2010 NASCAR running thread

Didn't see the end of the race yesterday, but was the debris caution near the end legitimate or was it the standard NASCAR creation to keep Montoya from running away with it?

 

I didn't see the debris, but I think they were trying to show a piece on the monitor.

It was timed like the standard NASCAR "let's jumble up the field and spice up this boring race" caution, though.

 

A very good analysis. Of course, it also confirms my own bias as to why the NASCAR-IndyCar divide became so stark. It wasn't because the open-wheel split, though that didn't help. It's because NASCAR had Jeff Gordon, and IndyCar didn't.

Also, you have to wonder if NASCAR crowds are lower because of corporate cutbacks. No telling how many sponsors and corporations bought tickets before, and have stopped buying them. That's an issue for just about any event, sports or not, that sells tickets.

 

Very well stated. It amazes me how many open-wheel fans blame the split (and by association Tony George) as the sole reason for the sport's decline. Obviously the split didn't help matters -- Paul Tracy brings in far more fans than Dr. Jack Miller -- but the decline was already well under way. Had there been no split, would anyone have given Tony Stewart a chance at the Indy 500? Based on what happened with Jeff Gordon, I'd say no.
As for NASCAR, to build on your comments about the gimmicks, I can't help but wonder how many longtime fans have stopped watching/attending NASCAR races because of those and because of tradition being thrown aside.
Then again, if Jr. had won the 2004 title and continued to roll from there, maybe we wouldn't be having this discussion.

 

It was legit. Something in Turn 3, I think.

 

NASCAR doesn't need Danica. It needs Burt Myers. There are too many non-driving good-looking corporate shills from the West Coast in the sport already, and that's what's killing it.

The neo-redneck chic craze is dying down hopefully. NASCAR will maybe soon realize it's driven off those of us that were around prior to Days of Thunder, but those are the fans it needs. Brian France has abandoned the Southeastern soul of the sport for glitz and bright lights. He's beginning to reap what he's sown.

 

NASCAR has two choices when it comes to dealing with the pop of its bubble -- and it had a casual-fan bubble.

1. It can try to regain its glory by rejiggering its car, schedule, driver marketing, etc., as it pursues the kind of non-Southeast fans that made NASCAR, for a time, a national sensation.

2. It can repurpose itself as a mostly Southeastern series, shed tracks where attendance is hurting, get back to its roots, and appeal to a base that is smaller but more loyal.

Leagues and sponsors never choose option No. 2.

 

Bob, those ads are now selling the Indy car weekend, unless they're running the NASCAR weekend ads by accident. With the Track Pack separated, the Indy car weekend stands on its own. That made for a small crowd at Kansas. Chicagoland has had some of the best races in open wheel history, but will anyone care?

 

Another point to take into consideration is there is too much NASCAR on TV now. Back in the 80s and 90s, you had the race and one wrap up show like RPM2night in the evening. And if you missed that, you were screwed. You couldn't catch up until next week. Now you are drowned with too much TV coverage. Trackside, WindTunnel, Victory Lane, Nascar Now, Hot Wired, NASCAR in a Hurry, NASCAR Raceday, Inside NASCAR, etc. As a fan of over 25 years, I can tell you now I don't watch it as much because we know all the drivers and we have seen them interviewed about the same shit 100 times and the same questions. So it's not important to watch or attend the races anymore cause you are going to get 100 different analysis on the race and plenty of race replays. Also they have abandoned their fan base. Sun Drop 400 at Hickory on Easter weekend, Textilease 300 at South Boston, Budweiser Carolina Pride 250 at Myrtle Beach Speedway, Roses 300 at Rougemont, ACDelco 200 at Rockingham, Music City 320 at Nashville Speedway USA....those are the tracks race fans would get excited about that would make it bearable enough to sit through the cookie cutter stuff. Now all those short tracks are gone and so has NASCAR's identity.

 

Your general idea that fans are burned out from too much too often, I agree 100 percent with. But TV ratings for the races themselves are down severely over the last three years, and most of the ancillary programming doesn't draw flies.

 

I've said it before here, but NASCAR is dangerously going the same route as the NHL.

P!$$ off your core fanbase trying to reach marginal fans who might pay attention briefly while it's the flavor of the month, but won't stick around when their favorite team goes bad/favorite driver retires, their friends start discussing something else, or they have kids that start their own stuff.

Meanwhile, the core fans have been alienated and it takes extra work to get them back ... but you're too busy trying to sell the sport to marginal fans and you take the core for granted, and you just keep taking, taking and taking some more from them. Witness the push in Canada to get a 7th NHL team -- it's become a national obsession ... all while the NHL tries to prop up bad teams in bad markets to "grow the game."

It's the same as NASCAR trying to fly in Chicago while it turns its back on the South. North Wilkesboro closing was survivable. But what I thought might have been the last straws were the closing of Rockingham combined with taking the Southern 500 and giving it to California for "TV purposes," only to find nobody watched -- or went to -- California, and now another nondescript night race at a nondescript 1.5-miler takes that date.