2017 NASCAR Discussion threadNASCAR 

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They really need to add either tire, tec-pro, or safer barriers to that corner, there is no reason for a concrete wall to be there in one of the fastest parts of the track.
 
NASCARGT
Ugh...

http://nascar.nbcsports.com/2017/06/26/nascar-on-stage-racing-definitely-here-to-stay/
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I've watched a good chunk of this season, and have come to the conclusion that the stages have done nothing to help the racing. If anything, I think it messed with the strategy at Sonoma this past weekend, and made the race super strung out at the end. Special case because it's a road course, I realize. Not in love with the format, so naturally, they're gonna keep it going.
 
Only place it didn't feel ridiculous was Talladega.[/QUOTE
Gonna need an explainer here. I came to the conclusion that the stage breaks were awful despite the race being pretty entertaining
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I didn't really mind how the stages were done at Sonoma since both of the breaks were done before the half-way point so there was at least one long run. Granted I would still prefer for there to be no stages.
 
I find it funny that NASCAR Holdings is trying to grow IMSA with good races and has done so with great success so far (depending on viewpoint) and stable management while their top level stock car series lost its way with inept management. Brian France and the rest of the staff lost the plot by changing the rules every few years instead of focusing on long term stability. Maybe they need to look (but not touch) at IMSA since they have a clue of how to keep developing a series with the intention of long term success.
 
AnthonyD1993
I find it funny that NASCAR Holdings is trying to grow IMSA with good races and has done so with great success so far (depending on viewpoint) and stable management while their top level stock car series lost its way with inept management. Brian France and the rest of the staff lost the plot by changing the rules every few years instead of focusing on long term stability. Maybe they need to look (but not touch) at IMSA since they have a clue of how to keep developing a series with the intention of long term success.
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Considering NASCAR's management is an old-boys network that also happens to control over half of the tracks that the series goes to and likely only cares about their personal gain over the longevity of the series, I wouldn't expect that to happen anytime soon. It's probably more profitable for them in the short term to simply run the series into the ground and then sell the name off to some investment firm as portfolio filler.
 
EngieDiesel
Considering NASCAR's management is an old-boys network that also happens to control over half of the tracks that the series goes to and likely only cares about their personal gain over the longevity of the series, I wouldn't expect that to happen anytime soon. It's probably more profitable for them in the short term to simply run the series into the ground and then sell the name off to some investment firm as portfolio filler.
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I am inclined to agree. I predict that next year, since stages are "so popular", they're gonna add a fourth stage with caution laps not counting and a halftime break when Stage 2 is completed. I wish I was joking, but I can seriously see NASCAR doing something like this, since they are so insistent on being a stick and ball sport.

I can also see the fields getting smaller next year, going from a max of 40 to strictly 36 or 38.

Hell, I can go further and see NASCAR starting some Eastern Time Zone races (Daytona 500, Michigan, etc.) at 4pm ET.

I guess the RTA got what they wanted with the Charter system, and the fairweather fans got what they wanted with a tournament style playoff format.

Sadly it's evident that the people that ran NASCAR don't care about the fan base that made the sport what it was.
 
NASCARGT
Sadly it's evident that the people that ran NASCAR don't care about the fan base that made the sport what it was.
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I think most of that fanbase left with a lot of the popular '90s drivers. Granted the litany of mistakes ("exclusive" sponsorships that made securing funding for teams increasingly difficult, over-sanitizing the sport and aggressively discouraging negative opinions, years of inconsistent penalty assignments, emphasizing 1.5 mile ovals because some bean counter said they produce optimal revenue, building new tracks and expanding the schedule when the boom period was clearly ending, failing to help build interest in new talent when they had the chances to do so, and so on) that occurred during and after their retirements certainly haven't helped.

I'm willing to guarantee they have no kind of plan for when Junior retires at the end of this year either, even though it's been the mega-headline of the entire season.
 
EngieDiesel
I think most of that fanbase left with a lot of the popular '90s drivers. Granted the litany of mistakes ("exclusive" sponsorships that made securing funding for teams increasingly difficult, over-sanitizing the sport and aggressively discouraging negative opinions, years of inconsistent penalty assignments, emphasizing 1.5 mile ovals because some bean counter said they produce optimal revenue, building new tracks and expanding the schedule when the boom period was clearly ending, failing to help build interest in new talent when they had the chances to do so, and so on) that occurred during and after their retirements certainly haven't helped.

I'm willing to guarantee they have no kind of plan for when Junior retires at the end of this year either, even though it's been the mega-headline of the entire season.
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What has harmed the sport imo is: departure of older famous drivers, terrible TV deals putting races on more expensive tier cable channels (NBCSN/FS1 vs FX/TNT/ESPN), abandoning traditional locations and fanbases for new locations (ex: Rockingham, North Wilkesboro) instead of having both, massive grandstand expansion projects only to demolish some later, 2008 recession, Car of Tomorrow/Gen 5, relatively the same ticket prices since the mid-2000s, and gimmicks like the "playoffs" that try to appeal to younger audiences but only deter older fans and make Nascar look like any other sport.
 
ukfan758
What has harmed the sport imo is: departure of older famous drivers, terrible TV deals putting races on more expensive tier cable channels (NBCSN/FS1 vs FX/TNT/ESPN), abandoning traditional locations and fanbases for new locations (ex: Rockingham, North Wilkesboro) instead of having both, massive grandstand expansion projects only to demolish some later, 2008 recession, Car of Tomorrow/Gen 5, relatively the same ticket prices since the mid-2000s, and gimmicks like the "playoffs" that try to appeal to younger audiences but only deter older fans and make Nascar look like any other sport.
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You're not wrong, and those are definitely some of the more forward-facing problems. If we really had to pin it down on anything though, I'd say the most damaging thing is that NASCAR drank their own Kool-Aid Coca-Cola Monster Energy and think they're the only motorsport Americans care about. They were the last ones to realize that the Internet has made it easy to follow other racing series anywhere in the world, often live as they happen, and I still don't think they have any clue on how to deal with it other than by trying to completely ignore the fact there are other motorsports people could be watching on a Sunday afternoon.
 
I might have said this before, but I truly do believe NASCAR is having an identity crisis while trying to get young fans in at the same time. If you look at other series, you get a good idea as to what they are:

Indycar: While the first few years of the merger were awful (the New Hampshire race and the Las Vegas race still the highlights of bad judgement), the series has leadership that is doing its best to stay true to it being America's Open Racing Series. Its made even better that they have bought back favorites like Road America.

WSCC: Going through a somewhat similar (though not as hated) first few years after a merger, the series has done its best to stay true as America's Major Sportscar Series and has even gone as far as to venture on its own path regarding BOP in GTLM (which has been mostly much better then what the ACO has managed so far).

Both don't rely on gimmicks or altering what makes them what they are, something NASCAR doesn't seem to understand. While its something that they are encouraging fans to give them suggestions, I'm not so sure they are listening to most of them (though I'm still perplexed that there are some fans that like this Stage racing, something that belongs in the lower divisions and works there because they don't have long race distances to begin with.) They are also making the mistake of trying to compete with Stick & Ball Sports, a mistake that only ever ends in failure.
 
I've mentioned it before but NASCAR popularity is rising in recent months. Since mid February the NASCAR facebook page has been on the rise as referenced earlier in the thread. Since then there have been 415K new likes on fb. Talk all you want about ratings, fan attendance, not liking the stage racing format etc but even with the lower ratings NASCAR is still usually one of the most if not most watched sporting events weekend after weekend. American TV watchers care little about race series that people try to compare NASCAR to like F1, Indy Car and the like. Ratings on all sports are down. NASCAR is doing fine.
 
Blood Eagle
I've mentioned it before but NASCAR popularity is rising in recent months. Since mid February the NASCAR facebook page has been on the rise as referenced earlier in the thread. Since then there have been 415K new likes on fb. Talk all you want about ratings, fan attendance, not liking the stage racing format etc but even with the lower ratings NASCAR is still usually one of the most if not most watched sporting events weekend after weekend. American TV watchers care little about race series that people try to compare NASCAR to like F1, Indy Car and the like. Ratings on all sports are down. NASCAR is doing fine.
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Facebook likes are a very unreliable and easily manipulated metric, and ratings are down on everything televised because more people are watching things on mobile devices where viewercounts aren't recorded by traditional means.

I'm also curious why you seem to think declining live attendance isn't important, because that's one of the primary ways track owners make their money and pretty much everyone agrees that it looks really bad when the TV broadcasts show huge swaths of empty seats when there used to be packed houses not a few years prior.
 
EngieDiesel
I'm also curious why you seem to think declining live attendance isn't important, because that's one of the primary ways track owners make their money and pretty much everyone agrees that it looks really bad when the TV broadcasts show huge swaths of empty seats when there used to be packed houses not a few years prior.
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It cost me around $1,000 going to the Auto Club 400 and I got the tickets for free which saved me four hundred something dollars. So would have been around $1,500 after it was all said and done and I live within an hour and 45 mins from that track. Bottom line, if I had to pay for the tickets I would not have attended. I could do like millions of Americans and watch it on my TV in my living room in full HD quality with really awesome camera angles that you can't see sitting up in the stands and it wouldn't have cost me anything but the cable service I already pay and my beer tab. NASCAR is hard to follow live. Most people come to party. If I had to pay that kind of money just to party, it's not justifiable. Price gouging at events is also a real drawback to attendance. The economy isn't great, people are unemployed and can't afford things they could just a few years ago. NASCAR popularity exploded in the early millennium like crazy. Can't ride that train forever it can only go down. It hasn't gone down enough to concern me and now we are at late 90's ratings which seems bad but it isn't and many of the complainers consider those the glory days. I'm fortunate enough to not live paycheck to paycheck but the good majority of Americans do. It's not really feasible to attend events if you are one of the millions of Americans who fall under that category.
 
AnthonyD1993
Jr. took 6th and had one of his best finishes this year at a road course off all places.
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That's not really surprising over the years Junior has gotten much better at Road Courses he finished second at Sonoma a couple years back. He's good there once the car is right, he's just more consistent at Watkins Glen. Which I feel proves the point @GOTMAXPOWER was trying to make.
 
Daytona Beach police have reported that there is a bomb threat for the speedway. Apparently someone called in a tip saying that there are several bombs place around the speedway. So far police haven't found anything.
Hopefully it's some idiot making a prank call and nothing real.
Source
 
Anybody else get the feeling in that skit with Rutledge trying to explain the HORRENDOUS point system to little kids that they're making fun of people pointing that out? :odd: Good lord it was cringe.
 
Really sad to see the stands so empty for a race like this.

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