Dale Jr Wins - NASCAR Rant

Dale Jr. wins at Daytona! I'm happy for Junior. The guy has worked hard to get back on top and been so close with a few second place finishes in recent years. He is a class act and I thought it was great he went around and hugged his crew before he did a victory lane interview. With Dale Jr. winning, and if he can win a few more times this season, NASCAR could see some resurgence... maybe.

Once upon a time I was a big NASCAR fan. And for a while on Sunday night watching the Daytona 500 I was again. I've been to several NASCAR events. I went to Michigan a few times, Atlanta, the Brickyard, Kansas, and Chicago. I loved Dale Earnhardt, and after his death the torch was passed on to Dale Jr. Then in 2003 NASCAR got in its own way by taking long standing traditions out of the sport in hopes of growing the sport, and it did grow for a short while, but it receded in a few short years.

Brian France needs to resign.  Everything that has gone wrong in NASCAR over the past decade since he took over the reins has happened on his watch.  What other CEO or Commissioner would keep his job with his track record?  Here are my top five reasons why NASCAR won't fully rebound.  And even if they do what I ask below here, I think it's too late.

1. In 2003 NASCAR got rid of its oldest race on the schedule, one of its four major events, the Southern 500 at Darlington on Labor Day weekend.  The Labor Day race was given to California, and it's now at Atlanta.  Darlington is the best track on the circuit.  It's big, fast, narrow, and in the day time it's a hot slick track, the closest thing to a dirt track they raced on.  Drivers have to get up on the wheel to survive this track, let alone win.  Winning the Southern 500 was a big deal, and it was once part of the Winston Million series.  Darlington is essentially the Fenway Park of NASCAR.  The Southern 500 is back now on Mother’s Day weekend, and its run at night.  This needs to be a day time race to have slick track conditions, and it needs moved back to its Labor Day date.  This would be the first major step to regain the core fan base.

2.  In 2007 the Car of Tomorrow was introduced, and while I applauded the safety innovation of this car, it looked horrible (too tall and the wing instead of a spoiler was too much), and drivers were not able to race these cars as well making for terrible racing.  The Gen 6 car was introduced in 2013 and it's better looking, but the results haven't been much better.  The cars are all too equal.  Meanwhile race teams spend even more money in research trying to find an edge. 

3.  In 2007 Teresa Earnhardt made a huge decision that impacted the sport.  While it may have been the best decision for her, it was the worst decision for the sport.  Instead of selling DEI to Dale Jr. and his sister Kelly, she decided to merge it with Gin Racing, and then with Chip Ganassi.  DEI became TEI essentially.  When Dale Jr. left and signed with Hendrick, Teresa would not relinquish the #8 to Dale Jr. and forced him to pick a new number, #88.  Why would Teresa at least not sell the car number?  Now DEI is out of the racing business and it's become a museum. 

4.  The Chase format.  In 2004 the point format changed to a playoff type system.  It was a little confusing to start with, but in 2014 it's been changed again to make it even worse.  I don't know who NASCAR uses for their marketing focus groups, but I'm guessing not too many real race fans end up being part of the group.  There was nothing wrong with the old format.  This was an artificial way to create excitement after the start of the NFL season when TV ratings drop off a bit.  Kind of like the government getting involved to stimuli the economy.  Now this year it's an even worse format.  I mean a driver could win 30 races and if he loses the final race of the year he doesn't win the championship.  How stupid would that be?  Nothing like taking a bad idea and making it even more complicated to understand in 2014. 

5.  Too many night races.  On Friday and Saturday night from April-October, guess where your core audience is?  At a local dirt track, where race fans actually see good racing. 

Brian France, you need to step away from the sport, before you drive it further into the ground.  Just because your family owns half the tracks and the series, doesn't mean you're qualified to run the sport.  

This topic gets me worked up, and last night watching Junior win Daytona made me realize just how good it used to be, how much passion I used to have, how much I cared at one time.  It's so sad to see it in the state it is today.  

The fake enthusiasm that the announcers have to continually interject to keep their jobs is painful to watch at times.  If you put Chris Collinsworth or Bob Costas in there to do a race, WOW would you hear some honest commentary.

That's it for my rant today.  Sorry to rain on Dale Jr's parade.  Hope he can win the championship!  I will be back with real racing news soon.