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So, Where Was The Racing?

Charlotte, NC – (April 6, 2009) – While Jeff Gordon’s victory in Sunday’s Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway provided the driver his first win in 47 starts dating back to the 2007 season, one thing it didn’t provide was much side-by-side competition. In fact, there wasn’t any if you don’t count the restarts. In yet another snoozer in what is quickly becoming a long line of dull, uninteresting and dare was say, boring NASCAR Sprint Cup races this season, Gordon captured his 82nd career triumph. The victory came, not on the racetrack with an edge of your seat duel at the finish, but yet again on pit road when his crew got Gordon out in front of the rest of the competition. Pass the No Doze, please.

Your guess is as good as ours as to why NASCAR, once one of the most exciting sports on the planet, is suddenly about as interesting as watching a long, single file line of cars go down a two-lane road for four hours. Gone are the days where cars raced side-by-side and nose-to-tail for lap after lap. Now, if one car even closes to within 10 car lengths of another, the television announcers are giddy telling the viewer what a great “battle” they are seeing.

There are several theories as to why the action has waned in Sprint Cup. Some point to the COT, the new generation NASCAR racer introduced two seasons ago. Others cite the tires provided by Goodyear, stating the cars are woefully ‘under tired’ and don’t have enough grip. Some say the speeds are just too high, pointing to the 190 miles per hour plus average laps in qualifying at places like Texas as a deterrent to side-by-side racing. Finally, many are whispering that today’s wealthy Sprint Cup drivers aren’t as motivated to go all out to win, not needing to because of fat wallets and a NASCAR point system that rewards consistency, not victories.

Like we stated at the beginning of this piece – we’re not sure why the excitement level of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing isn’t what it used to be. We’ll admit right up front that we don’t have any answers for a quick fix, but what we do know is that you see more action in a 50-lap main event at your local short track than you seem to in 500 laps or miles of a Sprint Cup race these days.

Somewhere, NASCAR has made a wrong turn and this past weekend, it was at Texas.

And Now, Another Word From Our Sponsors

As we see it, a big part of the problem with NASCAR these days is the television coverage.

What used to be a telecast of a stock car race is now an endless string of promos disguised as racing. Every in-car view, track or race fact is accompanied by a plug for a company or product. Toss in a slew of commercials featuring the drivers and their sponsors, and it’s hard to tell where the race starts and the promotion ends.

Some of the promos, like FOX’s FedEx race trends, are downright misleading to the viewer. The stats shown at the start of an event tout the kind of past race averages that crew chiefs and team engineers look at in trying to determine trends at a particular track. While team personnel do study these trends, our guess is they don’t only look at only the stats from races telecast by FOX, which is what Sunday’s Texas pre-race graphics were based on.

Evidently, FOX doesn’t believe the statistics from the 1997-2000 Texas races – those not telecast by FOX – count and subsequently they weren’t figured into their equations. As such, the statistical trends for Texas that FOX presented the fans Sunday were completely inaccurate. To mislead the fans in this manner is inappropriate and to suggest that any crew chief would use the numbers FOX presents to plan race strategy is completely laughable.

The commitment to commercialism has gone so far that large blocks of the race are now dedicated to thinly veiled commercials developed by producers. As such, the viewer ride for laps at a time with one car – watching it circle the track for multiple laps while the announcer waxes poetic about the topic of ‘interest.’ Meanwhile, 20-car lengths back, a side-by-side battle for position goes unnoticed. Evidently, the racing isn’t interesting enough anymore.

As a comparitive, can you imagine an NFL telecast focusing on only one player for four or five plays, developing a ‘story’ while the action rages on over the rest of the field? Neither can we.

While we can appreciate the challenge of filling four hours of airtime, the content of the television coverage of NASCAR races should always be – first and foremost – about the action on the track. When NASCAR allowed the producers and ad men to take charge of trying to create excitement, drama, and action, they let the proverbial horse out of the barn. Unfortunately, those folks have replaced it with an animated gopher.

Maybe it’s why NASCAR television ratings have been in a double-digit free fall this season.

Last Call

FOX reported this weekend that NASCAR might already be looking for a new title sponsor to replace Camping World for the Truck Series, who is just four races into a multi-year contract after replacing long-time benefactor Craftsman this season.

This has to be unsettling news to teams in the division who are desperately seeking sponsorship. In an economy where networking the funding necessary to compete in the Truck Series has become increasingly difficult, this kind of uncertainty muddies the waters even more.

With several top teams reporting they will not attend the Kansas race in two weeks unless sponsorship is secured, the Truck Series appears to be at a financial crossroads. Unless NASCAR immediately gets proactive and throws all of its financial and promotional weight behind the division, we could unfortunately be seeing the beginning of the end for the Truck Series.

Let’s hope that never happens

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