCAR has changed everything from names of races, like the Bud Shootout, to the Sprint Unlimited, now called Advanced Auto Parts Clash, which was the race before the Daytona 500, there's no trailers to buy shirts and gear at tracks, now it's a mall like experience.

NASCAR, you will always bee a love of mine, but still keep some of your roots. Too much change is driving the sport away from the finish line for some fans.