NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship

[AutoSmith]

Check out Redline Review's coverage of last Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Race, held at Phoenix Int'l Raceway right here: http://redlinereview.com/articles/ra...print-cup.html.

[Don]

TV viewing was down 14% from last year, 1.8 million watching this past Sunday

For 2011 ,programming for TV needs some attention.........

[Bill Bess]

Dopy coverage on TV, too many commercials, camera coverage poor...not following enough racing and commentators all over the place....I like FOX.
Still liked it though, my Carl won, the Chase is really on, and very competitive to the end.

[Bob In Ct]

NASCAR racing is the WWE of motorsports. This organization has always had a bias toward GM. It wasn't that many years ago that they blew-up Swerving Ernie's car on a dyno and took the championship away from Mark Martin for a non-infraction.

Bob

[Don]

The decreasing attendance at the tracks can , maybe, be partially explained due to economic conditions. Decline in TV viewing is a message that NASCAR needs to listen to.

Including should be a critical critique of the commentators and pre race shows. Accept that the drivers need to mention their sponsors , no choice as without the paying sponsors, no racing. But when the commentators falsely interject a sponsor ....ugh

Debris on the track yellow flags......wish the controversy is settled by requiring the debris to be shown on TV and at the race track screens.

On the positive side, give NASCAR credit for including the military personnel at no cost to them, at the races. My understanding, the flyovers are at no additional cost, flight time is part of the mandatory allocation of training hours, correct or ?

[lloyds1]

They need to make the cars more diverse and interesting and add more road courses imo.

[Nor Cal Al]

Not a lot of races on Network TV this year. Those of that don't have cable are left out of NASCAR. Their loss.
Al

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by Don

The decreasing attendance at the tracks can , maybe, be partially explained due to economic conditions. Decline in TV viewing is a message that NASCAR needs to listen to.

Including should be a critical critique of the commentators and pre race shows. Accept that the drivers need to mention their sponsors , no choice as without the paying sponsors, no racing. But when the commentators falsely interject a sponsor ....ugh

Debris on the track yellow flags......wish the controversy is settled by requiring the debris to be shown on TV and at the race track screens.

On the positive side, give NASCAR credit for including the military personnel at no cost to them, at the races. My understanding, the flyovers are at no additional cost, flight time is part of the mandatory allocation of training hours, correct or ?

Yep, ever since I can remember, seems they were partial to the GM cars, Dale Sr. could do anything he wanted on the track but if someone else tried the same thing, they were fined/sactioned!!!!!!!

I used to go to 5 or 6 NASCAR races a year, haven't been to one in at least 10 years and don't miss not being there, way too much BS for me nowadays....Can't stand half the commentators, especially Darrell Waltrip, he should just come out at the beginning of each race and say he's for Dale Jr. and any of his brother's drivers....You saw what he did and said after he WAS NOT inducted in the Hall Of Fame????? he's an a$$hole.........

Debris cautions???? yep, if the wrong guy is leading or someone is running away with it, you can bet in the last 20 or so laps there'll be a "debris caution", it's not even funny anymore....

Economics: call and make reservations at any nearby hotel for a NASCAR race, first thing they ask, is it race weekend, yes, then the rates are doubled the normal rate!!!!!!!!!!!! been there, done that, got screwed over too many times.......

Nowadays, after I eat lunch, I watch the first 20 or so laps, fall asleep on my recliner and wake up with about 50 to go, works out perfect for me............

I like Dave Despain on Wind Tunnel, he pulls no punches.......

David

[Bob In Ct]

Remember, Dave Despain's show is on SPEED, and SPEED is owned by NASCAR (I think).

Bob

[mdmull]

Originally Posted by Bob In Ct

Remember, Dave Despain's show is on SPEED, and SPEED is owned by NASCAR.

Bob

I believe that Newscorp owns Speed

[Don]

Regarding road courses, the 10 Chase races do not have a road course @ either CA or Watkins Glen , worth considering to increase the TV viewing. Probably would not impact track attendance as most if not all of the circle tracks have larger capacity for seating/viewing

[Don]

Doubt the 20% decline in TV viewing for the Chase was due to switching from ABC to ESPN. Especially with the championship not decided until the last race with 3 drivers in contention. Better look for another reason/excuse. Or, maybe the 20% decline was from the 1st Chase race series, either way, not good.

From Auto Week.com"

" This one seems obvious: NASCAR plans to meet with ESPN during the off season to discuss everything from race starting times to promotions in hopes of reversing a precipitous decline in ratings. NASCAR moved to consistent 1 p.m. Eastern starting times this year and shifted many of its broadcasts from ABC to ESPN.

Ratings during the 10-race Chase for the Championship have declined more than 20 percent.

NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France said, “Obviously, we'd like our TV ratings on an upswing. We're looking at all kinds of things to see what's a better formula for us. There are other factors, too. We changed networks for the Chase, so we will be looking with our partners. ESPN wants the highest ratings possible for their network and so do we.

“We're not going to make decisions based on some ratings in one season that were not what we wanted. But obviously, our goal is to grow our audience, and expose NASCAR to the biggest audience we can. We have a lot of smart people, smart people in this industry who will ultimately achieve that.” "

[Xavier]

Here is my take on it;

The world is partial to Chevy's - get over it. Name something other than F1 that isn't? They, Chevy, will be introduced as a mfg. of engine for Indy next year, so you will hear it there too. I am not saying I like it, but the world has more Chevy's thus the people and fans like Chevys more and that's that. I am rooting for Ford, but that does not mean they are going to do well, and for the most part - they blew it this year. Only at the end did they get things dialed in. Now that Ford is pulling of of Camping World Completely in 2011, you will hear even more about Chevy and Toyota and that has little to do with Nascar. Even then, I hear far more about Toyota - and its purely because they are kicking a$$. I don't like it, but that is not changing the fact.

There are two reasons for the drop in attendance;
1. Economy.
2. No one likes to see the same guy win over and over and over again. Espescially new comers to the sport. People want to watch under dogs win. There becomes little interest in watching the same guy win the same thing.

I think on the contrary Nascar is doing a lot to keep things interesting. I think the commentators are good, better than any other sport I watch - but they have blown it more than a half dozen times on the cameras keeping on to something. I really enjoy watching everything on the Speed channel, but the down side of the Speed channel is many people do not get the channel. So if the majority of the hype, advertisements and commentary are on a channel few get (less get it in a bad economy) - how could you really promote it well? The channels that host the race coverage do not promote Nascar, where as Speed promotes Nascar heavily (they kind of have to) but its a channel that few percentage-wise get.

NASCAR has also let drivers push back at one another and compete hard without major infractions or fines and that is a good thing.

On the down side, I think it is hard getting into the swing of Nascar if you are new to the sport. There needs to be a Nascar 101 for new viewers; phrases like "lucky dog" - "green white checkered" - "marbles" - "stickers" - and a variety of other terminology is used frequently by the commentators during the race as ex-crew chiefs or drivers, but the new viewers don't have a clue as to what those things are, what they mean and how they impact the outcome. I can watch a rugby game for the first time and within 15 minutes get it - but when I hear new viewers watching Nascar they walk away with more questions about the terminology and thus the race; "I thought drivers were just racing and who wins, wins" one person told me "I did not know I was required to have lap top during the race to Google the terminology." People who don't get it, turn the channel.

[Bill Bess]

Oh Pleaseeeeeeeze ! NASCAR is what it is,... racing big heavy cars around an oval for the most part,and watching what happens.
Now it's just like baseball, kind of exciting when the race starts, gets a little boring sometimes in the middle and gets really exciting near the end. Like any sport, you got to watch and learn a lot of stuff..the more you understand and know, the more fun you have watching and following your favorite team and drivers.
I really don't give a hoot how many folks love NASCAR, or hate it, I just like to watch any kind of machine going fast alongside of another competitor.
The Cup finish yesterday was the best yet, Jimmie Johnson no matter what you think is the best driver overall and has the best team and has proved it through year after year consistency. He also is the most mature, the "Hot shot kids" are very good but can't quite make the grade on payday. Kevin Harvick was very cool when he smiled and congratulated Johnson on winning the champion ship.
Maybe those guys that chuck a water bottle over the fense to create a "Caution", are just good old boys trying to affect the outcome...but a NASCAR Officials or a Team members doing stuff like that is pretty dumb.
Anyway, my man Carl did what he had to do and put a Ford over the line first.

[JWilly]

To me NASCAR is drivers you can't see, driving cars that all look alike except for the decals driving in a circle for a couple of hours. NASCAR used to be about the cars and the drivers. Now it is about the drivers and except for a couple of bad boys (i.e., jerks) all of the drivers are vanilla personality-wise. If I had to pick one to have lunch with, it would be difficult because none of them seem that interesting. I was looking forward to the Mustang and the Challenger showing up in the Nationwide series. Then when I finally saw the car,s they do not even resemble a Mustang or a Challenger. I used to really look forward to Sunday and the races. Now I go to the Speed channel to see if there is anything interesting on. I suppose I'm just an old fart but I think NASCAR was much better when it was stock car racing.

[scaffold]

one thing they sorely need to do is get Kyle Petty Petty off as a commentator and send him to the house and have him take his goofy cap with the black band through the "43" with him. I get sooooo tired of him saying, "I'n gonna tell you sumthin now"...

caffold

[SP01715]

What about JJ not being from the South? I like to see a Local guy do well, but there are not many Nascar fans here in San Diego. I have heard fans say they don't like him because he is from SoCal. I don't follow Nascar, but JJ has been on the news here since he won again. Just one theory I have heard...

[tcrist]

Originally Posted by scaffold

one thing they sorely need to do is get Kyle Petty Petty off as a commentator and send him to the house and have him take his goofy cap with the black band through the "43" with him. I get sooooo tired of him saying, "I'n gonna tell you sumthin now"...

caffold

Actually it is a "45" and it is for his son that died in a racing accident. It is like weraing an armband for rememberance.

[Don]

Another manufacturer potentially joining NASCAR, from AutoWeek.com


" Volkswagen is poised to explore the possibility of entering NASCAR by the middle of this decade.

Matthias Muller, the new CEO of Porsche, which is part of the Volkswagen Group, is interested in opening discussions with NASCAR about entering stock-car racing. A NASCAR official has confirmed that his organization has scheduled meetings with Volkswagen in January.

A year ago at Homestead, former world-class driver Hans-Joachim Stuck said VW had no interest in NASCAR. But in a recent interview with Financial Times Deutschland, he discussed the possibility of entering Formula One (since denied) and NASCAR.

VW chairman Martin Winterkorn has said he wants to pass Toyota and General Motors for global-sales supremacy by 2018, and has suggested that NASCAR's “marketing platform” might be part of accomplishing that. "