With Jimmie Johnson crowned the 2006 Nextel Cup champion, NASCAR heads into its most important offseason in decades.
Between the end of 2003 and the start of 2004, the sport was adjusting to Nextel as its new title sponsor and the Chase for the Nextel Cup format. There’s more going on now than then.
Less than two months from now, Nextel Cup cars will take to the track for testing at Daytona. When they do, Toyotas will be among them. ESPN will be preparing for its return to NASCAR broadcasting, and Cup teams will be hard at work trying to get their “car of tomorrow” fleet ready to roll at the spring race at Bristol.
The reason all that is so important is NASCAR has to get it all right.
As the 2006 season closes, the story most people want to talk about is not how Johnson surged in the final half of the Chase to take command and win a sixth championship for car owner Rick Hendrick.
No, the buzz around the sport, for the first time in a long time, is negative, as everybody wants to discuss the perceived business “lull” NASCAR is experiencing.
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you know why this business “lull” has happened
NASCAR’s tradition is becoming more and more invisible everyday. What got NASCAR where it is today is gone. tracks just sitting there with nothing happening on them. the tracks that made it famous. money hungry brian france. 2004 was the season. the season that his effects on NASCAR started to show. ive been telling people this ever since he came in. am i biased? how should i know. Im fifteen years old. i should be talking about the future of NASCAR and yet i am talking about the past. no wonder the ratings are dropping. The fans that brought this sport to the top do not watch anymore for the simple reason that NASCAR is betraying them. If big Bill was still the ceo, NASCAR would still be growing. We need a traditional CEO. One that cares about the past and the future and not about now. NASCAR needs change or it will one day be a victim of disappearance. Mark my words.
you know why this business “lull” has happened
NASCAR’s tradition is becoming more and more invisible everyday. What got NASCAR where it is today is gone. tracks just sitting there with nothing happening on them. the tracks that made it famous. money hungry brian france. 2004 was the season. the season that his effects on NASCAR started to show. ive been telling people this ever since he came in. am i biased? how should i know. Im fifteen years old. i should be talking about the future of NASCAR and yet i am talking about the past. no wonder the ratings are dropping. The fans that brought this sport to the top do not watch anymore for the simple reason that NASCAR is betraying them. If big Bill was still the ceo, NASCAR would still be growing. We need a traditional CEO. One that cares about the past and the future and not about now. NASCAR needs change or it will one day be a victim of disappearance. Mark my words.
It doesn’t surprise me that NASCAR is in a lull, but let’s face it, every spectator sport’s fanbase starts levelling out at some point. I think the COT is going to drag ratings down, and sooner or later the governing body will pull the COT and stick with the streamlined cars we currently have. Once you start taking out the elements that create competition, ratings go down. The Chase alone isn’t going to attract people to the sport, the cars will, and if every car is simply a box with stickers and wheels on it, there’s no competition, and nothing to watch. I’ve heard NASCAR is thinking about pulling restrictor plates because the COT was going to be slow enough and aerodynamically stable enough, but seriously…that’s too much. NASCAR needs to leave well enough alone, they have a good thing going right now and tampering with it is only going to make things go awry.
i haven’t looked at the numbers to see how bad nascar is doing compared to its peak… but everything that makes it to the top, pretty much goes down. it’s possible that nascar has just levelled out. i suppose they could drop more, but i see it as more of a balancing out. of course, i really think the cot is bad news bears. i can’t see a positive in it. the point to racing is bringing the best you can. back at the dirt tracks, that’s what you do. you cheat and try to get the better car until you’re caught. that’s racing! duh!! how can nascar forget that!? it’s all about who’s the fastest, and we all know you can be an amazing driver, but having that edge of a fast car gets ya there. (with the exception of stewart and a few others… they could drive the wheels off anything and somehow win…) but nonetheless, COT = BAD IDEA.
Nascar has been trying to lose its image as a sport of the south but thats what it is. It was born there and when its all said and done [if the current leadership dont kill it ] it will end up back there.