Instant Replay? It Could Work...

Jimmie Johnson on Wednesday called for instant replay for NASCAR races, saying it was better to let the race play out as intended that come back and fix stuff after the fact.

He has a point, given all that went on Saturday at Richmond.

But how would it work, and how can it be implemented before the green flag at Chicagoland?

Depending on the process, it could work just like it does now in other sports. Have a replay tech standing by with relevant video/audio, step over to the screen, review and make a call. NASCAR would need to revamp its tower crew, add people in other areas and a few other things, but it is doable. With the explosion in technology, it could do it easily.

Whether it will or not remains to be seen. There's a certain comfort in being the ultimate voice on race calls, and NASCAR has had it that way since the beginning. Also, you're looking at downtime on the track, with the cars under red flag conditions. While it is good in one way, it's bad in others. Too much time spent not racing is a factor, and too many variables is another.

Restarts would be fairly simple, as there's a solid measuring stick. Intent, and deeper plans/actions like at RIR would take longer.

On the other hand, you wouldn't have to break away from the race to show commercials if there was a 10-minute stoppage, either.

As for it happening this weekend, I'd have to say no way, never. Too hard to set up on the fly, let alone develop a process.

Still, it was refreshing to have a five-time series champion put it out there the way he did. We'll see what NASCAR says about all this shortly, because that's a shot across its bow.

Stay tuned...