I am amazed at how at how good NASCAR drivers are at pretending to be ignorant when it comes to NASCAR's declining race attendance and falling TV viewership, along with Jimmie Johnson living in denial as to why his predictable dominance is without a doubt a factor in declining TV ratings and falling race attendance.
NASCAR drivers know just like everybody else exactly why NASCAR's TV ratings have fallen and race attendance has declined. The races lack excitement anymore. The same driver wins the championship every year. NASCAR plays favorites with the #48 team by throwing alleged "debris" cautions and not penalizing crew chief Chad Knaus for his blatant cheating,as they did with driver Clint Bowyer and his Richard Childress Racing team. It should be noted that earlier this year,drivers Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin were fined for just speaking their minds about NASCAR's questionable practices and blatant favoritism toward the #48 team so it could be the drivers are feigning ignorance to please Brian France,Mike Helton,Ramsey Poston,John Darby,and others. Since the Newman and Hamlin incidents, NASCAR has essentially placed a gag order on their drivers.
Jimmie Johnson's dominance of the NASCAR Cup series since 2006 is one reason,but not the only reason,why fans are losing interest in NASCAR and why TV ratings have fallen and race attendance has declined. Fans figure why bother spending their hard-earned money when they already know the outcome of the races and the championship? Few races NASCAR runs today even come close to the bumper-to-bumper,side-by-side,fight to the finish races of days gone by. Even tracks that traditionally have had exciting races,such as Bristol,are not as exciting now and do not sell out anymore. The Chase is a big turn-off and should be scrapped. The NFL will always dominate the ratings on Sunday afternoons in the fall and NASCAR cannot and will not change it. The fact that TV ratings have fallen and race attendance has declined since the inception of the Chase in 2004 should tell NASCAR something but like Jimmie Johnson,NASCAR refuses to look at the facts.
Another factor is NASCAR's refusal to listen the fans. They pretend to listen but they do not listen. If they did listen,the seats at race tracks would not be increasingly empty as they have been in recent years. The races would not be predictable and boring as most of them are now. TV ratings would not be declining every week. The problem is not with the fans. The problem is with NASCAR and those who run it. The excitement has also gone out of the Nationwide series,especially since its domination by Cup drivers.
Abandonment of heritage: It was hard working blue collar Southerners who put NASCAR on the map and spurred its phenomenal rise. Now NASCAR has abandoned and betrayed their Southern following and fans south of the Mason/Dixon line are letting their displeasure be known. The damage was only worsened with the dropping of a race at historic Atlanta Motor Speedway. When Brian France made disparaging remarks about the Confederate flag and started trying to lecture fans about diversity and multiculturalism,it sealed the sport's fate for the worse. Brian's Southern grandfather, William France Sr, was probably expressing outrage from beyond the grave at his grandson's treasonous statements.
In the old days,NASCAR races were often followed by knock down,drag out brawls in the pits. Nowadays,such activity would result in fines and suspensions but back in the day,it was the rule instead of the exception. Earlier this year,NASCAR decided to let drivers police themselves on the track and it has brought back some excitement to NASCAR races but not enough to reverse the decline of recent years.
Unless NASCAR,those who run it,and some of the drivers,get their heads out of the sand and put the emphasis on real racing again,NASCAR's future is no future at all.
