The 2021 Running NASCAR/IMSA/other racing things thread

NCAA Championship
NBA Titles
Olympic Gold
Big Rock Tournament
NASCAR

 

I hate rain-delayed races as much as the next guy, but I think Bubba should have had to earn his first win at Talladega on the track like great champions Bobby Hamilton, David Ragan, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Lennie Pond, Jimmy Spencer, Bobby Hillin Jr., Brian Vickers and Aric Almirola.

 

Man, watching the sparse "crowd" at the Roval today and wondering how Marcus Smith is going to afford some of this stuff when the next TV contract comes due. The only thing that's kept many of the tracks in the black is TV money because the attendance has cratered.

I know NASCAR announced another new Cup team this week, but I keep looking at the ROI and the dollars don't add up. The list of people on this planet dumber than TV sports execs is pretty short, but I just can't imagine the dudes in the corner offices at FOX/NBC looking at their ratings and wondering where the money went.

ESPN has been burned twice and CBS has been happy without racing for quite some time. Turner now has hockey. Is there really a streaming audience for NASCAR?

 

I thought the same thing about the crowd today. I mean, in Charlotte. Yikes.

That said, I think I like the Roval. Is that dumb? (And I hope Chase gets close to Harvick just to see what will happen.)

 

We saw what happened. And then we saw what happened when Harvick found out Elliott was somewhere back behind him in the late stages of the race.

 

There's a reason why some of his detractors call him "Kevin Hard Wreck."

 

Granted it was the Buschfinwide race, but the crowd there yesterday was nonexistent. Road America was a good add, but do we really need all these road courses? I know Daytona was a late swap because of COVID. I’d be happy with four road course races a year: Watkins Glen, Sears Point, Road America and Indy or the Roval.

I’m curious about how the Busch race in Portland will go.

 

I doubt it was significant, but could the second dates at Darlington and Atlanta hurt Charlotte attendance?

 

No. Both those tracks had two dates when you couldn’t print enough tickets or install enough seats.

 

Back before NASCAR fully blew off the fans who filled those seats.