BRISTOL, Tenn. – NASCAR is trending shorter. It’s not altogether a bad thing.

            It’s not a no-brainer, either.

            Next year, when a race moves from Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., to Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., that spot on the schedule will be thus reduced from 500 to 400 miles. When another moves from Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., to Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, it will also reflect a reduction from 500 to 400 miles. A race at Phoenix is being restored to its earlier, shorter 312-mile distance.

            A common complaint nowadays is that races are too long. Some fans write that they watch only the final half hour of races on TV. It seems odd to hear stock car races described in a manner heretofore associated most often with professional basketball games.

            Picasso painted few pictures framed as elegantly as Burton routinely frames an issue facing NASCAR.

            Surely, the fan deserves, in general, to get what he or she wants. But the sport mustn’t be compromised in the process. Crashes generate excitement, but no one thinks they should be mandatory. (Well, almost no one.)

            The Sprint Cup Series is supposed to be NASCAR’s sternest test. The races are generally much longer than in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series. Sometimes a driver flashes brilliance in the lower series, only to struggle in Cup. Some drivers never adapt to longer races. Cup requires endurance, not just skill.

“The ones that are too long need to be shorter,” said Burton. ‘Every race doesn't need to be shorter. … I think that that we need to have a 600-mile race (Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Coca-Cola 600), but we don't need to have all 600-mile races. We don't need to have all 500-mile races.

“Pocono would be a better event if it was shorter. I just think it would be a better race. But I don't think New Hampshire would be a better race if it was shorter. It really depends on the race track. … What separates the Cup guys is the fact that they can put it on edge for three hours; for three and a half or four hours versus an hour and forty-five minutes. That's a major difference. You see it when really, really good race-car drivers come into this series, and you see them struggle with that. There's an art to it and it's really what separates it.”

            Burton has competed successfully at NASCAR’s top level for 17 seasons. He has 21 victories, 234 top-10 finishes and career earnings of more than $71 million. He is understandably reluctant to give up what sets him apart.

“The ability to operate at 99 percent is an ability a lot of people have,’ he said. “Very few people have the ability to do it for four hours.

“The fact that you have to do it more times in a 500-mile race than a 200-mile race is what separates the best.”

You may contact Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.