It was a bit redundant in the early going, but the finish of the 50th Daytona 500 on Sunday made you forget the dull stretches throughout the race. The wheel-to-wheel jockeying to the finish line made it tough to predict a winner, and a good, close finish is what people remember on their way home.
NASCAR has come in for some serious knocks over the past year or so. Television ratings are down; an abundance of corporate sponsors has become significantly tighter; and what began as light grumbling from longtime fans has turned into a full-blown howl.
The 800-pound gorilla, it seemed, had stumbled. And, to be sure, most of the stumble was self-imposed, as NASCAR appeared to care only about the commercial side of the sport to the detriment of the sport itself.
But this 2008 season might well be one of the most important in NASCAR’s modern history. Brian France now says it’s time for NASCAR to listen to their core fans, and get back to basics. They’ve settled on their technical specs, with the Car-of-whatever.
This season presents a great opportunity to focus on the racing, and the racers. NASCAR was built on two things: close racing, and engaging personalities. If they can keep those two things even close to right, NASCAR is probably going to be just fine.
It looks like the new cars are racy, and that’s good. And, despite claims that the racers have become plain vanilla, they’ve still got plenty of personality on the grid. Good guys, bad guys, strange guys, you can find all of the above in the race lineup.
And, to the envy of every other series, NASCAR has their guys in television commercials. It’s funny how that works; a guy comes off in a positive light in a commercial, and seems real, the next thing you know Aunt Martha has his car number decal on her back window.
We know that Cup isn’t coming back to North Wilkesboro. We know the days of phenomenal growth in attendance and television ratings are probably behind us. We know the Car of Tomorrow is here to stay. And we know the Chase is here to stay.
On the plus side, NASCAR today has the most diverse driver grid in all of American motorsports. Indy cars? Not enough Americans. Drag racing? Virtually all domestic. Road racing? Nobody there from the short tracks.
But in Sprint Cup, you’ve got racers from a vast array of racing backgrounds. USAC, World of Outlaws, ASA, Hooters Cup, go karts, road racing, legends cars, sports cars, Indy cars, off-road racing, on and on. And here is the big news flash: Every one of those guys brought some fans with them to Sprint Cup.
Last fall I heard a devout open-wheel fan predict that NASCAR would be completely in the toilet within two years. I had to laugh at the silliness of such a prediction. NASCAR is so big, and so strong, Gomer Pyle couldn’t wreck the train in that short a time.
It’s very likely that NASCAR has peaked. So what? Even if the 800-pound gorilla only weighs 775 pounds, he’s still the biggest gorilla in town.