Is NASCAR Turning the Wrong Direction?

Most of us, whether you follow NASCAR or not, would answer my question with a "yes".

At the recently completed Brickyard 400, considered by many to be NASCAR's second biggest event of the season, it was reported that only an estimated 141,000 (give or take 1,000) people attended the event. IMS can hold about 250,000 according to reports. The second biggest event on NASCAR's calendar at the prestigious IMS and you only draw approximately 56% capacity?

Where has NASCAR gone wrong?

There are actually so many answers to that question, it would boggle your mind. I do have my own reasons. Here are a few of those.

1. Misplaced "pushes". What I mean by that is that NASCAR itself pushes for the wrong driver(s) in their ads and any other associated promotions. I know I'll catch some crap over this, but please fully read this explanation before you throw your stones.

Junior is popular but has yet to lift a Sprint
Cup Championship trophy.

The most glaring example is Dale Earnhardt, Jr. No, I'm not a fan of Junior. He does hold great respect from me. He's extremely marketable and some would argue it's based on his name only and not on his accomplishments and performance. He has a wholesome rep, but he's never won a Sprint Cup. His fans are loyal and supportive, no question. He has been voted the most popular driver on many, many occasions.

With that now being out in the open, ponder this. Imagine what it wouls be like if another sports league were "pushing" on of its less successful teams. That would be like the NHL shoving the Washington Capitals on all of us because of Alex Ovechkin. In the NBA, take the Phoenix Suns and Steve Nash and place all their players in every forms of media. What would happen if Bud Selig and the MLB decided it was time to lift up the Milwaukee Brewers and Prince Fielder (Selig used to be an owner of the Brewers so that may not be too far fetched.)? Could Roger Goodell and the NFL find a way to justify "selling" the public to the Atlanta Falcons and Matt Ryan to everyone? All teams have made the playoffs in their leagues, but no titles to show for it. There's a big difference here.

Add to the fodder the arrival of Danica Patrick. One win in her open wheel career and she's a marketing queen in both NASCAR and IndyCar.

2. The season is really too long. February to November, almost December. If you take into account the duration of baseball's spring training and postseason, the NASCAR season is still longer. All the other "major" sports seasons pale in comparison in the length of their seasons. NASCAR CEO Brian France did announce at Indy that there could be some changes to the 2011 schedule. Will it mean less races or different venues? I'm guessing the latter. One's that can seat a bunch of people, too.

Johnson has won the last 4 Sprint Cups due
to crew chief Chad Knauss' ability to have
the last 10 tracks down pat.

3. The Chase hasn't quite worked out. It was initially designed to be NASCAR's playoff format. It's been tweaked here and there, but it still doesn't deliver. France also indicated that a format change could come here. In the Chase's current configuration, once the Chase starts, what you did in the previous 26 races (again, too freakin' many races) really doesn't merit all that much. All it does is warrant a driver a placing among 12 total drivers. In that sense, it is a playoff. It's now down to what can you do in 10 races. It's really become the Jimmie Johnson Invitational over the past four years. Maybe a switching of venues involved in the Chase on an annual basis is what is necessary.

I had posted about Johnson's superior luck in his winning four in a row back in March. It was part of a post when Kevin Harvick said Johnson and his team had a golden horseshoe up their butt. Well, Harvick didn't say "butt", you get the meaning.

4. Cost. Plain and simple. It costs too much to go a race. We all know that concession prices are absolutely ridiculous, but ticket prices have become the same. I saw a commercial last week about the upcoming night race at Bristol and the impetus was that there were tickets available. The most exciting race has tickets? Less than a handful of years ago you had to take out a mortgage to attend due to the jacked up prices from "ticket brokers". You can get tickets now. The cheapest seat I could find for that one race were $109...in the "aluminum" section. What's that tell you? Take two seats, snacks and parking and you're seeing at least $300.

No, NSACAR is not alone in this. The other leagues have their issues on pricing as well, but I would much rather spend $300 going to multiple baseball games than one race. It really can be done depending on which market you live in.

5. Bottom line, it's all about the buck. Surprise! But there's a reason for this that ESPN's Marty Smith points out in a recent blog entry. The post is about some unannouced fines doled out to drivers about negative comments about NASCAR, but the following helps explain my point here.

"NASCAR is a family business and the France family answers to no driver. NASCAR answers to myriad corporate sponsors and partners, and on behalf of those partners it must do whatever it takes to preserve the value of the sport.

"NASCAR answers to the dollar bill.

"Its racetrack business, International Speedway Corp., is different. It is publicly traded and has shareholders. But NASCAR Inc. is still private -- and it devises and enforces every rule in the game. Therefore it's NASCAR's game by NASCAR's rules."

The almighty dollar. Since the France family is deemed as the sole beneficiary of those sponsors, that dough goes in their pockets, well, after the "expenses", of course. Granted, the France's must provide a product or the sponsors pull their money. It's happened once and it will happen again. With the current economic climate, it might be happening as you're reading this. I couldn't put it any better than Smith did.

I will add this. I grow weary of hearing sports bigwigs and athletes spewing that it's all about the fans. It's not. It's all about their wallets and pocketbooks.

Can these be corrected? For now, I must say no.

My other four points cannot be rectified unless less emphasis on my final point is taken into consideration. And we all know that no one takes their eyes off of a crisp $100 bill.