Dear Mr.France,
I am disturbed and disheartened by the direction NASCAR has taken in recent years.
To begin with,I have never liked the Chase. I knew it was a stupid idea from the beginning. I am even more convinced of that now than I was in 2004 when you,Mr.France,introduced it. It is not a fair system. In fact,five of its first seven years,the Chase has been won by the same driver and team. The Car of Tomorrow has also reduced competition and fighting for wins in NASCAR races. The COT has taken the excitement out of NASCAR and reinforces the arguments of those who consider watching cars circle a track a waste of time. If the Chase is an attempt to get TV viewers away from the NFL,it has failed in a big way. The NFL maintains its viewership while NASCAR ratings have declined. The idea of a playoff system in racing is ridiculous. No amount of "tweaking" will convince anybody the Chase is a good thing. Neither will it win over NFL fans. The Chase should be scrapped completely.
Also,there are many suspicious "debris cautions" that seem to favor the number 48 team. The crew chief of the number 48 team has repeatedly gotten away with cheating,while teams that have committed lesser infractions have been harshly penalized. NASCAR preaches consistency yet does not really practice it. NASCAR's top priorities nowadays are pleasing sponsors and team owners but not necessarily the fans. This shows in declining race attendance and falling TV ratings that will only fall farther unless NASCAR does something to win back the fans they have lost.
NASCAR today lacks the excitement of days gone by,when drivers could really "have at it",including bare knuckle confrontations on Pit Road (the 1979 Daytona 500 and the Allison brothers/Yarborough fight for example). Drivers said and did things from their hearts. Today,it is mostly scripted,politically correct pretty boys not allowed to speak their minds. Like a dictatorship, NASCAR punishes those who speak out,especially earlier this year when drivers Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin received monetary fines for merely stating their opinions.
Why is the Nationwide series championship repeatedly won by Cup drivers? The purpose of the Nationwide series is developing up and coming talent for the Cup series. While I am not against having some Cup drivers in Nationwide races,it is still not right that nearly half the field in most Nationwide races are Cup drivers. That makes it much more difficult on new talent finding its way into NASCAR. NASCAR should limit how often Cup drivers race in the Nationwide series and how many per Nationwide race. Also, Cup drivers in Nationwide should not receive driver points,only team owner points.
All these factors,Mr.France,have made me essentially give up on NASCAR. NASCAR might have "crossed the rubicon" now and might never again be the great sport it was,the sport your father and grandfather worked so hard building and you are destroying. I will still watch as an outsider looking in and be a more casual observer,much like I was before becoming a die hard fan in 2003. I did not leave NASCAR,it left me.
I hope I am wrong. I hope NASCAR will again be the no holds barred gutsy sport it once was but unfortunately, I am not holding my breath.
Sincerely,
A Disgusted NASCAR Fan
