Has NASCAR Come Full Circle?
Posted Jun 20, 2010
GUS HAYNES
nascarfrontpage.com
After watching and reading all of the attendance issues for the last few months I got to thinking about when I first started going to NASCAR races.
Shouldn’t take long to figure out I’m no longer a spring chicken. And I’m using Atlanta and Talladega as my example as these were the closest most frequented tracks by my family, although the story could be about all of the tracks on the schedule.
In the early days of my involvement interstates were for the most part incomplete. The trip to Atlanta from Mississippi was 2 lanes all the way and showing up with a ticket was unheard of by most at the time. You bought at the window and went to a seat. Mind you this was 1969, and unless the Wide World of Sports decided to show some coverage or your local paper posted a small article being there was the only way to know what happened without waiting sometimes days for results.
The first time I saw Talladega I was in awe. How could they sell that many tickets I thought. Then come green flag time there was not an empty seat in the house. What really amazed me was in the mid seventies when I got to attend my first qualifying event was that ¾ of the seats were full for the time trials. It was that way for years until safety issues took the wind out of the sails of breaking records. But I’m more going to discuss race day here. I saw the growth in person from season to season for years. I, along with others, went to live events because that’s the only way to see them. TV coverage was spotty, newswires didn’t pick up the few articles that were written and the sport had yet to be taken seriously by most people outside of the southeast. Keep in mind most other parts of the country had multiple professional sports and had had them for years, NASCAR was the New York Yankees for those of us here in the south.
Logano doesn’t regret pit dust-up
Posted Jun 11, 2010
TERRY BLOUNT
ESPN.com
BROOKLYN, Mich. — If anyone was expecting to hear an apology from Joey Logano, it isn’t coming.
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20, still believes Kevin Harvick took a top-five finish away from him at Pocono last week.
“I don’t take nothing back,” Logano said Friday. “I’m a man of my word. I said what I said and that’s it.”
Logano confronted Kevin Harvick on pit road after a last-lap crash at Pocono on Sunday. Logano also made headlines with this quote involving DeLana Harvick, Kevin’s wife: “His wife wears the firesuit in the family and tells him what to do.”
The Harvicks laughed off that comment and put it to good use for charity. DeLana had T-shirts made that read: “I wear the firesuit in this family.”
Logano was asked what he thought of the T-shirts.
“It’s kind of agreeing with what I said, so I think it’s funny,” Logano said.
Logano still believes Harvick deliberately wrecked him when Harvick’s car made contact with Logano’s left-rear quarter panel.
NASCAR’s Ratings Dilemma
Posted Jun 03, 2010
JOHN HALL
nascarfrontpage.com
After years of growth, NASCAR is experiencing declining TV ratings and lower attendance on race day. There are several factors that contribute to this dilemma, not the least of which is a struggling economy. There is another glaring reason, however. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is not having the success many fans would love to see.
While Dale, Jr. has shown signs of improvement this season, he is still 16th in points, 4 spots out of the Chase. It seems he runs into bad luck every week. He cuts tires, has mechanical issues, or just plain gets shuffled back in the waning laps. It is not for lack of talent, as he has shown he is capable of winning at this level. Whatever the reason, NASCAR would benefit immensely if Earnhardt returned to the level of competing for the win week in and week out. People would surely tune in on a Sunday afternoon to see the excitement of their favorite driver consistently running up front and contending for the win.
So what is NASCAR to do? They can’t manipulate rules or do anything to give Earnhardt an advantage. In fact, they have to go out of their way to make sure they don’t make any rulings or decisions that could potentially benefit Earnhardt Jr. because such rulings are always viewed with skepticism by certain fans and even drivers. If the 88 is the first car a lap down and eligible for the lucky dog, any caution for debris better be for an object the size of the Dover Monster!
This presents quite a quandary for NASCAR. The one driver whose success can provide a ratings and attendance boost for the sport is the one driver who can’t be the recipient of any decision which could be viewed with any semblance of impropriety. Does NASCAR meet with Rick Hendrick to discuss the benefits of a successful Earnhardt? I’m sure Hendrick doesn’t need to be reminded that he is providing equipment to the most popular driver in the sport and most fans would love to see that equipment cross the finish line before anyone else’s.
Adding to the problem is who is actually winning the races while Earnhardt Jr. is struggling.
A Foreign Driver Needs To Win The Coca-Cola 600
Posted May 28, 2010
LEE BUCHANAN
NASCARFRONTPAGE.COM
Here’s hoping a foreign driver wins Sunday at Charlotte.
Before you question my status as a man, a Southerner and a NASCAR fan, let’s get my credentials out of the way: This writer is distilled from 100-proof North Carolina moonshining hillbilly stock.
I got hooked on stock-car racing at Hickory Speedway watching the likes of Harry Gant, Tommy Houston and Morgan Shepherd banging fenders on Saturday nights. I even spent a season running a middle-of-the-pack ’67 Chevy in the street-stock division there.
And now, 30-some years later, I find myself pulling for foreigners like Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose and Scott Speed. OK, so Speed is from California: He still seems more foreign to NASCAR than those other guys.
For the purposes of this article, “foreigner” is defined as any driver coming into NASCAR from another form of racing. So Sam Hornish, Ricky Carmichael, Nelson Piquet Jr., and Speed join the club of NASCAR outsiders.
And I pull for all of ‘em.
Why do I root for these interlopers over the sport’s beloved home-grown talent? Part of it is pure stubbornness—a tendency to run counter to prevailing sentiment. That’s why I pull for Jeff Gordon, just: because so many of you hate him (for no good reason that I can see).
But mostly, I’m proud of the fact that my sport has become the most popular, most successful form of motorsports. It attracts the most talented drivers in the world. It also spits most of them out with their inflated egos popped.
Fox, TV networks concerned about NASCAR’s loss of young, male viewers, continuing decline in ratings
Posted May 27, 2010
ERIC SPANBERG
SCENEDAILY.COM
David Hill worries about NASCAR losing young men.
Not on the track, but on sofas and bar stools. Hill, the top executive at Fox Sports, points to steep drops in young male viewers – the key audience for any major league sport – as a primary reason for NASCAR’s five-year ratings swoon since hitting historic highs in 2005.
“The biggest problem facing NASCAR is that the young males have left the sport,” he says. “And if I was NASCAR, and I was an owner (of a race team), it would be something that I would be burning the midnight oil on a nightly basis, worrying where they’ve gone and how do I get them back.”
With Fox closing out its 13-race portion of the NASCAR schedule on Sunday at the Coca-Cola 600, Hill sees cause for optimism, as well as caution flags.
Fox attracted an average of 8.3 million viewers per race in 2009, according to figures compiled by sister publication SportsBusiness Daily. This year, Fox will likely finish with an average hovering near 8 million viewers for each race, which, if it holds, would represent a slight decrease.
And, according to Fox, ratings among men 18-34 are down 29 percent from last year.
There are, as always, several caveats with the audience comparisons. The season-opening Daytona 500, the most popular race on the schedule, suffered this year because it faced direct competition from the Winter Olympics.
Races in Texas and Virginia were forced to run on Monday after rain delays.
Lower ratings mean lower ad rates and sales. That is simple math, Hill says.
Humpy Wheeler, a former speedway executive and current industry consultant, says the combination of falling attendance and TV ratings likely means NASCAR needs a shake-up.
Blaming the economy for NASCAR’s woes is a convenient but incomplete excuse, he says. Considering shorter races offers one possible solution, Wheeler says.
Furious Kyle Busch storms into teammate Denny Hamlin’s hauler after controversial wreck
Posted May 23, 2010
BOB POCKGRASS
SCENEDAILY.COM
CONCORD, N.C. – Kyle Busch was so mad at Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin that he wanted to talk to him right after he crashed out of the Sprint All-Star Race Saturday night.
The only problem was that Hamlin, whom Busch felt forced him into the wall with less than two laps remaining, was still on the track. So Busch drove his wrecked car to Hamlin’s hauler, parked it there, stormed inside and waited for Hamlin to finish the race.
“Somebody better keep me away from Denny Hamlin after this … race,’’ Busch screamed over his in-car radio after a flat tire caused him to crash on lap 98. “I swear to God, I’m going to kill that [expletive]. All his [expletive] fault. I had this race won! It was won!”
Hamlin, who finished fourth, walked into his hauler and talked for about 20 minutes with Busch and team owner Joe Gibbs. Busch left the track without comment, leaving Hamlin and Gibbs to describe what happened.
“That’s Kyle in the moment,” Hamlin said. “He’s said worst things about me, I’m sure, at other times. I told him that my job as the leader is to do everything I can to win that race. This race, in specific, is a much different beast than what a points race is.
“I think he understands that now.”
Gibbs said he wasn’t worried about the harsh words from Busch immediately after the incident.
Gordon: NASCAR’s New Hero
Posted Apr 28, 2010
LEE BUCHANAN
NASCARFRONTPAGE.COM
It was bound to happen.
Jeff Gordon, the former Wonder Boy so reviled for so long by so much of NASCAR fandom, is emerging as its new hero, reborn as an underdog stepping up to challenge the new king.
The simmering rivalry between Gordon and Jimmie Johnson has become the most compelling storyline of the season.
Just when fans were clamoring for someone to start playing hardball with Johnson (where have you gone, Dale Sr.?), they have found an unlikely hero in the driver they’ve spent so many years hating.
A colleague of mine describes his mother as the county’s biggest Gordon hater. But after Texas, when Gordon’s dominant performance again ended in disappointment, mom actually felt sorry for him.
And when Johnson pulled in front of a fast-closing Gordon and triggered the wreck that took out the #24 at Talladega? Don’t get her started.
Admit it: Some of you longtime Gordon-haters find yourselves pulling for him these days.
What’s NASCAR to do about Talladega?
Posted Apr 28, 2010
MARK DeCOTIS
FLORIDATODAY.COM
Aghast at the toll measured in torn-up race cars, due in a large part to the first-time three attempts at a green-white-checkered flag finish, drivers are once again bemoaning what passes for racing at NASCAR’s biggest and fastest track.
NASCAR, in playing to its fans much like the Romans did to the bloodthirsty hordes at the Coliseum, is partly to blame for devising the dumb three attempts at a green flag finish rule. But in these times of flagging interest – there were acres of empty seats on Sunday – NASCAR has to do something to fan the flames.
Unfortunately, it’s the bodies of the drivers and the budgets of the race teams that are most likely to get burned. Fortunately on Sunday only the remains of the budgets lay scattered along the glass-smooth 2.66-mile surface, something that raises two issues.
Daytona to be Repaved After Coke Zero 400
Posted Apr 24, 2010
daytonainternationalspeedway.com
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For only the second time in its history, Daytona International Speedway will be repaved following the Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola in July, track President Robin Braig announced.
“This is a historic moment for NASCAR’s most storied race track — Daytona International Speedway,” Braig said. “Daytona was originally repaved in 1978 and the time has come again to put new asphalt on this legendary race track.”
Since the conclusion of the 52nd annual Daytona 500 in February, International Speedway Corporation’s team of engineers and asphalt specialists have conducted a thorough evaluation of the entire track, and upon completion of that analysis, the results were delivered to the ISC Board of Directors where the decision was made to repave the race track following the 2010 Coke Zero 400.
Daytona International Speedway’s entire 2.5-mile tri-oval will be repaved as well as the skid pads, apron and pit road. Concrete will be used for the pit stalls. All of the existing asphalt will be removed down to the original 52-year-old lime rock base, which will be leveled and then paving will begin.
The repaving of Daytona International Speedway will remain true to Bill France Sr.’s original vision, layout and geometry of the track that was constructed in the late 1950s.
Pocono 500 Gets New Name, Sponsor
Posted Apr 24, 2010
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONG POND, Pa. (AP)—Pocono Raceway will have corporate sponsorship for its June Cup race for the first time since 1996.
Pocono’s June 6 race will be called the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 Presented by Target. Pocono’s June race had been called the Pocono 500 since 1997.
“The time was right,” track president Brandon Igdalsky said. “We’ve been looking for quality sponsors. I thought it was time to find another one for the June event.”
Pocono has had the Red Cross and Sunoco help sponsor a second race at Pocono in July called the Pennsylvania 500.
Track owner Joseph Mattioli said last year that Pocono didn’t have sponsorship because he didn’t need the money.
“I don’t need the money and if you don’t need the money, what the hell is the sense of sponsorship?” Mattioli said last June. “We call all the shots. All the VIP’s on race day are our people, not the sponsor’s people.”
