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.

Dale Jr. under more pressure this season

Update: Patrick finished sixth in the ARCA race. She will give it a go for Saturday's Nationwide event.

It's a lot of pressure having the last name Earnhardt in NASCAR.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has felt the pressure to perform from day one. This season will be the most he's ever felt, but it's more than just to getting back into a winner's circle on a consistent basis. He's also the owner for one Danica Patrick.

Junior has been voted NASCAR's most popular driver for many years running, but will his fans jump if he can't find that winning formula again? Doubt it. Earnhardt fans are as loyal as they come.

And he has that legacy...

The two most marketable drivers in motorsports have merged for this season. Needless to say, the merchandise sales will go through the roof despite the economy. But the pressure to put together a successful season for Patrick and Junior will be high.

Patrick rolls off 12th in today ARCA race. If she does well, there's an outside chance she'll make a go of the Nationwide race later this week. If not, she will make her Nationwide debut in California.

Back to the travails of Junior.

Some time back Junior's Cup team owner Rick Hendrick charged Mark Martin and his crew to fix the #88 team. I shuttered when I read this. I know Martin and Junior are in the same garage at Hendrick Motorsports, but pressure has now been added to Martin and his #5 team, too. But Martin is as professional as they come in any sport. Other drivers can't say enough good things about him, and that includes Junior.

Could Danica, Stewart & NASCAR be a good thing?

Rumors have been swirling all weekend about the prospects of Danica Patrick taking a dip into NASCAR in 2010. Patrick to a trip to the Stewart-Haas garage for a chat with Tony Stewart. It's also being speculated that a deal is in the works for Patrick to give it a go in both the Nationwide series and Camping World truck series.

Think about it. If Patrick were to race in these two series (full time in Indy and part-time in NASCAR in 2010), it would be a win-win situation for eveyone, including Danica's current boss, Andretti Green Racing in Indy car. Here's how:

The Indy car circuit has 17 or 18 races on its schedule. There is enough "room" for Patrick to get her feet wet rather it be in a Nationwide or a Camping World ride for about another 15-20 races. While travel might be considered a concern, it shouldn't. Patrick most likely uses her current off weeks to do promotional gigs so the extra time on the road should be a non-issue.

Another non-issue is sponsorship. That's the real no-brainer. Whichever team Patrick lends her services to should receive a monster sponsorship deal. I have a feeling that if the dollars are there, you could even see a cross-sponsorship type of deal between the sponsors of Patrick's Indy car ride and her potential NASCAR suitor. Even if the dollars aren't available for that, finding a primary sponsor for her NASCAR ride(s) will be simple. Just set a folding table out along the street and I guarantee a line will form.

NASCAR would win for bringing in such a commodity and Indy Car wins for retaining it's most marketable asset. With Patrick coming aboard the NASCAR brand, I think you would see a jump in interest among females in both NASCAR and Indy Car racing. And I think there would even be a crossover in interest between NASCAR and Indy Car. That's where the biggest benefit of Patrick making this move comes into play.

Her "mentor", Tony Stewart, voiced that it's basically a done deal. Here's what Stewart had to say in Atlanta on Saturday.

"I can pretty much guarantee you that at some point she's going to be over here. I know that's what she wants to do. She looked me straight in the eye and said, 'This is what I want to do, it looks like fun. It looks like a lot of work, but it looks like fun.' I don't think she has some misguided idea that it's going to be easy doing it. She wants to do it the right way. She has he intentions of doing everything right. She's kind of come to us to see how she should go about it."

And think about this factor, too. Who better to give advice to Danica than Smoke. Stewart made the jump from Indy Car to NASCAR a decade ago and he's never looked back. Plus, he's won on every level.

One point that Stewart addressed in part of his statement is that Patrick did see that a lot of work was involved. Over her Indy Car career, Patrick has indirectly shown that she's willing to work. I say indirectly because we don't see videos of her at the shop and giving input to the techs working on her ride. We see it in her results. In 2005, Patrick finished 12th in the points, 2006-9th, 2007-7th, 2008-6th and she's currently 5th in 2009. She's willing to put in the work. You can't improve without the will to work.

Stewart is also willing to welcome Patrick to NASCAR. That means everything. You have a former champ and current points leader in your corner.

"I'd love to see her come [to NASCAR]," he said. "I think it would be awesome for our sport if she were to come out here and be successful."

A deal between Patrick and Stewart is inevitable. But who would receive the benefit of Patrick's status? If you check out Ed Hinton's article on ESPN.com, the beneficiary would be either JR Motorsports (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) or KHI (Kevin Harvick). Either one would be a good choice. JR Motorsports due to Junior's popularity and KHI because there are Nationwide and Camping World programs that are already well established. And the manufacturer that stands to gain the most is Chevrolet as they are on board with both KHI and JR Motorsports.

This is the perfect mix for the racing world as a whole. Talk about your stimulus package.