The imminent end of NASCAR

By: Peter Lewis

(Writer’s Note- This article will not debate whether or not NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing, is a sport, rather, it will examine the problems it faces, how it got to there, and its future.)

 

If you haven’t heard, the NASCAR season came to an end with driver Jimmie Johnson winning his sixth title in eight years.  It may be hard to remember, but at the turn of the millennium NASCAR was one of the fastest growing “sports” in the America and becoming very popular outside the South, where it originated.  As Forbes magazine reported from 1998 to 2005, NASCAR had substantially higher television ratings than the NFL.  Since 2006, though, they’ve seen a decline, but since 2010, they’ve seen a dramatic fall.  Attendance has also dropped dramatically since 2009, around twenty percent, reports YahooSports.

So what happened to NASCAR, exactly?  Clearly, it wasn’t a fad. Since the 1980s interest in NASCAR was growing and it reached unimaginable popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  So, most viewers were content with nothing but left turns and southern venues and drivers every Sunday afternoon.  For many, this era of NASCAR fans were witness to drivers with different personalities, rivalries, close and dangerous racing and death defying that became appealing entertainment.  It also managed to feel like every week was different and never really got to predictable, which caused attention and popularity to sky rocket in the early 2000s. 

NASCAR’S problems probably did begin, however, when it got popular.  NASCAR was primarily a Southern business, but as the rest of the U.S. gained interest in the company, NASCAR decided to move out of the South and expand to states it never dared going to, such as California, Texas, and Arizona .  This expanded its presence around the country, but at a cost to its identity in some regards.  Yet, this wasn’t its biggest problem; the fan base did grow and the Southern audience remained, but as time moved on it became a much more glaring problem.  As its popularity fell in those states far from the South, the attendance and viewership went down. 

            NASCAR’S second problem was how it put money ahead of product.  As NASCAR grew, so did the teams, but the problem was money.  Just putting a car on a track for practice costs a team a lot of money, so sponsorship was needed more than ever.  With this, NASCAR obviously got greedy and became too concerned with getting new sponsorships and having networks broadcasting their events.  This stigma also fell on the teams and drivers, personalities became blander as drivers went from daredevils to walking talking billboards, rivalries became rarer, and those that occurred were shot down by NASCAR for safety reasons.  The racing became too conservative and started becoming three and half hours of follow the leader, compared to cars always passing and making daring moves, which kept fans on the edge of their seats.

            Yet, none of this could compare to NASCAR’s final and ultimate failure, The Chase for the Cup.  The debate of NASCAR being a sport had still been a topic of discussion even at its peak.  NASCAR was convinced it was a sport, and, to prove it, they invented their own playoff, The Chase.  The Chase is a concept where 12 drivers attempt to stay in the top 12 standings for the first 26 races of the season.  The top 12 are the only drivers for the last ten races who can win the championship.  This system is simply laughable; no other racing company does this, not even NASCAR’S other series.  For example during a cross country race, everyone has a shot at winning.  What if suddenly they’re all stopped and the first ten runners are the only ones who can win and then race the final miles starting at the same time, completely disregarding the first place runner’s lead?  The other runners can still run, but can’t win.  This is simply the most idiotic system ever put in place, but in NASCAR’S mind they had a good reason.  Their reason was that the old points system made it too easy to win the championship, which meant the final three or four races of the year had the lowest rating, even though this point system had occurred throughout the years and its popularity continued growing with it. NASCAR was still convinced it would not be beneficial to their future.  Those occurrences of a driver running away with the championship were fairly uncommon, however, and the ratings didn’t take a dramatic fall as NASCAR had to believe.  What did make the ratings collapse was the Chase itself.  Since its debut in 2004, when ratings were at their peak and more than doubled the NFL’s ratings, the interest in NASCAR declined rapidly when people became aware of its short comings and how it did away with competition.  While it initially added some tension to the final races of the season, the problems listed above and the Chase began NASCAR’S downfall.  Racing became conservative and most were racing to make the playoff group.  When the Chase began, it made it simply too easy to win.  After ten of these abominations to racing, Jimmie Johnson has won six.  Does this mean he’s one of the greatest drivers ever like Petty and Earnhardt who won seven in the old system?  Well in the old system this is what the season would have looked like if the Chase hadn’t existed from 2004 to 2012:

From Bleacher Report:

2004: Chase 2inner- Kurt Bush by 8

2004: Old system winner- Jeff Gordon by 47

2005: Chase winner- Tony Stewart by 35

2005: Old system winner- Tony Stewart by 215

2006: Chase winner- Jimmie Johnson by 56

2006: Old system winner- Jimmie Johnson by 4

2007: Chase winner- Jimmie Johnson by 77

2007: Old system winner- Jeff Gordon by 353

2008: Chase winner- Jimmie Johnson by 69

2008: Old system winner- Carl Edwards by 16

2009: Chase winner- Jimmie Johnson by 141

2009: Old system winner- Jimmie Johnson by 66

2010: Chase winner- Jimmie Johnson by 39

2010: Old system winner- Kevin Harvick by 285

2011: Chase winner- Tony Stewart by tie breaker over Carl Edwards

2011: Old system winner- Carl Edwards by 7

2012: Chase winner- Brad Keselowski by 39

2012: Old system winner- Brad Keselowski by 19

 

Now, yes, as Bleacher Report states, this doesn’t take into account that drivers could have handled the final races differently and momentum could have changed as well.  However, from this it’s easy to see the Chase is not the best system in any way.

Since its introduction, the Chase has ruined NASCAR.  All the hard work since the 1950s to bring it to the mainstream was ruined.  Is it fair to say this? With the evidence above, yes. When people found out the Chase was not efficient in crowning a true championship (after Johnson won his fourth in a row after 2009), the ratings and attendance shot down fast.  NASCAR has been oblivious to their problems and their solutions to try to attract viewers and fans back have failed.  ESPN and TNT opted out of their television deals with NASCAR weeks ago, showing its glory days are long gone and the end is truly coming.  Can they do anything to regain their lost glory?  At this moment it doesn’t look likely in any way, the damage has been done and the former fans have found other sources of Sunday entertainment, NFL ratings increased dramatically since the Chase was introduced.  The safe bet for race fans at this point, look into Indy Car or F1, because NASCAR will most likely be gone within the next decade.  It’s unfortunate, but they brought this upon themselves by becoming greedy and not attempting to give fans the best product possible.