NASCAR Exec VP & Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell recently discussed some of the "most pertinent competition issues facing the sport" including parity and possible midweek races, according to Bob Pockrass of ESPN.com. O'Donnell said of whether parity is good for NASCAR, "More organizations having at least a chance to go out there and compete -- you're seeing that this year with some different winners. That's certainly an angle we want to see as we go forward." O'Donnell said the decision to qualify and race the same day at a handful of tracks later this year in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was to "create a unique weekend at each venue." O'Donnell: "A lot of it this year is to experiment a little bit, get some feedback from the fans. Ultimately, this is, how do we partner with the tracks and our TV partners to have the best and biggest impact we can during any given race weekend?" He said of potentially hosting a road course race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, "For us to consider it, obviously, we'd want the ability for our cars to be able to pass and put on a great race. ... The next steps for us would be able to put a test out there with multiple cars in the true track configuration and see what we have." When asked about the possibility of midweek races, O'Donnell said they "want to explore what's the best schedule overall." He added, "If that happens to be looking at a midweek race, it is certainly something we would do. It's been brought up by our television partners, but it's just been, 'Hey, let's have an initial discussion.' So by no means are we there yet." He said, "It would have to be the right market and make sense for everybody involved" (ESPN.com, 4/11).
