Race Review: Brickyard 400

Welcome race fans to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the twentyth race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season. This year IMS is having it’s 100th anniversary of the race track. Every year on Labor Day weekend IMS is host to the Indy 500. In 1994 NASCAR and it’s stock cars held their first race here. Jeff Gordon won that first race here. The next year Dale Earnhardt won the race. When Dale Jarrett won it in 1996, his crew chief, Todd Parrott decided it was such a special race to win, DJ’s whole crew turned their caps around and they all kissed the yard of bricks. NASCAR has done that ever since. When the Indy 500 driver wins, they get a quart of milk to drink and pour over themselves. When someone wins the Brickyard 400, they kiss the bricks. In this race several records have a chance to be broken. Sam Hornish, Jr. and Juan Pablo Montoya have both won the Indy 500. Can one of them be the only one to win both races here? Jeff Gordon has the most wins here with four. Can he make it five? No one has ever won two in a row. Jimmy Johnson won last year. Can he make it two in a row? Mark Martin has never won the Brickyard 400. Can he do it this time? Traditionally, the winner of this race goes on to win the championship. Tony Stewart is the points leader coming in to this race. Can he win and go on to win the championship? Or will Jimmy win and be the first to win four Titles in a row?

Qualifying on Saturday was delayed because of rain, but they did get in qualifying and Happy Hour. 5 Mark Martin starts on the pole with a speed of 182.054. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya is second with the speed of 180.803. Not even close. 21 is Bill Elliott, who qualified fourth. 08 is Terry Labonte, getting in on his former champion provisional. He starts last. 36 is Mike Skinner from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He finished second in his race at O’Reilly Raceway Park just down the street from here. Going home are 09 Sterling Marlin, 76 Derrike Cope and 13 Max Pappis.

Reporters told Gordon he was going for his fifth Sprint Cup championship, and how does he feel about that. Gordon replied that he has four Winston Cup championships. And he’s going for his first Sprint Cup championship. That they are much different and that he’s still trying for his first. Good for you, Jeff.

14 Tony Stewart is the in-car reporter. They go an extra lap before the Green Flag to remove the debris from the opening ceremonies on the track. Indy is a 2.5 mile track, and they will be racing 160 laps for 400 miles. 20 Joey Logano changed an engine and will start from the rear. 5 jumps in front of 42 to lead. And the first caution comes out on the first lap when 7 Robby Gordon spins. 19 Elliott Sadler is smoking and dropping fluid and Robby gets into the oil.

At the restart, 5 bobbles in turn one and 42 takes the lead. 1 Martin Truex, Jr. gets by 43 Reed Sorenson. 88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. takes second from 5. 19 goes to the garage with the leak. 14 Tony Stewart gets by 83 Brian Vickers and 21 for fourth. 5, 83 and 14 get by 88. 82 Scott Speed is pitting after he gets into the wall. 24 gets by 1. 1 and 12 David Stremme battle and 17 Matt Kenseth gets into the battle. 1 gets by, but 17 gets loose and can’t get by 12.

14 gets by 83 for third. 29 Kevin Harvick pits and 18 Kyle Busch follows to start Green Flag pitting. 14 leads when 42 pits. 11 Denny Hamlin has transmission issues when his shifter comes off in his hand.71 David Gilliland leads, then pits. After all the pitting, 42 is back in the lead. 2 Kurt Busch had a loose wheel and had to come back in to fix it, putting himself a lap down. 11 goes to the garage with a broken drive shaft. He comes back out sixteen laps down.

The second caution comes out on lap 58 when 18 Kyle Busch gets into the wall and goes to the garage. He was complaining about a vibration. 96 Bobby Labonte is the Lucky Dog and gets his lap back. 42 is leading and chooses the inside for the Restart. He jumps ahead. 14 gets by 48 Jimmy Johnson. 14 and 48 get by 88. 48 gets by 14. 48 looses it, but saves it. 20 gets by 47 Marcos Ambrose. 77 Sam Hornish, Jr. gets loose off the corner and gets into the wall, cuts a tire, and pits. 55 Michael Waltrip is in the pits with the hood up after overheating.

Another round of Green Flag pitting commences. 07 Casey Mears leads. 42 is back in the lead after it all. 48 can’t get by 83, but finally does. 18 is back out, 46 laps down. 19 is back on the track, 119 laps down. 00 David Reutimann and 29 Kevin Harvick get by 71 David Gilliland. 16 Greg Biffle is pittin a little early. 83 leads when 42 pits. 42 is too fast exiting pit road. He claims he wasn’t speeding, but NASCAR says he was too fast in two loops. He just lost the race. 5 is leading.

The third caution comes out when 88 blows up. 96 Bobby Labonte is again the Lucky Dog and gets back on the lead lap, with 33 laps to go. 5 chooses the inside for the restart. 48 takes the lead on lap 137. 00 gets by 29 for seventh. 31 Jeff Burton pits and comes out in front of leader 48. 55 is being pushed behind the wall. 42 and 20 battle back and forth for eleventh. 5 catches leader 48. 42 gets by 20.

And 48 Jimmy Johnson wins the Brickyard 400. This is his third win here, and two in a row. According to tradition, he should win the championship. The top ten are: 48, 5, 14, 16 , 83, 29, 9 Kasey Kahne, 00, 24 and 17 Matt Kenseth. A great race. And no tire issues like last year.

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley

NASCAR Comment

Hello race fans. There is no NASCAR Sprint Cup race this weekend. So I will not be posting a Race Review. But I’d like to share with you what I like about NASCAR and why I started following the Sport.

I’m not very athletic. I can’t hit a ball to save my life. I can ski, but only do well on the good beginner/easy intermediate trails. When faced with moguls I tend to get down the hill on my behind! It’s only fun when you can get down the hill. I never was someone to watch sports, either. Something better was always on, in my opinion.

But in 1996, my now husband took me to a friend’s house (Gary) to watch a Winston Cup race. I don’t remember which race it was. I was captivated. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I was told I had to pick a driver in order to watch the race. I had heard about the Indy 500, but that was Indy cars, not NASCAR. I had heard about Richard Petty and the famous #43 STP car, but he was no longer racing. So, who to pick?

I saw a beautiful red, white and blue #88 car and picked that. (8 is my favorite number) It turned out to be Dale Jarrett. Everyone said that was a good pick. As I watched, I fell in love with racing. And I also fell in love with my pick. The most popular driver was, of course, Dale Earnhardt. He was aggressive and many times crashed cars out to get by. I didn’t like that. I liked to see racing, not crashing.

As I watched more and more races, I decided to stick with my first pick, Dale Jarrett. He raced. He passed cars to get by. And NASCAR became my Passion. And Dale Jarrett my driver. He won that first race, by the way. He’s now retired and I have to find a new favorite. His style of racing was what drew me to him. And kept me chearing him on.

Through the years, I’ve liked several other drivers. Not because they make daring, aggressive moves, but because they race well. I watched Dale Jr. race with Matt Kenseth in the old Busch Series. That was fun to watch. I never liked Jr.’s father because he let it be known that if you didn’t get out of the way, he was going to make you get out of the way. And that, to me was not racing. I liked Jeff Burton in the #99 Exide. Again, because he raced instead of crashing someone else out. I liked Matt and Jr., but I collected Matt as one of my favorites.

I watched ASA and had favorites there. I watched Hooters Pro Series and had favorites there. I also watched This Week In Dirt on TV and noticed the name Kasey Kahne. He always finished in the top three! And I watched the Busch North Series and had favorites there.

My husband Ray and I compete in every race we watch. His favorites against my favorites. When I first started watching, Gary with Earnhardt, and Ray with Ken Schrader had a bet going with each other. Who’s ever driver finished better won the bet. $5. Ray usually lost. They wouldn’t let me get in because I was new. The next year I also couldn’t get in. They didn’t think I’d stick with Jarrett. But I did and he won seven races in 1997. In 1998, they let me in on the bet. The winner got $5 from the other two. I, with Dale Jarrett won over $300 competing with Dale Earnhardt and Ken Schrader. In 1999, DJ won the Championship. And there was no more betting!

I loved Winston Cup racing. It was the best. Brian France, Jr. took a Southern Sport, and with RJ Reynolds’ Winston brand made NASCAR what it is today. Beautiful racing. Then along comes son Brian. Winston was replaced with Nextel. Nextel signed a ten year contract, but after only a few years Sprint bought Nextel, and it is now Sprint Cup.  And after the 2003 season, Brian decided NASCAR needed a play-off to keep the fans watching while football was going on.

I hated it. Play-offs were for sports with divisions. NASCAR has 43 cars competing every week. How does a play-off fit into NASCAR? But they shortened the season to 26 races, instead of 36 and made the last ten races the Chase for the Championship. The media loved it. They start talking about the Chase contenders with the first race of the year! However, the fans don’t care for it. So it isn’t doing what NASCAR wanted it to do-get more fans to watch during football.

And now the media darling is Kyle Busch. He’s touted as having so much talent and can win in anything he gets into. I personally, don’t see the talent. For him, it’s Checkers or wreckers. And in my opinion, that’s not talent. He also is a sore looser. And blames everyone else when he doesn’t win. Not a very good racer. The fans don’t care for him, or the way the media shoves him down our throats. He doesn’t race. He crashes out the competition. Thankfully, he also crashes himself out.

NASCAR will always be something I will watch. Because it is beautiful. I just wish it could go back to when there was no Chase. And the best driver that year won the Championship. Instead of the driver that was best in the last ten races.

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley

Race Review: Lenox Industrial Tools 301

Welcome race fans to the seventeenth NASCAR Sprint Cup race of the season. The race takes place at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Lauden, New Hampshire. This track is affectionately known as the “Magic Mile”. It’s a flat track, just over a mile long. There has been rain all weekend, so there was little time to practice. Qualifying got rained out on Friday, so they will line up according to owner points. Putting 14 Tony Stewart and 24 Jeff Gordon the front row. Tony crashed his car in practice, but changed the engine in his back-up car before what would have been qualifying, so he keeps his pole position. 09 is Brad Keselowski. He won in Talladega in this car. 36 is Patrick Carpentier. He sat on the pole last year in NH. 37 is Tony Raines. 78 is Regan Smith. He has made every race he has entered. And has finished them all. 51 Dexter Bean and local favorite, 27 Ted Christopher didn’t have the owner points or attempts, so they will go home.

47 Marcos Ambrose is not feeling well. Since there was rain over night, there will be a competition caution on lap 35 so they can check the tires. If there is a caution prior to that competition caution, they can change tires and make adjustments, but they cannot take fuel.

So, here we go! 24 and 2 Kurt Busch take off on the outside. 24 leads the first lap. 2 tries to get by 24 for the lead, but can’t get by. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya gets by 18 Kyle Busch for ninth. 2 finally takes the lead after many laps trying to get by. 24 and 16 battle for second. 14 slides back to seventh from the pole position. 99 Carl Edwards is having trouble getting by 39 Ryan Newman for fifth.

The first caution comes out during the commercial when 36 gets into the wall. It was something mechanical. 14 pits for adjustments, but cannot take fuel. 55 Michael Waltrip was too fast. 2 is leading and chooses to restart on the inside. They are double-file all the way around, with no clear leader running away.

The second caution comes out when 29 Kevin Harvick slides up and into 26 Jamie McMurray, putting him into the wall. 11 Denny Hamlin pits. 24 was leading when the caution came out, and he picks the inside to restart. They move the competition caution up to lap 45, since there weren’t enough laps raced under Green to decide what the tires are doing. 16 Greg Biffle and 24 battle for the lead. 16 gets loose.

The third caution comes out when 44 AJ Allmendinger spins around and doesn’t get going again. 26 Jamie McMurray is the Lucky Dog and gets his lap back. 66 Dave Blaney goes to the garage. 2 takes the lead. 18 and 48 Jimmy Johnson battle for fourth. 18 is smoking his brakes. 16 drives by 18. 42 and 48 battle.

The fourth caution is the competition caution and everyone can take fuel.18 couldn’t get out of his pit without hitting the car in front of him. 24 is out of the pits first, followed by 48 and 16. 24 has to take the outside, since 71 David Gilliland is on the inside and will pit when the Green Flag is about to fly. This lets 48 take the lead from the inside. 5 Mark Martin and 18 battle. 16 gets into the wall. 37 and 26 go to the garage. 88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and 16 battle.

The fifth caution comes out during the commercial. 19 Elliott Sadler gets loose and gets into 82 Scott Speed. 82 spins 55 Michael Waltrip and they collect 7 Robby Gordon. 48 chooses the inside for the restart. 24 and 18 battle for second. 14 and 2 battle. 14 and 18 battle for third. 14 pulls ahead of 18. 12 David Stremme gets loose. 48 is in ugly traffic, with everyone battling each other and trying to stay ahead of the leader.

1 Martin Truex, Jr. starts Green Flag Pitting. 42 leads when 48 pits. 9 Kasey Kahne drives by 42 to get his lap back. 88 and 5 get by 42. 42 finally pits when everyone was getting by him to get their laps back. 11 leads when 42 pits. 43 Reed Sorenson leads when 11 pits. 7  leads when 43 pits, then pits himself.  When everyone has pitted, 48 is back in the lead.  48  is trying to lap 20 Joey Logano and 24 catches  the leader, 48. 5 and 18 battle for seventh. 5 gets by. 31 Jeff Burton and 18 battle for eighth.

The sixth caution comes our for debris. 2 and 24 come out of the pits neck-and-neck, but 24 was a few inches in front. The cars ahead of the leader get the wave around and they race back to the end of the field. 24 elects to Restart on the outside this time. 48 makes it three-wide for the lead with 24 and 2. 24 stays in the lead. 2 and 24 battle for the lead. 88 and 2 battle for second. 48 gets loose and falls to sixth.

The seventh caution comes out during the commercial. 98 Paul Menard gets the brakes locked up and drives into the wall. 24 Restarts on the outside. The eighth caution comes out at the Restart. 1 gets into 88, 18 gets into 1 from behind 1, sending him spinning. And then into 31 with everyone spinning. 18 thought he had a hole and took it, like he always does, but the hole wasn’t there. Involved were: 1, 29 Kevin Harvick, 31, 07 Casey Mears, 83 Brian Vickers, 00 David Reutimann, 6David Ragan, 26. There is a Red Flag for clean-up.

24 Restarts on the outside. 39 gets into the wall. 2 and 24 battle for the lead. 20 gets into 39 and 00 and cuts a tire and brings out the ninth caution. 11 gets by 18 for ninth. 2 slides up the track and falls back. 14 and 24 battle for the lead. The tenth caution comes out when 82 Scott Speed gets into the wall. He says “I’m not gonna lie, that hurt”. 20 Joey Logano is the Lucky Dog. 2 gets into 48 and many get by both of them.

14 takes the lead. 88 and 9 battle. 88 gets by. 48 and 9 battle. 48 gets by. 48 gets around 88 for eighth. 99 thinks he may have a loose wheel and pits. 48 gets by 5 for seventh. 18 pits to start Green Flag Pitting again. 5 stays out and leads.16 leads when 5 pits. 96 Bobby Labonte leads when 16 pits. 31 is back out in a “modified” car. 14 slides into 18 and gets by for eleventh. 39 leads when 96 pits. 24 gets by 00 for fourth. 55 pits. 39 is out of fuel and pits. 20 takes the lead when 39 ran out of gas. 39 has trouble getting the car fired up again.

The eleventh caution comes out for rain. The race is Red Flagged on lap 273 of 301.  It pours and 20 Joey Logano wins his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race by being out in front when the rain came. He isn’t the first to win his first race here with the rain shortening the race. Jeff Burton is the only driver to lead all 300 laps here.

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley.

Race Review: Lifelock 400

Welcome race fans to the fifteenth race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Season. The Lifelock 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI. This beautiful two-mile track is set in the Irish Hills. The track is wide and massive, so there is plenty of room for the drivers to choose anywhere to race. One of my favorites to watch. With so much room to race, there are few cautions, and lots of racing, including Green Flag Pitting.

Qualifying was on Friday afternoon. 83 Brian Vickers got the pole with a speed of 189.110. 18 Kyle Busch starts second with a speed much slower. Forty-four teams showed up to qualify, so one team went home. In my opinion, one more car on this two-mile track could and should have been done. Just fill the twenty-second row. Anyway, that unlucky driver was Mike Skinner in the #36. Mike is a regular in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, which was in Michigan this weekend.

37 is Tony Raines, 09 is veteran Sterling Marlin, 13 is Max Papis. And in the news is Johnny Benson, defending Truck Champion whose Truck team was disbanded earlier because of lack of Sponsorship. He competed in a super modifieds race on Saturday and was in a horrific crash, landing in the Hospital in critical but stable condition, with broken ribs and more. I sure hope he makes a speedy recovery.

The first race at this track was in 1969 and Cale Yarborough won the race. 24 Jeff Gordon, 77 Sam Hornish, Jr. and 87 Joe Nemecheck had to change engines and they will start from the rear. The pit lights are not working, so the drivers will have to watch out for the flagmen to let them know when pit road is open.

83 doesn’t take right off  when the Green Flag flies and 48 Jimmy Johnson moves to the inside, and they are all bunched up. 18 Kyle Busch leads the first lap. 9 Kasey Kahne gets by 00 David Reutimann for fourth. 2 Kurt Busch and 00 battle for fifth. 24 and 77 battle in the back of the pack for thirty-first. 16 Greg Biffle is up to tenth after starting twentyth. 16 gets by 33 Clint Bowyer for ninth.

48 battles 18 for the lead, and 48 takes the lead. Jimmy has no wins at Michigan. 2 gets by 83 for third. 9 gets by 83 for fourth. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya gets by 83 for fifth. 18 reports a vibration. 20 Joey Logano is stuck in the middle between 12 David Stremme and 26 Jamie McMurray. (And I said there was lots of room!)  20 gets into both of them, gets a tire rub and falls behind both of them. 14 Tony Stewart, who won last week in Pocono, gets by 83. 37 and 87 go to the garage. 13 is one lap down. 11 Denny Hamlin gets by 00 for tenth. 5 Mark Martin gets by 99 Carl Edwards for fifteenth.

48 pulls ahead of second place, 18 by over six seconds. 16 gets by 42 for sixth. 09 and 66 Dave Blaney go to the garage. 43 Reed Sorenson and 77 battle for thirty-first. 2 and 18 battle for second. 2 gets by. The first Green Flag Pitting session begins on lap thirty-nine. 48 stays in the lead the whole time, makes his stop and comes back out still in the lead! 16 and 9 battle for second. 16 takes second. 00 is “Evil loose”. 2 and 14 get by 18. 11 gets loose, but corrects while battling with 2 for eighth. (Good thing the track is wide enough!)

The first caution comes out on lap 72 for debris. 39 Ryan Newman is the Lucky Dog and gets his lap back. Twenty-two cars are on the lead lap, and will Restart double-file. 55 Michael Waltrip stays out and will be waved by to join the pack just before the Restart. 48 is the leader again and chooses the outside to Restart. 6 David Ragan gets loose and almost looses it. 17 Matt Kenseth and 14 battle for sixth. 14 keeps the spot.

99 gets by 88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for ninth. 18 gets by 88 for eighth. 88 and 99 battle for ninth and 99 gets the spot. 88 is getting very loose. He has part of the skirting loose and that is messing up the car. 14 and 2 battle for fifth. 88 gets by 18 for eleventh. 99 gets by 2 for sixth. 1 Martin Truex, Jr. gets into the wall and gets Black-Flagged to come in and fix the flapping rear end. 99 gets by 9.

Green Flag Pitting begins again. 99 leads a lap, then pits. When it’s all over, 48 is back in the lead. The second caution comes out during the commercial, again for debris. 00 David Reutimann is the Lucky Dog. The first nine cars stay out – 48, 16, 42, 14, 2, 5, 11, 24 and 99. 17 is out of the pits first in tenth. 99 and 24 battle for eighth. 24 keeps the spot. 5 gets by 42 for third. 26 and 88 battle. 26 gets by. 17 makes an unscheduled pit stop. 11 gets by 42 for fourth. 21 Bill Elliott and 88 battle.

The third caution comes out during the commercial. 12 David Stremme gets loose and slides down the track, into the pit road barrier. 17 Matt Kenseth is the Lucky Dog, and is back on the lead lap. The lead lap cars pit and 16 comes out first to lead. They go Green with 45 to go. 24 and 42 battle. 48 gets by 5 for second. 48 is catching 16, the leader, but 48 is too loose to get by. 48 finally takes the lead. 48 and 16 battle for the lead again. 48 runs out of fuel with one to go. 5 takes the lead when 16 runs out of fuel. 5 runs out of fuel and coasts to the Finish Line to win the Lifelock 400!

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley

Top Twelve Reasons Ratings Are Down

I’d like to give my personal top twelve reasons that the ratings are down. Why twelve?  Twelve seams to be the magic number these days and part of the problem. If a driver isn’t in the top twelve in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points, they don’t get a mention. And this is part of the problem. So, with that said, here are my twelve reasons ratings are down. In no particular order.

1. Darrell Waltrip. Now I know he was a great driver in his day. And he may have a lot to say. And “boogety, boogety, boogety. Let’s go racing boys” started out as cute. But it’s become rather annoying.
2. Larry McReynolds. Again, he may know his stuff. But the way he presents it is most annoying. He butchers the English language, throwing in “Hillbilly” words. NASCAR is no longer a Southern Sport. But with him announcing, it sounds like one. (How does one become “extry” careful?)
3. Mike Joy. He’s full of useless information. And has to keep correcting himself. I find myself correcting him. He says things like “Wow, what a great race for the lead” before we go to commercial. Can’t they wait until the pass is made before we go to the commercial?
4. Jeff Hammond. A great crew chief in his time. But now that he is “Hollywood” Hammond, it’s all about himself instead of racing.
5. Digger. FOX put in a new camera and DW named it Digger. Now they have cartoons about Digger and his friends. It may be cute for the kids, but the character is annoying at best for the rest of us. And I’m wondering where the proceeds go when people purchase Digger items. The camera is great. But making a camera a character is not about racing. Just another reason someone may not want to tune in.
6. Chris Meyers. He thinks he’s a stand-up comedian. And he interrupts himself so he can get a laugh. I want to hear all about NASCAR. And humor is good. But he isn’t that funny. Again, just annoying.
7. Cautions during the commercials. Now I know there needs to be commercials. But maybe NASCAR is overbooking them. They go to commercials when good racing is going on. And many times during each race, we get back with the Yellow Flag already flying. Can’t they go to the commercials after the wreck instead of during it? So they come back to a yellow flag and do a replay of what happened. Then they go back to commercials. They do a few more replays and maybe set the field, and go back to commercials. And when they get back, they are already restarted and they have to show us the restart. And after the commercial, they have to show us the Sponsors. Instead of what is going on on the track. I could go on. No one wants to tune in to watch commercials with a bit of racing thrown in.
8. Steve Byrnes. He’s not as bad as Chris Meyers, but he really doesn’t have much of anything to say. So, why is he there? Just to annoy the fans?
9. Brad Daugherty. Come on, he’s a football player. Why doesn’t he announce for the NFL. Yes, he’s an owner. But do we really have to listen to his comments? Maybe if he was excited about the Sport instead of just Kyle Busch. (That would be # 13, and I’m not going there.)
10. The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. NASCAR is 43 drivers racing against each other on 36 weekends a year. Brian France decided the only reason anyone watches football is because it has a play-off. And then the Super Bowl. And he wanted NASCAR to have a sort of play-off. Supposedly so more fans would watch. All the Chase does is shorten the season to 26 races and evens up the field so that the twelfth place car in the points gets a chance to win the Title. Why does NASCAR need something like that? It doesn’t make the last ten races any more exciting. And it takes away from the rest of the field. NASCAR fans are passionate about their favorite drivers. And if no one is talking about your driver, why bother to watch? Why have a play-off if all 43 drivers are racing in it?
11. Night races on the West Coast. Night racing is fine and dandy, and maybe more exciting. But if the race doesn’t start until 9 PM, who is going to watch it? The majority of the fans are in the East, not the West. If the race starts at 9:00, who is going to want to watch?
12. And finally, the schedule. NASCAR in it’s wisdom, chooses to go to the west coast for the market. We fans have become a market. They take away tracks with lots of great racing and make us watch ho hum racing. The Chase is at the same ten tracks every year. Jimmy Johnson has mastered the Chase. He does extremely well at all ten tracks. The Chase was to bring in more fans because it is the Chase. The play-offs, if you will. They need to schedule more variety when scheduling races. Boring comes to mind. And fans will not watch boring. Do we really have to go to the same tracks twice? Couldn’t they go to more tracks only once? And give more tracks a chance for a date? If the race at Auto Club Speedway was boring in the beginning of the year, why would anyone tune in the next time NASCAR raced there? If any race anywhere was boring last year, why bother to tune in for that race this year?

Those are my random twelve reasons why the ratings are falling. I love NASCAR racing. It is my Passion. I can’t get enough of it. I personally watch almost anything that is televised. And some of the races this year were exciting. But it looks like NASCAR is only interested in what it wants, and not what the fans want. And that is the major reason the ratings have gone down every race this year. Should NASCAR panic? I think they should listen to the fans. I also think the Networks should listen to the fans. Prime Time may be great for ratings, but not if no one is watching.

Brought to you by Sheila Hawley

If you agree, leave a comment. If you disagree, leave a comment. NASCAR.com, do you have a comment? SpeedTV, do you have a comment?