Race Weekend Central

Beside The Rising Tide: Is It Still Over? Are We Still Through?

If you live in the northeast, you know the sound, especially if you live beneath a tin roof like I do in my humble abode. At first, it just sounds like rain drops, but there’s a peculiar metallic ting sound that can only mean one thing… ice pellets.

A close look out the window reveals those tiny pellets ricocheting off the glass and beginning to coat the branches on the trees a glossy color. Some primal instinct forces you to turn the heater up a few notches and dive for cover beneath the comforters in bed. (Shortly after which, this weekend at least, there was the sound of a huge tree branch falling and taking out the electric power for 40 hours.)

Yep, winter is upon us and the NASCAR season has come to an end albeit only too briefly. It’s time to start gift shopping for the holidays, put the snow tires on the Cherokee, and attach a new spark plug in the generator. Shovels aren’t needed yet but it’s best to dig them out of the corners of the garage now because they will be soon enough. But before starting a long winter’s nap, it’s time to take a moment and have a quick glance back at the 2017 Cup season.

Like every other Cup season I can recall, 2017 included some classics (both Martinsville races and the second Phoenix event) as well as some real clinkers (The World 600 or the second Michigan race). Overall, I’d say the season was somewhat below average perhaps because the 26 regular season races were no longer as important as those in the Chase… oops, sorry, playoffs. That proved especially true for drivers who’d already won a race to qualify. (My New Year’s resolution this year is to stop using the term “punched his ticket” in referring to NASCAR® racing. It was so overused this year, it’s already become hackneyed and a symptom of lazy writing as surely as adding the term “dreaded” in front of “aero push.”)

Yes, I dread aero push will continue to ruin stock car racing as we once knew it. But I’ll come up with a new modifier. Perhaps I’ll use something bordering on vulgarity next time I want to launch a boot through my computer as the second-place runner closes on the leader by a second a lap… until he gets to him. Then, the chaser can’t do anything with his prey due to the lack of front downforce.

This year, it seems to me that NASCAR finally concentrated rules changes on procedures rather than the race cars themselves. Perhaps the biggest single adjustment to the sport in 2017 was the addition of stage racing. When NASCAR officials first announced the new points system, they admitted that it was a bit unwieldy and tough to understand. But they urged fans (and I am nothing more than a fan of the sport) to give it a chance, watch how it unfolded, and it would become clearer to them.

That never happened. In fact, I can put a day to the moment I decided stage racing was a pig in the poke. On March 19, Ryan Newman won at Phoenix by gambling on fuel mileage. Newman earned 42 points for the win. Second place Kyle Larson had won a stage and was awarded 53 points. Third place Kyle Busch received 47 points. Heck, ninth place Chase Elliott got 42 points, the same number as Newman. You tell me in what other sport the ninth-place finisher gets the same benefit as the winner.

That was it for me and stage racing only four races into the season.

It was also hoped that the “breaks” between stages would turn into “TV timeouts”. By using the breaks as commercial segments, we were told we’d see more green-flag racing. If so, that was not apparent from my house. NASCAR said they hoped that the stage breaks would be about five minutes. In practice, they often dragged out twice that long or longer when NASCAR had difficulty sorting the running order out. That led to long, boring stretches of time with nothing of interest taking place. Someday, historians may trace the decline in NASCAR TV ratings to the remote control and channel surfing.

As for NASCAR’s new “five-minute” rule when it comes to repairing crash damaged cars, the jury is still out. On one hand, I like the idea that badly damaged cars can’t return to the track to get in the way of the field, just trying to accumulate a few more points. On the other hand, some fans have told me they hate the rule. And naturally, since NASCAR runs the clock and there’s no independent verification, some are suspicious if the rule is fairly applied. Either way, there’s still a lot more outrage about the Lucky Dog and wave-around welfare system that need to be addressed before the five-minute clock.

One instance that was undeniably stupid this year is the penalty on Matt Kenseth at Kansas. Kenseth was parked for the rest of the race because he had too many men go over the wall to attend to his beat-up Camry. Yes, there have always been rules about too many men over the wall or having crew members over the wall too early. But in this case, the penalty didn’t seem to fit the crime. Holding Kenseth a lap or two for the infraction would have seemed more appropriate despite the current rule.

Keep in mind there used to be rules concerning equipment being brought outside the pit box. (Particularly if that equipment was still in the hands of a team member.) And we all saw how that worked out for Jimmie Johnson. NASCAR later said they’d changed the rule in the interests of safety. They apparently did so without advising any crew chief other than Chad Knaus.

Speaking of Kenseth, apparently he won’t joining us for next year’s reindeer games. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had already announced his impending retirement at season’s end, ominously predicted that in the new financial realities of NASCAR driver salaries and perks would fall by the wayside. Kenseth seems to be the first victim of that new world order.

I’d guess that Matt could have found a ride for next year but not a ride he felt would offer him a competitive chance at winning, one that paid a salary worthy of a former Cup champion. But there’s a larger crisis at hand here. Before the season even started, NASCAR lost Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle. Now Earnhardt, Kenseth, and Danica Patrick won’t be back next year and NASCAR stands to lose their substantial fan bases. We don’t even know if Kurt Busch will be back. If he is, it might not be in the No. 41 car and all he did was win the 2017 Daytona 500 to start the year.

With the prospect of losing so many big name drivers (recall over the last couple years Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart also packed up their rocks and rolled) NASCAR at least has some new potential stars of the future waiting in the wings for their shot at a championship. Chase Elliott did everything but win a race this year, finishing second five times and staying in contention for the title until Denny Hamlin sent him into the wall at Martinsville with a move that was loudly booed by those on hand.

Elliott is still a bit dour at times but then his dad was never the most gregarious guy either. The scion of the Elliott clan just needs to toss in a few “I was tickled to death” quotes and he’ll be fine. Meanwhile, Ford rival Ryan Blaney did, in fact, win a race at Pocono in June. Journeyman driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was another first-time winner, scoring victories at Talladega in the spring and in the Firecracker 400.

Daniel Suarez had a decent rookie season and was showing improvement towards the end of the year. Erik Jones will move in-house with JGR next year in the ride Kenseth was forced to vacate with the team that won at Phoenix a few weeks ago. (Ask me to choose a cover shot for the 2017 NASCAR yearbook and I’ll go with one of Kenseth standing atop the No. 20 car with the sunlight fading in the background.)

And of course, Darrell Wallace Jr. will be joining the Cup ranks full-time next year driving the legendary No. 43 car. Before anyone judges him too harshly, too early next year take a look at how many races Petty’s team has won in the 25 years since the King retired. There’s just eight wins (Two by Bobby Hamilton, one by John Andretti, one by Aric Almirola, two by Marcos Ambrose, and two by Kasey Kahne.)

One driver who apparently won’t be getting a lot of enthusiasm from the crowd next year is Denny Hamlin. Such is the fate of someone who chooses to wreck a rising second-generation star. And when Earnhardt made his comments about how drivers should be ready to expect substantial pay cuts, Hamlin opined that drivers, in fact, deserved to get paid a lot more. He proposed salary figures like in the big ball sports which can reach into nine figures for a five-year deal.

Yeah, good luck with that, Denny, when 30 million dollar a year sponsorships have gone the way of the Dodo in NASCAR. Maybe self-professed and proud of it bad boy teammate Kyle Busch told Hamlin he, too, could get away with just about anything. Have your PR hack write up an act of contrition and Coach Joe will say a few prayers to that God that likes rich people the best and it will all be fine. Elliott who?

Up until now, Hamlin has always been a bit of a journeyman driver with undeniable talent but a reputation as a bit of a China doll when it comes to injuries and missing races. With a veteran and champion teammate and two new rising stars in the JGR lineup, well, surely Hamlin knows who gets the ax the next time there’s a new hot prospect in the Toyota racing development pipeline.

The Most Improved Driver award goes to this year’s champion, Martin Truex Jr. While he dominated on the mile-and-a-half tracks, Truex ran well just about everywhere (except the plate tracks) to end the year with a 9.4 average finish. I mean, come on, Truex winning on a road course? Where did that come from? (OK, he also got his second ever career win at Sonoma back in 2013.)

Any other outcome in the championship battle Sunday would have been a true travesty, even if you don’t go getting all maudlin about some of the off-track circumstances surrounding the championship. (Leave that stuff to People magazine.) While Truex might not have been atop many fans’ favorite driver list I think a large percentage still pulled for him when their own boy couldn’t win. They remember the screwing over he got at Michael Waltrip Racing in the Richmond Spingate affair.

While Truex did not participate in the shady shenanigans, he was the only driver to lose his sponsor and thus his job in the fallout of the incident. Moving to a team based out of Colorado? Yeah, that didn’t sound like a recipe for success. (Get well wishes to Furniture Row Racing owner Barney Visser having been through my own heart bypass surgery this summer. It wasn’t much fun but it beat the alternative.)

Runner-up in the “most improved” category would go to Kyle Larson. Entering 2017, Larson had only won one race. This year, he won four of them and posted top-five results in 15 total events. Oddly enough his primary sponsor, Target, decided to bail on Larson and the No. 42 team. Due to the vagaries of the playoff system, Larson slipped to eighth in the final standings despite a stellar season. The wheels fell off his little red wagon with four consecutive disastrous finishes at Kansas, Martinsville, Texas, and Phoenix. It’s not just if you’re good, it’s when you’re good.

Now, we look ahead to a 2018 world without some of the sport’s biggest names. What worries me most is the powers that be at NASCAR don’t seem to realize the depth of the challenges they face. Or perhaps, in the modern political environment they can use “alternative truths” to replace cold hard facts that can be studied and analyzed to show reality. After last year’s disastrous “State of the Sport” address featuring our very own Brian France, NASCAR decided to send in some backup for the boss in the form of series president Brent Dewar. You remember last year’s PR debacle, right? It involved France sweating profusely, throwing his arms around like one of those inflatable tube people on a used car lot. He cut off reporters, refused to answer some questions, and ended the affair 17 minutes into a scheduled 30-minute session.

In the course of this year’s slightly more orderly presser France went ahead and stated that attendance at racetracks for NASCAR events was actually up in “22 or 23” cases. Oddly enough, the main track owners in NASCAR, SMI and ISC, are publicly traded corporations and as such they must release quarterly reports on their earnings. In both cases, the facts and figures seem to contradict what France claimed. In addition, despite claims Sunday’s race was a sellout there were clearly empty seats at the event.

Nor does France think there’s a long-term problem with the TV ratings in the sport. He contended, not for the first time, that a declining television audience actually reflects that more people are using alternate forms to “consume” their NASCAR races on the computer or on their phone. But recently, those “add ons” have been included in some ratings reports and they do not hike the numbers significantly. Sunday’s NBC broadcast from Homestead earned a 2.7 rating (down from a 3.3 last year), better than most events lately but still a long way from entering the pantheon of major sporting championship events.

I still don’t get it. NASCAR claims 80 million fans but only around 2.5 million of them watch any given race? What are the other 77.5 million fans doing on Sundays? Perusing the shelves of the local grocery store for branded products? Whose manufacturers sponsor NASCAR teams, done out of their legendary loyalty to those sponsors that some still claim exists? Sure, NASCAR has added 12 corporate sponsors as of late. But perhaps I fail to see the importance of being the Official Urinary Catheter of NASCAR.

While Mr. Dewar seemed a bit more grounded in reality than France, one of his comments convinced me that the sport is in real trouble. “We try to put a process in place to get the best inputs to allow us to make the best decisions,” he said. “We started with the manufacturers, the OEMs, and then we went to the team owners and the drivers and the tracks, and then we come together collaboratively, bring all those things together, and you see some of that hard work.”

Car manufacturers, check. Team owners, check. Drivers (those of them who are left), check. But where’s the input from the fans, the fans that NASCAR claims to love so dearly, the ones whose hard-earned money actually finances the sport? Despite some repeated and heated protests against some elements by the vox populi those protests are ignored.

There were at least hints that some big changes might be coming. Dewar stated “One last comment, and that is we’ve really got a big change for ’18. Remember again, we’ve got five-year contracts with our track partners, and we’ve got a big change for ’18 in terms of the schedule, worked closely with the tracks and the broadcast partners to do that.”

Hmmm. They’ve already tried the later start times at the network’s request. To be polite, that hasn’t worked out too well and hasn’t been universally embraced by the fans just yet. In fact, when they write me some fans use very hurtful and profane terms to describe races starting at 3 p.m. rather than the traditional 1 p.m. ET start times.

We’ll give Dewar the benefit of the doubt here. Since the 2018 NASCAR schedule has already been released and there were no big changes we’ll suppose he’s talking about 2019 and beyond with the adjustments to be announced next year. Stay tuned.

But to paraphrase Mr. France, if you haven’t checked out NASCAR in the last five years, you haven’t watched a once-proud enterprise going down the tubes awash in a flood of greed, indifference, and ineptitude. It’s a damn shame to watch.

As always, my thanks to you my readers for sticking it out with me for another year. It’s through your comments that I’ve learned to be a better writer and after 20 some years of plugging away at this craft, I think there’s a chance I might be able to get the hang of it given some more time. I never make up my mind about returning for another swing at the piñata before taking a month off to decompress. Meanwhile, enjoy whatever winter holiday you celebrate and enjoy time you get to spend with family and friends. I got an all-too-close look at mortality in July and it helped reset my priorities. It’s the love you share with the people closest to you that matters. Everything else is just a sport.

About the author

Matt joined Frontstretch in 2007 after a decade of race-writing, paired with the first generation of racing internet sites like RaceComm and Racing One. Now semi-retired, he submits occasional special features while his retrospectives on drivers like Alan Kulwicki, Davey Allison, and other fallen NASCAR legends pop up every summer on Frontstretch. A motorcycle nut, look for the closest open road near you and you can catch him on the Harley during those bright, summer days in his beloved Pennsylvania.

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Matty H

Matt – wow, nary a comment, since you just covered it all. I haven’t been to a Cup race lately, but when I attended the Martinsville fall race I was shocked by all the empty seats — at least 50%

Bill B

Mattt, thanks for a great recap of the season and for another year of covering the sport. I hope you come back next year. Enjoy your month of decomposing :)

rg72

One gets the feeling that 2018 will be much like 2016, where the biggest off-the-track story was the search for a new Cup series title sponsor. Monster seems to be lukewarm at best on re-upping and honestly, who can blame them?

janice

matt, you’re too young to have had a bypass. STOP SMOKING! i know the damage is already done.

i can’t see how the sport will rebound from the exit of jr. the youngsters are encouraging but jr put butts in the stands, and he didn’t even do that, except at dega, during his retirement tour.

have a good off season and holiday season. don’t be doing any ice skating at eyesore acres.

Al Torney

Your many thoughts echo mine or maybe mine echo yours. I can understand NASCAR and the media remaining positive in the face of overwelming adversity. The fact that the “playoff” tv ratings continued on their downward spiral should be a wake up call that something is amiss. Noted Sirius NASCAR personality Dave Moody actually told of a story he read that stated that Fox and NBC were perfectly happy with their NASCAR deal. Now what fool actually believes that tv networks are delighted to see their ratings decrease year after year? And Brian keeps repeating that he is happy with where the sport is. Why would empty seats and lower tv ratings make anyone happy? Over the years NASCAR has had the attitude that fans will learn to live with our decisions and eventually forget about them. Guess what? The theory doesn’t work anymore. The fans threw them the finger and left. They don’t appear to be coming back. If NASCAR thought they would be returning why would they reduce seating at damn near every race track? Hmmmm!

I would call 2017 a success for one reason. Truex was not a ten race champion. He enjoyed a terrific season and deserved to win the Cup title. He dominated the entire season. And that’s the way it should be. A 36 race champion.

Bill B

Al,
RE: “Over the years NASCAR has had the attitude that fans will learn to live with our decisions and eventually forget about them.”

It’s worse that that. They have lost sight of the fact that we are customers and instead view us as sheep to be herded down the path they chose and managed to their desired end.

DamnHappyforTruex

It’s time for a real shake-up in Nascar. The problem now is you can’t please both “old-school” fans and the younger generations. It’s time to pick. though I fall into the latter, the younger generations will determine whether there is a Nascar in 20 years. The remedy is not obvious but consistency is the first step. Consistency in rules, particularly. The second is simplification. You shouldn’t need a computer to tell you who has how many points at the end of the race or season. I’m fine with stage racing as it ups the intensity and isn’t too far removed from the racing that goes on at Saturday night short tracks. However, just award normal points for stage wins and don’t make them more significant than a race win- which should pay significantly more points than the trailing positions.

Next, the tracks need a big time shakeup. You call Nascar drivers the best? Prove it. In my humble opinion, Indycar trumps Nascar and F1 in this area. Let’s see drivers challenged to their core. You really want to make it interesting, throw in more road courses and even street courses. Hell, get rid of most of the intermediate tracks and replace them with some left and right turns. Imagine if Nascar came to St Petersburg, Long Beach, etc. Granted this would be impossible with the current heavy and outdated cars which brings me to the final point: the cars. Take a page from DTM, Supercars, etc and build the cars lighter, nimbler and powerful- like the “stock” cars manufacturers are producing these days. Normally aspirated V8’s, V10’s, turbo V6’s, who cares? Just make them loud and fast.

The new Formula 1 management is recognizing now that short term pain (in terms of $) is required in order to ensure long-term gain and, most importantly, survival. Indycar recognizes gimmicks aren’t required to have great racing and re-grow their sport. Hell, even IMSA and the ACO are right now looking to how their rules post-2020 will be structured to guarantee survival. (Formerly V8) Supercars have already adjusted their model accordingly. When have we seen or heard anything similar from Nascar? Short-term focus and constant course corrections are a sure way to ensure future apathy. Take a look around Nascar, see what works, figure out who you are and where you want to go and make a plan. Finally, stick to it.

Russ

Have to agree with quite a bit of what you wrote. Although I date my interest in Nascar back as far as 63-4, my generation is done. We may write more to forums such as this but we shouldn’t be allowed to shape the future. Simply because we wont be around for it, although maybe there is some type of transition we could be a part of.

Anyway, good comments I hope somebody listens to you.

PattyKay Lilley

You did cover it all, and all of it is sad to an old and tired fan. I hope you’ll come back, if only part-time. This year it’s been a comfort to an old lady to look for your columns on Tuesday. I allowed myself a bit of laziness this week and didn’t write a word. I think everyone that cares knows who won the Championship and who’s not coming back. I’ll write when there’s something to say that all the guys that get paid haven’t said yet.

I’ll leave you with a bit of a day brightener. On Sunday, Monte Dutton put up a tweet on Twitter that says what most of us that still pound keyboards have to be thinking.

“Monte Dutton
@MonteDutton
·
Nov 19
I wish I could write fiction as well as Brian France. #NASCAR”

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!!!

DoninAjax

The problem with Brian is that he believes what he says and his toadies won’t tell him different. If they did there would be firings like at the White House.

Bill B

DoninAjax, you could have added “… like at the White House or any other company that has to answer to a board of directors and stock holders”.
It’s good to be king.

DoninAjax

Or Emperor and count your money in the vault while what you control burns to the ground.

John B

I concur with you Miss PattyKay. Thanks for the Monte Dutton tweet.

Enjoyed your articles this year Matt. We used to talk once in a while via PM back in the old SpeedFX/R1 days. Well said, be well and hopefully we see you next year.

This year marks the end of 21 years as a season ticket holder at Bristol Motor Speedway. The night race, which we got to take our grandkids to for their first ever race was the 43rd straight for me at that track. Time to move on. I’m not leaving NASCAR, it left me.

This is the first year in a quarter of a century that I did not plant my butt on my couch and watch green to checkers coverage. This was the first year in a quarter of a century that I didn’t go out of my way to tune them in every week on my Sirius app, and listen while enjoying the outdoors.

I have made NASCAR a profound part of my life, for close to half of it. I wish the sport no ill will, but it’s sad to watch what’s happening.

A word on this season’s recently crowned champion. It wouldn’t have been a crime, but it would have felt like one had anybody else won the title this year. That team was hands down the best from the time the green dropped in Daytona til the checkers flew this passed Sunday.

Bravo Zulu to MT and his entire team.

John Irby

In that “State of the Sport” presser, Prince Brian got edgy when the subject of that Monster’s Cup Series renewal decision was still pending came up. It has been written that Monster has until January 2018 to decide if they: 1) Re-up as the Cup sponsor beyond 2018. 2) Re-up with SHR for Kurt Busch’s #41 Ford for 2018. 3) Re-up with John Force Racing in the NHRA for 2018. That’s a bunch of big financial decisions to be sorted out soon and that doesn’t include their continued sponsorships of off-road racing and motocross. Plus, there have been rumblings that Monster thinks the $20M per season for the Cup sponsorship is too much (Sprint-Nextel used to do up to $75M a season back in the glory days) and they want an “adjustment”.

Sounds like things will be getting interesting in January?

Kevin

Thanks for another year of your wonderful articles. Look forward to them every week (at least when you not getting bypass surgery)! We will see what happens next year w/o some of the sport’s most/least popular drivers.
Be safe.

Fed Up

I always enjoy your weekly comments and our like mindedness. Thanks to you and Frontstretch for keeping the discussion honest. The rest of the Jayski
headlines are only pitching computer hits.

Best regards ’til February.

Roy Hunt

Well Matt glad to see you`re still calling it as you see it!

HoosierHustler(from old RACINGONE)

Carl D.

I try to be the eternal optimist…. Sure, the sport has gonevdownhill faster than a fat kid on roller skates, but now we have TV remotes to fast-forward thru the boring parts if the race. Hell, I can watch a 500 miler in less thim than it takes to shower and shave.

I whole-heartedly agree with you about the points for stage racing. I have trouble with higher forms of math such as trigonometry, calculus, and nascar pointometry.

Bad Brad is right… If Ford doesn’t do something about those rolling turds they call race cars, and do it quick, they’ll be the laughing stock of Nascar next season. I get that the Toyotas are fast, but I could have outrun Brad!s Ford in my Avalon the second half of the season.

Here in famously-hot SC snow tires are a lot like Sasquatch (the yankee version of the Lizard Man)… People claim to have seen them but no one can actually prove they exist.

Carl D.

Sorry for the typos. I usually catch them immediately after I hit post. I do wish this website’s comment section utilized a spell-checker or edit capability.

Dennis S

Matt, my father and I catch your articles as often as we can, its great stuff. I look forward to seeing more next year. Enjoy your time off.

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