| Top | Blog | Sport |

Columnist Ernie Saxton, in his MY TWO CENTS WORTH Column in Area Auto Racing News (Tuesday, June 9, 2009) talked about suspended NASCAR driver/crewman Carl Long and the circumstances surrounding his problems with NASCAR.

As usual it’s a controversy that has polarized those who think that NASCAR made a big deal out a slight infraction, which was 0.17 oversize cubic inches.

Depending who you talk to about it, you get a different opinion. In this case NASCAR is the only one that counts and Long got a 12-week suspension along with a 200 grand fine plus the loss of 200 points.

We think that NASCAR and the Sprint Car Series has an opportunity, right now, to turn things around in the ratings. The sanction should let the drivers be themselves much like Kyle Busch as last weekend at Pocono when he destroyed an expensive custom built guitar. Much like some the rock stars do in their performances on stage. His explanation was that he wanted to give his winning crew a memento. Some of what we are talking about is drivers and crewman involved in some on track controversy including physical contact.

Photo by Icon Sports Media

There’s been lots of chatter and media reports regarding Danica Patrick moving to NASCAR. According to Auto Racing Daily, Jimmy Johnson has advised her, through the media, not to jump into NASCAR too quick. He suggests that Danica should start out on the short tracks with a Late Model Sportsman to get her feet wet and gradually move up into the Camping World Trucks and then into the Nationwide Series before taking on the Sprint Cup Series. He commented that he’d like to see her in NASCAR and be successful.

That came from Auto Racing Daily. Transitioning from open wheel racecars to the heavy 3,800 lb. NASCAR stockcars is difficult and many can’t make the changeover.

NASCAR on Fox delivered a 3.6/7 Saturday night for Primetime racing from Darlington Raceway. Saturday’s 3.6/7 is down -16 percent compared to last year’s 4.3/8 for the same race. That -16 percent skid nearly matches FOX’s overall -15 percent decline for the NASCAR season (4.6/10 vs. 5.4/11).

NASCAR on Fox posted a 3.7/7 for primetime racing from Richmond, off -12 percent from last year’s 4.2/8. FOX’s 3.6/7 primetime average was just good enough to win the night, edging out second-place NBC’s 3.5/6, CBS’ 3.4/6, and ABC’s 2.5/5. For the season-to-date, NASCAR On FOX is averaging a 4.7/10, down -15 percent from last year’s 5.5/11.

This came from the jayski.com and stockcargazette.com webpages.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing posted a 5.0/12 (8.1 million viewers) on Sunday for the race from Talladega. Though that’s down -12 percent from last year’s 5.7/13 for the same race, Sunday’s telecast was the top-rated event of the weekend, and was FOX’s highest-rated and most-watched NASCAR event in nearly two months. Sunday’s race opened with a 4.4/12 (6.9 million viewers), and grew steadily throughout the race peaking at a 6.6/15 (10.8 mill). Season-to-date, NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing on FOX is averaging a 5.5/11 (9.2 million viewers), down -13 percent from last year’s 6.3/13, but remains the highest-rated and most-watched sport in season.

Recently performance issues on the part of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joey Logano were at the top of the chart for the media and the race fans that follow the NASCAR Cup races.

A long time race watcher and former pit crewman for a top Cup team gave us his take on why Junior is having problems. “He’s consistently using up the car too early. He should just stay with the leaders and make his move at the end of the race.”

However, this past weekend’s Cup race at Dega did see Jr. around at the end of the race. But he was unable to capitalize on making the breaks go his way and had to settle for second. Either way it was a big improvement and maybe his luck is changing for the better.

3 Wide Life is a show about real racers. A “real” racer eats, sleeps and breaths racing. Occasionally, they are born with a name that doesn’t give them a chance at doing anything else. Such is the case for NASCAR newcomer, Scott Speed.

“It’s my real name,” says Speed. “It was my dad’s name and he passed it on to me. It’s not like I HAD to race, but it certainly seems that if you walk around with a name like ‘Speed’ that people will assume that’s what you are born to do. I don’t know if that’s what I was born to do, but the name has definitely helped me out with opportunities over the years.”

When you’re down, there’s some folks that like to make you feel worse. Tuning into a recent Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain on Speed, there were callers that night who thought that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is washed up.

Despain was quick to retort that even his late black mustached father, driving aggressively, had a major slump during his career.

Every driver has a downturn. It’s no secret that Junior, and company, have a lot of pressure on him especially when you read stories that say that he has to win soon, very soon. However, we think that the folks, especially his fans should ease up. It’s going to happen eventually.

Fox’s broadcast of that Sunday’s Food City 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race earned a 4.1 overnight rating and a 10 market share from Nielsen Media Research, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Daily reports. The rating is 18 percent lower than the 5.0 Fox earned for the race in 2008. This report came from Scene Daily and the Jayski.com web page. The final ratings were pretty much the same story. The good news is that the Cup race at Bristol was a sellout due to the fact that the front office worked hard to make it happen.

NASCAR announced the broadcast schedule for the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Series race schedule on SPEED. It features coverage of NASCAR’s top developmental series on the leading cable network dedicated to motorsports. The 22-race calendar kicked off with the NASCAR Camping World Series West opener from Thunderhill Raceway in Kyle, Texas. The March 14 race will air on SPEED Thursday, April 2.

NASCAR on Fox notched a 4.7/10 that Sunday for the Kobalt Tools 500 from Atlanta, easily the top sports rating of the weekend. Thanks in part to much tougher college basketball competition from CBS, yesterday’s 4.7/10 is down -16% compared to last year’s 5.6/12. This year’s Atlanta race rating matches 2007’s 4.7/10, but note that the 2007 rating came against second-round NCAA Tournament games on CBS. Metered market ratings have been a relatively weak indicator of NASCAR’s national ratings this season.