NASCAR running out of gas?

Question

It seems ratings are down and people dislike the chase,or atleast this is what it seems to be like when reading answers questions.

Answer 1

kind of makes you wonder about it, doesn't it....when you see Indy drivers jumping in the cars.....not about talent anymore....it's become a $$$ making sport. Used to be an exciting home grown fun sport. Sponsors all want their $$$. The #48 & #24 fans will say no because it's their season, but if they realistically look @ the sport and forget who their favorite driver is, from a true NASCAR fan (not a driver fan), you have to see that it's changed.

Answer 2

24fan, your answer caught my attention.

Ironic you should point out the NFL bringing the wild card teams into the playoff picture. Isn't that pretty much the same thing that NASCAR has done with the chase? Don't both systems do the same thing, allowing teams who wouldn't normally compete a shot at the title?

Do the "wild card" teams in the NFL really deserve to be in the playoffs? If your answer to that is "yes", than shouldn't the top 12 drivers for the NASCAR regular season also be entitled to be in the playoffs?

February to November is a long season, longer than any other sport. That in itself is a big factor in the dropping of ratings toward the end of the season. I guess the only way to determine if NASCAR made a mistake is to see what the ratings were BEFORE the inception of the chase, and do comparisons with how the ratings have been since for the same races, i.e. the fall races before chase vs. the fall races after the chase.

I know I watched almost the whole race yesterday. I thought it was a good race where anything could have happened and many drivers could have won. Granted when it got toward the end, it seemed pretty much a foregone conclusion the #48 team had done the adjustments they needed to to have the best car on the track, but it was stil fun to watch, at least in my opinion.

I like the chase. I don't think it's a "perfect" system, but the bottom line... it does allow more drivers a shot at the championship than before the chase began.

Answer 3

I think it's because there is just too much NASCAR on all the time! It's on ESPN with the news show they have, it's all over the paper, and it's just overexposed (Craftsman, Busch) The season is too long, it goes from February to November! That's crazy! No wonder NBC dumped NASCAR for the NFL, NASCAR was asking for too much money and NBC ratings for NASCAR was declining.

The reason the Chase was created was because Kenseth won the championship with just one win, and to fix the declining ratings from September to November (NFL hammers NASCAR ratings).

They need to reduce the season from 36 races to 30 or something. Stop going 5 weeks of racing in a row, it's just too much for the audience to handle. I can't sit at home on a Sunday afternoon to watch a 4 hour 300 mile race, there's other things to do, plus it's boring to watch!!!

With all the open-wheel drivers and foreigners heading to NASCAR and the addition of Toyota, it won't be long until their hardcore fans start getting alienated.

Plus they need to add road courses to the Chase!

Answer 4

I wrote this answer actually for 1 Question but have used it 2wice and 1 final time if I may I think it fits here also.Hope ya dont mind.......Its a dog and pony show.Where is the colorful people that used to be in stock car racing?Where is the unscripted happinings in the garage and the absolute honesty that the forerunners brought to the sport?it is now a very bland uninteresting 4 hour sunday napfest.I am sick of Jimmie,Jeff,and the entire sport in general.I was a brought up a nascar fan,and respected the drivers.No one has any personality,or originality,nascar wont allow it..Remember being different in nascar is BAD!!!voicing your opinion is BAD!!!And how in the hell can you even tell the cars apart?Where is the difference in the look of the car.Nascar is a monopoly,and is on a rocket sled to demise!!!in 5 years it will be non existant.You can only put so many sponsers in the sport before it just gets overloaded.Soon there will be no dedicated teams or employess,and nascar will make all cars the same and off a production line where they can keep there fat little fingers on everything and make them all the same.......so..if its all the same....Where the hell is the fun in that?...And this comes from the heart of the nascar family..I live right smack in the middle of it all it is able to make the old school fans like me and others here in"Race City USA"pyhsicaly ill,and want to kick someones ***!...I have been in commercials with Tony Stewert and Richard Petty,Dale Jr personally requested 1 of my hotrods for a wrangler shoot. I have been testing with Rick Crawford,have played horse shoes with Carl Edwards ,and Joe Nemecheck is interested in me building a hotrod for him..So I am truley in the mix..So I do have an informed opion if you will.I just cant stand it anymore..thank the good lord there is a drag strip coming to charlotte..All Hail the NHRA!!!.....

Answer 5

NASCAR hasnt run out of gas. They have blown a tire leading the pack at Dega andd their sport is smashing into walls and flipping over in failure. I dont like the chase system and it isnt because im a Jeff Gordon fan its because you race a 36 race season. The first 26 dont really matter. Someone next year could sneak into the 12th position then win the next 5 races and be champion and that isnt right. Gordon won the 2004 and 2007 titles. He is a 6 time champion. Period. The man will have 30 top ten finishes and 6 wins and yet he still wont win. I've been a loyal NASCAR fan but things need to change. The Nfl changed when they added the wild card game so NASCAR has to do something so someone with a 500 point lead doesnt lose all of it. Im sick of it.

Answer 6

The mangement of NASCAR lacks backbone to enforce rules and police themselfs.
The younger generation of ownership in the sport is intrested in making a profit over the fans.
If they have to bend rules to develope a "new" fan base they will.If the powers that be see a profit they are happy even if the fan is the one that gets lost in the shuffle.
The politics that happen between teams and NASCAR is never seen by the fan and we are the ones buying the tickets for the race and making the purchase of the products our favorite drivers endorse,but it is us the fan that gets pinced in watching a "DOG and PONY" show each week.
The sport has taken a GQ or Wall Street turn and left us everyday fans in the dust.

Answer 7

thats because the answers and questions your reading dont exactly reflect the publics interest in NASCAR. Your getting the average of about 80% of peoples opinions who are just fans of their "favorite driver", and opinions of people who aren't deep enough into the sport. You have to use a little common sense in determinating if anything you read has any validity to it or not. You need to distinguish an acurrate response from a sarcastic remark. NASCAR is doing just fine. Don't worry about the ugly things people try to push off as the truth. And don't dwell on it. NASCAR aint gonna wait for nothing!

Answer 8

I'm a nascar fan and the racing is just getting boring the races are just toooooo long and the same people win. I do not like the whole chase deal thing, it just isn't fair i think!

Answer 9

There are alot of unhappy fans. I see that everyday here but I dont see it running out of gas, maybe a bad pit stop. With some practice maybe they will get some stuff figured out like the COT car and the chase format. It will still be my favorite sport no matter what.

Answer 10

that's ridiculous. each race at Pocono is a awful gas mileage race. you're no longer conscious twelve drivers ran out of gas this final race? Jeff Gordon had Casey Mears push him 2 miles to get off the song. i'm unlikely to checklist all the autos that had to be pushed to the inspection section that had no gas.