In recent months, a number of young drivers have publicly stated that they don't see themselves driving stock cars into their mid to late 40's like today's veterans. In fact, Jeff Gordon, still in his prime at age 33, has been vocal about the toll that the Elite series schedule takes on drivers. At the end of last season, a weary Gordon was clearly looking forward to a few months off: "The intensity has increased to where it's greater than it's ever been before," Gordon said. "The pressure is unreal. The way I feel right now, I can't wait to get out of this race suit, get away from this race track, and not see another one for a few more months."

One proposal is simply to eliminate the off-weekends during the regular season schedule. While other professional sports rarely, if ever, take an entire weekend off during the regular season, the Nextel Cup Series does so at least three times.

In 2005, just two races will be run - February 20 at Daytona and February 27 at California - before the first weekend off; another two races take place on March 13 and March 20, and then there is another weekend off. The third weekend off occurs in the end of July.

I find these off-weekends - particularly the two in the March - completely counterintuitive from a business perspective.

NASCAR wants to be competitive with other major sports in terms of viewing audience and market share. A lot of momentum gathers during Speed Weeks and the Daytona 500 weekend, and it carries over to a West Coast audience the following weekend in California. Rather than continuing to build to a climax, the mounting enthusiasm is dropped like a hot potato just three races into the new season.

It's like going from 0 to 100 in 5 seconds flat and then slamming on the brakes.

Eliminating the three off-weekends would extend NASCAR's off-season to about 2-1/2 months, closer to those of other professional sports. It might make it tougher on the teams during the regular season, but it would also allow them more time to recharge their batteries during the off-season.

On the other hand, there are apparently a number of drivers who don't need a longer respite: "It's crazy," said Jamie McMurray last week at Daytona testing, "but the last Friday of the week after Homestead, I was all ready to go back to the track. Even though you want a break, you don't want that long of a break. It's time to get going again."

Matt Kenseth is also spending part of his off-season on the track as a member of a four-driver team entered in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona road race. Kenseth explained, "Our off-season is short, but it was our choice to do this race. We didn't have to do this race, we wanted to do it."

Kenseth's Rolex teammate and 2004 Nextel Cup Champion Kurt Busch agreed: "I guess it does take away from our off-season, but again, we're professional racers. We love to be in race cars."

Other Cup drivers entered in off-season races include Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Ken Schraeder, Casey Mears, Jamie McMurray, Bobby Labonte and Terry Labonte. Jeff Gordon was scheduled to compete in the Race of Champions in early December, but withdrew due to illness.

Should the NASCAR season be shorter?

As someone who glances at the 2005 Bud Shootout Countdown Clock at least once a day, my answer is a resounding "no!"

But I have a suspicion that as NASCAR continues to align itself with other professional sports, a shorter season may be looming in the near future.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN. Although we may not always agree with what is said, we do feel it's our duty to give a voice to those who have something relevant to say about the sport of auto racing.