The hypocrisy coming from NASCAR is obvious. It showed even more today with the race win at Dover International Speedway in Delaware by four-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. What makes it hypocritical is that the #48 Hendrick Motorsports team has been guilty of cheating to win races for years and has used some of the same practices and procedures for which Clint Bowyer and his #33 Richard Childress Racing team were recently penalized by NASCAR.
The #48 team has been penalized on rare occasions,but NASCAR has used kid gloves on the #48 team,compared with the harsh penalties they administered the #33 team. Many fans suspect that the #48 team still cheats but NASCAR lets them get away with it. Many fans and even some drivers believe that NASCAR throws phantom "debris cautions" for the #48 team's benefit if they have lost the race lead or are about to go or have gone a lap down. Denny Hamlin was penalized by NASCAR for merely speaking his mind about this. If what Hamlin said is false,why would NASCAR be so defensive and issue Hamlin a harsh fine? That makes most NASCAR fans justifiably even more suspicious.
If NASCAR is looking for answers as to why race attendance is down and TV ratings have declined,it should be obvious why. It is because of the blatant cheating by the #48 team,the equally blatant favoritism shown by NASCAR toward that team,along with the obvious hypocrisy of those who run NASCAR. Fans know something is wrong and are expressing their displeasure by cancelling their season tickets and tuning their TVs away from races that are increasingly predictable and boring.
NASCAR pretends to understand and says they are listening, but it is obvious they do not understand,or perhaps choose not to,and they are certainly not listening. NASCAR gives us more of the same boring rubbish every week. Most fans have had enough. Many fans are leaving NASCAR. NASCAR better be paying attention and act quickly to repair its reputation before it is too late. If Jimmie Johnson wins a fifth consecutive championship,there will be even more vacant seats at races,TV ratings will further decline,and NASCAR as we know it will come even closer to ceasing its existence.
Bring back real racing (the 1979 Daytona 500 comes to mind),drivers who can actually race for wins again,instead of playing follow the leader,which is what NASCAR racing has become in recent years,especially since the so-called Car Of Tomorrow (COT) was introduced. Let drivers have it out with bare knuckles and show emotion again instead of being corporate robots and politically correct pretty boys. Somebody wisely stated that NASCAR races are now nothing but corporate board meetings at 200 MPH every Sunday.
The sad part of all this is that NASCAR is so wrapped up in its own greed and political correctness that it will likely never have old school racing again. This is how NASCAR is sealing its own demise.
