DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The midsummer race at Daytona is the traditional halfway point in the NASCAR season, and since he took over as CEO of NASCAR, Brian France has used the occasion to provide a midseason look at the sport for the media.
In a season that has featured controversy on several levels — competition, a slowing economy, high gas prices and a $225 million discrimination lawsuit, among other issues — France took questions for half an hour or so.
On the lawsuit filed by a former Nationwide Series official alleging racial and sexual harassment and discrimination, France was candid.
“Naturally, we would rather not have been dealing with it (the suit),” he said. “There’s a lot of things that we need to deal with. It’s a lawsuit and lawsuits take on a life of their own.
“My own experience with lawsuits over many years is that by the time the facts catch up with the actual lawsuit, they are usually a lot different than the claims that were made on the front end, when you’re after a lot of money. We’ll have to see what happens through the court system. We’ll be defending ourselves very vigorously.”
On the trend toward multi-car teams — Richard Childress has said that the sport is headed toward 11 four-car teams — France was persuasive.
“We’re going to be very aggressive to attract and recruit new owners,” France said. “I don’t subscribe to this idea that you have to have four teams and that’s where we were going a few years ago.
“We’re going to look at anything we can do from a policy and rules standpoint. Part of the new car concept was to bring the barrier of entry down, meaning the cars are cheaper to operate and own. There’s less things you can do with it, so there’s less expertise you need to buy or have to field a competitive team.
“The jury is still out on that, but that’s our goal. That’s what makes us work. The more competition, the better the competition, the better we are going to be. That starts with me and our organization, knowing that is important.”
One question was a bit outside the box: Is NASCAR going to bring the Grand Am Rolex Series sports-car series under its umbrella?
“It is being discussed,” France said. “It’s part of the family today, with the France family having control over that. It’s an exciting series, quite frankly. If it makes sense to do that and add to it by making it part of the NASCAR umbrella, it’s something we’d like to do. We’re not there yet, but it’s something we’re looking at carefully.”
On the political side, France said he expects “to see both” presidential candidates at a NASCAR race during the campaign.
“We welcome both of them at various times and places,” he said, just after revealing that he had invited both John McCain and Barack Obama to visit. “NASCAR has historically been a place where politicians have come to get noticed by our fans.”
He did deflect a question regarding franchising of NASCAR teams.
“The teams have had a lot of interest of late, with private equity firms coming in, making investments,” France said when asked if plans were under way to institute such a system. “I was happy to see rather large valuations for those teams, pumping capital in them.
“I’d say there’s no shortage of interest in financially rewarding team owners who have good teams.”
France also stated that the internal review of NASCAR’s drug-testing policy is nearly complete.
“If there are ways to improve it, we will, and we’ll have those answers pretty shortly,” France said. “I think within a month or six weeks, we’ll have something. I wouldn’t look for some dramatic change in our policy.”