Smack: Pettys make news and Pocono was a snooze (cont'd)

2. The heat was on at Pocono -- and not just because of the temperature. The event took four hours to complete, leading some to call for race distances to be reduced. What's the fascination with 500 miles, anyway?

David Caraviello: Every race wants to be a 500-miler for the same reason every golf tournament wants to call itself a "classic." It lends a certain amount of credibility -- even if you have to fall asleep for an hour to get through it.

Raygan Swan: In my opinion, two-500 miles races at the same track is overkill. Now Daytona, that should always be 500 miles for historical reasons, but I think NASCAR needs to reevaluate the length at some tracks.

Mark Aumann: You know, I've looked at this from both sides of the argument. It used to be that fans had the patience to sit through a 500-mile race. But we've become a society of "instant gratification" and it's really hard to sit through a four-hour race now. I find my attention being diverted at times.

TNT Summer Series

Date	Race	Time
June 8	Pocono	12:30 p.m. ET
June 15	Michigan	12:30 p.m. ET
June 22	Infineon	3:30 p.m. ET
June 29	N. Hampshire	12:30 p.m. ET
July 5	Daytona	6:30 p.m. ET
July 12	Chicagoland	6:30 p.m. ET

• TNT Summer Series

Raygan Swan: Right Mark, they cut back Dover from 500 to 400 and that track is popular with the fans and drivers.

David Caraviello: I understand that NASCAR and its TV partners want a huge chunk of time in which to sell ads. I understand that these events are supposed to test the resilience of man and machine. But these races are too freaking long. An hour after a race starts, you can turn the channel and find another event that will be over before the NASCAR race ends. When every week is a marathon, it's numbing.

Raygan Swan: Jeff Burton said 500 miles at a track is somewhat of a status symbol but the quality of the racing should be considered first and foremost.

David Caraviello: And the quality of the racing suffers when every event takes four hours to complete. These races would be much more compelling if they were shorter, forcing people to get to the front and exercise strategy sooner.

Mark Aumann: Well, for instance, my wife and I were in Atlanta on Sunday afternoon -- and I tuned into the race just at the point when Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti crashed. That was with 60 laps remaining. We drove two hours and got home before the race ended.

Raygan Swan: To be honest, in the media center, long races let me get caught up on my writing, wink wink.

David Caraviello: Raygan! You're not supposed to tell people that!

Raygan Swan: I promise I won't do it in Daytona.

Mark Aumann: Raygan, you're usually busy looking for the vegetable tray by Lap 50.

Raygan Swan: Yeah well, my ADD flares up around Lap 100 anyway.

Mark Aumann: And complaining about the mess in the unisex bathroom by Lap 110.

Raygan Swan: Hey, it was brutal.

David Caraviello: At Daytona, 500 miles is fine. At Charlotte, 600 is fine. At a few others, 500 is acceptable. Everywhere else: 300s and 400s -- more of the former than the latter. F1 races take two hours, and they're not losing any fans or sponsors because of it.

Raygan Swan: I agree, and Pocono should consider a cut in at least at one of the events.

Mark Aumann: Richmond is almost perfect. So is Infineon. Package the race in a three-hour window. It keeps the excitement -- and the attention span -- focused.

Raygan Swan: The truck races in my opinion are perfect because the racing is intense for nearly the entire time. They can't afford to ride around and then go race with 30 laps to go.

Mark Aumann: It's funny, but I always found the Firecracker 400 to be the better race at Daytona, just because there's less "follow the leader" time. Still, if you're a fan and are paying big bucks to sit in the stands, you want all the racing you can get. Especially if the ticket costs the same for 100 fewer miles.

Raygan Swan: True, and the Pocono fans have to sit through miles and miles of gnarly traffic, so surely they want miles and miles of racing once they get in. (Continued)