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NASCAR is on the wane, if not done. Some NASCAR tracks are removing seats, usually on the back stretch, so the empty seats don't show up on TV. Former big time fan. Currently a 'who cares' fan.
For sure not done, still the biggest motorsports in the states. If Nascar is dead then every other motorsports here are dead too, but thats not the case. Nascar has plateaued for awhile now, nhra is dipping (while losing drivers), and indy car as on a slight uphill that's almost flat but still very far behind nascar.
 
For sure not done, still the biggest motorsports in the states. If Nascar is dead then every other motorsports here are dead too, but thats not the case. Nascar has plateaued for awhile now, nhra is dipping (while losing drivers), and indy car as on a slight uphill that's almost flat but still very far behind nascar.
Should be National Association of Kit Car Auto racing.
 
It no longer exists in the true sense of it's prime years in the 50's & 60's.
Though they may have been death traps, the drivers knew it and most drove accordingly.
Now the "cars" in NASCAR bear no resemblance to what is sold in showrooms on Monday.
And with all the safety devices and precautions in the vehicles, the drivers can be, and are
reckless as opposed to cautious.
When King Richard left Plymouth, my interest in NASCAR, although minor, ceased completely.
I can't name a single driver (or a married one) and have no idea which "makes" (and I use that term VERY LOOSELY) even compete any more.
Nor, do I even care.
For somebody who hates NASCAR so much you must be watching it to have all these bad comments.
 
The main rumors are that Honda or Acura would be joining the series. Acura is the main name being thrown around with their new TLX and their push to enter motorsports in different leagues. They are really proud of their new sports sedan and they want to promote it.

There have been minor rumors about Dodge coming back. I hope this is true, but it is unlikely and most die-hard Mopar fans pushing this idea.

Others have brought up Kia and the K5 or Hyundai but there have been no indications from the conglomerate they would join.
 
One thing they definitely have in common with their street counterparts; the more safety improvements they add the more reckless the drivers become.
 
It no longer exists in the true sense of it's prime years in the 50's & 60's.
Though they may have been death traps, the drivers knew it and most drove accordingly.
Now the "cars" in NASCAR bear no resemblance to what is sold in showrooms on Monday.
And with all the safety devices and precautions in the vehicles, the drivers can be, and are
reckless as opposed to cautious.
When King Richard left Plymouth, my interest in NASCAR, although minor, ceased completely.
I can't name a single driver (or a married one) and have no idea which "makes" (and I use that term VERY LOOSELY) even compete any more.
Nor, do I even care.
NASCAR’s prime was not in the 50’s and 60’s. It was basically a east coast/southern thing. Most races had less than 10,000 spectators at the track. Most people couldn’t give you the name of a driver back then if you asked them. The first live race was in ‘79 at Dayton, before that, you got condensed highlights weeks later. CBS took a chance on broadcasting the race and almost decided to not broadcast other races after the wreck and fight between Yarborough and the Allison brothers on the last lap. They thought it was just a bunch of ********, not an actual sport. The ”prime” of NASCAR was the 80’s and 90’s. This began the climb in TV ratings and attendanc, NASCAR was becoming a household name. There was also some of the best competition ever in the sport. During the 50’s and 60’s, there were only a handful of teams that ran the entire season. Richard Petty won several of his championships because he was able to compete in all of the races. There were some great drivers, but there was just more competition in the 80’s and 90’s.

Earnhardt, Wallace, the Labontes, Waltrip, Martin, Elliott, Gordon, Irvin, Davy Allison, Rudd, Bonnet, Geoff Bodine, Gant, and Kulwicki were the young guns and the old guard, like Petty, Donnie Allison, Yarborough, Buck Baker, Buddy Baker, and Pearson were still running. Most of those named are considered to be in the top 20 of all time in NASCAR. Everything about NASCAR was bigger and better during that time, but it didn’t last.
 
For sure not done, still the biggest motorsports in the states. If Nascar is dead then every other motorsports here are dead too, but thats not the case. Nascar has plateaued for awhile now, nhra is dipping (while losing drivers), and indy car as on a slight uphill that's almost flat but still very far behind nascar.
NASCAR has been on the decline for years, with this year being one of it worst years. TV viewership is down as much as 40% for some races, with attendance at all time lows. Many tracks have removed large sections of grandstands to give the illusion that it isn’t that bad. After NASCAR went woke with Confederate Flag ban, and jumping to conclusions without any investigating the noose incident, many fans left and won’t come back. Once NASCAR goes electric, it will be over, as will all other motor sports. Watching a bunch of quiet cars go around the track, or down the strip, just won’t bring the fans. No fans, no money, no sponsorships mean no more racing.
 
NASCAR is no longer on a decline. It's stabilized and I believe has a lot of potential for another growth period.

The two races pointed out where ratings were down 40% was the Daytona 500 that got rained out and ran on a Monday when everyone was working. The other was a Saturday Pocono race that no-one knew was on a Saturday. Because the following day, the Sunday race of Pocono matched the previous years ratings.

If we are going to go after the drops in viewership, lets also talk about the gains.
The O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 had nearly 5 million viewers over the 3.2 million the previous year. The Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead had 4.2 million viewers compared to 2.7 the previous year. The Food City Bristol race had 3.1 million compared to 2.9 the previous year. Richmond had 3.3 million over 2.7 million. Talladega had 4.7 million over 2.0 million the previous year. Kansas had 2.7 to 1.4 million. Dover had 2.4 million over 1.7 million. The Coca Cola 600 was 4 million over 3.9. What I am saying is the majority of races this year have had their tv ratings up or about the same. Source I could go on.

NASCAR track attendance has been an ongoing issue, but has had many sell outs this year, which they were not having previous years. Road America was a completely overcrowded sell-out. Nashville was a sell out. Many other tracks have had lower than peak attendance, but they have had steady attendance and more than previous years.

To say NASCAR is declining is no longer the case. It is either reached it's position averaging roughly 3 million viewers a week, or being on the edge of another growth spurt with all the new drivers, new talent, and new people watching. Demographics from the tv ratings have shown lots of new viewers, but also the viewers watching on tv. NASCAR's biggest gains have been through people streaming races online, which are not included on tv ratings. Depending on where you look and for which race, this can add as much as 400,000 to a million new viewers per race, possibly more. This is coming from roughly 50,000 streamers just back in 2018.
 
Hate to discourage you, but NASCAR is still trying to recover not only with COVID but also with their ill thought out over saturation expansion plan of the nineties and just like the hippies traveling in vans in the sixties, the red neck camper fans of the nineties have grown up and left the center field (for good)! I don't know where the current retro fit of the small forgotten southern race tracks is going or whether it will be successful, but the fan base have grown up and their off spring are more interested in I-Pads in their bedroom instead of the time gone by value of sitting on the back seat going to a NASCAR race! I don't see the new fan comprehending a ten minute battery cell pit stop with the possible introduction of NASCAR EV's but we will see! Any (new) manufacturer to NASCAR cannot justify a fifty million dollar investment ti the sport and the expected shortened life of the ICE engine!
 
I don't know. The last two races I attended - the Coca-Cola 600 and the fall Bristol race last year - were well attended. About 60,000 at the 600 and over 150,000 at Bristol. It wasn't just the old red neck crowd either. Lots of young people.

It is true many other tracks were not sell outs, but they did have a decent crowd at quite a few. NASCAR doesn't publicize the actual attendence so it is hard to say with any accuracy.
 
I don't know. The last two races I attended - the Coca-Cola 600 and the fall Bristol race last year - were well attended. About 60,000 at the 600 and over 150,000 at Bristol. It wasn't just the old red neck crowd either. Lots of young people.

It is true many other tracks were not sell outs, but they did have a decent crowd at quite a few. NASCAR doesn't publicize the actual attendence so it is hard to say with any accuracy.
Generally speaking after NASCAR expanded to Chicago, Kentucky and others as well as 'reinventing' some southern tracks, Michigan's June Race saw the beginning of the June Race hemorrhage. Before the expansion, Michigan (MIS) drew fans from Ohio, Pa, Kentucky, Tenn and Illionois as well as Canada continiously filling the grandstands and infield to 160Kplus. Not anymore! Those were the happy days for Brooklyn business and it's economy. The results finally came to roost when MIchigan tore out 40 percent on the grandstands and still continues to hemorrhage after losing one the two NASCAR Races. Now MIS had been transitioning to non-automotive events such as the Faster Horses Concert Weekend which along with it's problems brings in many more fans than a NASCAR race.
 
NASCAR is no longer on a decline. It's stabilized and I believe has a lot of potential for another growth period.

The two races pointed out where ratings were down 40% was the Daytona 500 that got rained out and ran on a Monday when everyone was working. The other was a Saturday Pocono race that no-one knew was on a Saturday. Because the following day, the Sunday race of Pocono matched the previous years ratings.

If we are going to go after the drops in viewership, lets also talk about the gains.
The O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 had nearly 5 million viewers over the 3.2 million the previous year. The Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead had 4.2 million viewers compared to 2.7 the previous year. The Food City Bristol race had 3.1 million compared to 2.9 the previous year. Richmond had 3.3 million over 2.7 million. Talladega had 4.7 million over 2.0 million the previous year. Kansas had 2.7 to 1.4 million. Dover had 2.4 million over 1.7 million. The Coca Cola 600 was 4 million over 3.9. What I am saying is the majority of races this year have had their tv ratings up or about the same. Source I could go on.

NASCAR track attendance has been an ongoing issue, but has had many sell outs this year, which they were not having previous years. Road America was a completely overcrowded sell-out. Nashville was a sell out. Many other tracks have had lower than peak attendance, but they have had steady attendance and more than previous years.

To say NASCAR is declining is no longer the case. It is either reached it's position averaging roughly 3 million viewers a week, or being on the edge of another growth spurt with all the new drivers, new talent, and new people watching. Demographics from the tv ratings have shown lots of new viewers, but also the viewers watching on tv. NASCAR's biggest gains have been through people streaming races online, which are not included on tv ratings. Depending on where you look and for which race, this can add as much as 400,000 to a million new viewers per race, possibly more. This is coming from roughly 50,000 streamers just back in 2018.
Last years NASCAR TV improved views may be related as the Country was coming out of COVID and was the only sport venue that was not only televised but also one to the public! I remind everyone that MLB, NFL, NBA and the NHL did not have a 'season' with spectators and NASCAR was the only thing going both in person and on TV! It would be interesting to see viewer stats this year especially after the other sports venues had spectators and viewers! I didn't sleep at the Holiday Inn last night but I would wager that NASCAR viewership declined at the start of the NFL and NBA season.
 
Last years NASCAR TV improved views may be related as the Country was coming out of COVID and was the only sport venue that was not only televised but also one to the public! I remind everyone that MLB, NFL, NBA and the NHL did not have a 'season' with spectators and NASCAR was the only thing going both in person and on TV! It would be interesting to see viewer stats this year especially after the other sports venues had spectators and viewers! I didn't sleep at the Holiday Inn last night but I would wager that NASCAR viewership declined at the start of the NFL and NBA season.
NBA, MLB, and NHL are all down this year or flat in the ratings. NFL is up and dominating over 2020 and years previous. MLB is seeing a decline for their season but a slight increase during the current World Series. The NBA has tanked this year in the ratings and has been declining the past few years. NHL is losing to professional wrestling... and they are way down too.

NASCAR's 2021 season was about the same as 2020 with some categories being up. Many, me included, think NASCAR has landed in it's resting zone for ratings. NBC reported their average viewership was up as did FOX. When NFL started, NASCAR's ratings saw no decline, though there were some races that no one wanted to watch such as Texas, Kansas, etc, and those did see declines. Others saw increases or remained the same. So there was no noticeable difference when the NFL Season started in NASCAR.

In fact, NASCAR's Truck Series saw the biggest increase of any American motorsport on television ratings followed closely by the Xfinity Series. INDY remained roughly the same never rating higher than the Truck Series except during the Indy 500. F1 remained below NASCAR in every race, but did see a big increase that has been building the past two years. SRX scored extremely well beating NASCAR's truck and Xfinity races in some circumstances. The ratings were big for CBS and ranged between 1 million and the 2 million mark. They sold out every event, albeit much smaller tracks.

But ratings go up and down every year. We will see what happens. It can change in an instant. :) Hope that helps answer some questions. Have a good Christmas!
 
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