NASCAR shifts start times during Chase races

In the battle of NASCAR vs. the NFL, NASCAR has blinked.

NASCAR announced Thursday that the start times of certain Chase races will move from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern, presumably to avoid conflict with the kickoff of the first round of NFL games — and, depending on the length of the race, kickoff of the 4:15 p.m. games, too. 

Six races — Chicagoland, New Hampshire, Dover, Kansas (above), Talladega and Martinsville — will start at the new time. Texas, Phoenix and Homestead will begin at 3 p.m. The tenth race, Charlotte, is a Saturday night race. 

Still unknown are the start times for races during NASCAR's regular season. But if they're going to go for 2 p.m. during the Chase, it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to go with 2 p.m. during the rest of the year, as well. Consistency, consistency.

Of course, if there's no NFL this season because of the lockout, we'll have an extra hour of prerace festivities to sit through. Ah, well ... it's the price we'll have to pay for the nation's attention.

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