Nascar race TV viewership is down for the whole year.  A brief review of Nascar history shows that the Chase was created to generate more TV viewership, more at track attendance and to generate excitement for the sport.  Brian France instituted the Chase after Matt Kenseth won the Championship with a runaway points lead.

This year it does not appear to be working.   In theory, home viewership should be up:  with the economy the way it is, at track attendance should be down as more people stay home to watch the races.

So why are the numbers falling?  There are several reasons, some which Nascar cannot fix, but others that could be tweaked to gain back viewers.

Things Nascar Can Fix:

1.  Overhype of the Chase. Starting with the Daytona 500, all we hear about is the Chase.  The NFL does not hype the Super Bowl this way throughout the year, MLB doesn't hype the World Series this way,  and neither should Nascar.  We all know it is coming.  And we all know that it is too early to talk about in the first couple races.  Knock it off.  In fact, it should not be hyped until we are within 3 races of the Chase's start, and then only sparingly. Save the PR until we have a field set.

2.  Overhype during the Chase.  Watching the first race in the Chase, the announcers act like every lap is vitally important in the Chase.  "If Gordon doesn't pass Stewart soon, he'll drop all the way to third in the Chase." And it's lap #3!  When something catastrophic happens, then let us know how it impacts the Chase.

3.  Ignoring Non-Chase drivers.  While the drivers having the best year are in the Chase and are likely to be up front, there still are 30 other guys out there.  Talk about them, and not just when they (nearly) crash into a Chaser.

4.  Tweak the Rules to get into the Chase.  I'm fine with an arbitrary number of drivers, but let's look at the line.  Change the rule to top 12 plus any race winning drivers within 100 points of #12.  Some years this may be no one, and others it may be a couple guys.  But if a team pulled it together enough to be within 100 points of the top 12 AND won a race, let them in.  

5.  Uniform Start times:  I applaud Nascar for deciding on uniform start times.  I think they may actually listen to the fans once in a while.  

6.  Fix the schedule:  We have too many races.  Trim a few by adding a rotation of tracks - instead of 2 races per year, Track #1 gets one race plus one race in odd years.  Track #2 gets the other race in even numbered years.  The Chase races should include a bigger variety of tracks.  Why not Sonoma? Bristol? Richmond? 

Things Nascar Can't Fix:

1.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s past few seasons have not gone well.  Despite the high hopes after his signing at Hendrick Motorsports, Dale Jr. has failed to deliver consistent finishes and wins.  That hurts viewership when your most popular driver isn't in the Championship.  Do you think Michael Jordan would have been as legendary if he had never played in the Championship games?  The same applies here.

2.  Jimmie Johnson's domination.  Johnson has schooled the field each of the past three years.  Before that, he was in contention up until the last race.  Frankly, many long time fans I know are bored with the Chase because they expect Johnson to win it all.  They are not excited about the Chase.  Maybe when Johnson retires they will be back.

3. Football:  Probably the biggest thief of viewers is football.  College and NFL games lure away marginal & dedicated fans.

Nascar needs to look at its product and make a few changes.  Otherwise, the decline of viewers will lead to a decrease in revenue as the TV package will not be worth as much as it did a few years ago.

 

 

 

 

Back in February, I posted a blog about a theory that Dustin Long, a nascar beat writer for Southern newspapers, proposed.  Basically, Long pointed out that for the past four years, on average, seven of the top ten finishers at California advance to the Chase.

How did California do this year? Well the track got 8 of the 12 correct.  Here is the Top Ten list from this year's 1st race at Fontana, California (I still can't bear to call it by its sponsored name).

1.  Matt Kenseth

2.  Jeff Gordon

3.  Kyle Busch

4.  Greg Biffle

5.  Kurt Busch

6.  Denny Hamlin

7.  Carl Edwards

8.  Tony Stewart

9.  Jimmie Johnson

10. Brian Vickers

 

Last year I attended the Sprint Cup race at Indy, or rather, I attended the extended tire test.  While I still had a good time, I am hopeful that this year will feature extended stretches of racing with actual green flag pit stops.

(CHARLOTTE, NC)  Ferrari stunned the racing world today by carrying out its threat to leave Formula One over the "Budget Cap Flap."  Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari President, announced that the legendary organization would start competing in Nascar races beginning with the next Daytona race slated for July.  

"We are tired of Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone's excessive meddling in Formula One racing.  We want to spend our money, be successful, and target the American audience," remarked di Montezemolo.  "All Ecclestone is trying to do is recover the money he lost in his divorce when his wife took him to the cleaners.  And Mosley needs more cash to pay for his hired girls."


Brian France gushed "We are so excited for Ferrari to join Nascar racing.  I'm positive our fans will embrace Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen just like they have Max Papis and Juan Pablo Montoya.  Especially once they learn to pronounce their names.  And learn Kimi is a guy's name.  Oh, and learn to speak Italian since they will still be talking to their teams in Italian on the radio."

Di Montezemolo announced that as part of the deal, Kasey Kahne's car would be painted a different color.  "Ferraris can be the only red car on the track, as is our tradition."

Richard Petty, present for RPM,  commented, "We agreed.   Who could turn down the $30 million they offered? Kasey will be driving a Petty Blue car with the Bud logo."

The Ferrari team appeared shocked at how cheap it was to race in the Nascar league. "I can't believe that our budget can be less than the Formula One Budget cap and we can still be competitive," said di Montezemolo.  "We figure over half of our engineering group can be let go with no loss in competitiveness.  But of course we won't do that until we're winning at least 75% of the races.  Which should be by March 2010."

Other Formula One teams were shocked at the change of events.  "What do you mean Ferrari won't compete," said Lewis Hamilton.  "This won't be a World Championship if they aren't involved.  Any chance Braun will go too?"

Nascar teams were stunned at the addition of Ferrari to the field.  "How is that going to work?" said Kyle Busch.  

"Won't they have to qualify for all the races?" remarked Tony Stewart.

Ferrari had anticipated the qualifications problem, and as part of the deal to join Nascar, requested an exemption from qualifying.  France explained, "Ferrari will be given an automatic  starting position in all races until the start of next year.  In essence we will have 37 cars set in the field each week - the Top 35 plus 2 Ferrari cars."

Neither Massa or Raikkonen appeared at the news conference, but di Montezemolo stated that at both were excited at the prospect of touring the Nascar locales such as Talladega, Dover, Fontana and Las Vegas.  "Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Bahrain get boring when you go every year.  This will add excitement to the rigors of traveling." 

(CHARLOTTE, NC)  Jamie McMurray surprised Nascar insiders today by going  to extreme measures to stay at Roush Fenway Racing.  McMurray announced that he had been adopted by Tom and Gaye Busch and was now to be known as Jamie McMurray-Busch, the third Busch brother.
"I've always wanted two brothers, and you really couldn't pick any better ones than Kurt and Kyle," said McMurray at his press conference.  "Nascar is a family sport.  I'm just expanding the family a little."

"I'm thrilled to have three such accomplished sons," said Gaye Busch.  "Jamie has been like one of the family for a long time now.  Why, he even gave me my Mother's Day gift early - a new Roush Mustang.  Kurt never got me one when he was at Roush!"

"Are you F@$#&n' kidding me?" remarked Kurt Busch when he was told the news.  "One little brother is f*$#@$n' enough!"

"Well, if Kurt is Buschie, and I'm Shrub, does that mean that Jamie is Bonsai?" Kyle smirked.  "Or will he keep "cupcake"?"

"I guess desperate times call for desperate measures," remarked a Roush Fenway employee, who refused to be named.   "Jamie's souvenir sales are down.  He hopes to spark either a Busch backlash or to hop on the Kyle Fan-Bandwagon.  Kyle's numbers have been going up every week, especially when he and Dale Jr. tussle."

"He's really worried that Jack will cut him," said a Kenseth crew member.  "He's the odd man out.  Matt's the Champ.  Biffle's gotten two championships for Jack; Carl's a sponsorship dream and contender.  That leaves David or Jamie. David's been running better for the past year."

McMurray, though, denied he was motivated by the upcoming Roush Fenway team cut.  "I'm not worried about Jack cutting me.  I'm a valuable part of the team.  And now, I'm part of the Busch dynasty.  I got this job because of Kurt's abrupt departure from Roush.  Kyle started in Nascar driving for Jack's truck team.  Jack loves having a Busch on the payroll."

When reached for comment, Jack Roush was blunt, as usual.  "Did the adoption give him an attitude too?" snarked Roush.  "If it did, he'll be driving for Yates by the end of the week."