The Current State of NASCAR: CEO Brian France

I read with interest NASCAR Chairman Brian France’s July 2nd news conference highlights. France responded to several media types asking questions concerning the state of NASCAR and what may be coming shortly within the sport.

Some possible changes that were addressed:

1. NASCAR officials are continuing their exploration of ways to pump up interest in the Chase. Nothing definite was brought forth, but France gave some insight into how they are approaching any change.

In response to this question, “Just to be clear on what you're saying about the Chase. You like the basic structure of a points reset, but you might look at giving additional points to wins?” France stated, “Yeah, here is the thing. We like a playoff style format for sure. It distinguishes us in motorsports, number one; distinguishes our national divisions number two. And, number three, the big design is to have playoff-type moments that only can be, in any sport, created when there's a lot on the line at any one moment, right? That's what the essence of Game 7s, eliminations and all that are. “

The current Chase point’s structure resets the twelve qualifying drivers to 5,000 points each and then a bonus of 10 points is awarded to each driver for each win during the regular season. The remaining 10 races are then scored by the same points generation system used during the regular season.

So what could be done to change the Chase races that isn’t already being done in the regular season? Remember now, it should meet the “Playoff-type moments” criteria France spoke of…

Anybody?

2. A big concern for NASCAR is the current fan base demographics. NASCAR is sorely aware that they have lost market share in the 18 to 35 years of age population group, obviously the lifeblood of any sport in terms of survival. The solutions to this problem are easy to identify and yet difficult to implement. NASCAR needs more young drivers entering the sport, drivers young people can readily identify with. That’s the simple side of the equation. The huge investment team owners put on the line make supporting young drivers while they learn the ropes almost impossible.

France let it be known that we can expect changes in the Nationwide Series as early as next season that will support young drivers entering the sport in terms of getting rides and yet he reacted to a question concerning the possibility of placing limits on the number a Nationwide races Sprint Cup drivers could participate in with an emphatic no. Seems to me the best way to support young drivers in Nationwide racing would start with limiting the Cup drivers from participating. I suppose this type of move with the established drivers might result in poorer fan attendance in the short term, but aren’t they trying to solve the problem of influencing American young people to become more interested in the sport?

What do you think NASCAR might be looking at or could do to enhance growth in the younger fan demographic?

3. Concerning track shifting and race date realignments, NASCAR’s CEO went right into politician mode, not giving any specific answers despite questions about New Hampshire losing a date to Kentucky or the addition of a second date in Kansas. He did give an extensive view of what NASCAR has to consider before inaugurating schedule and/or venue changes. In conclusion France stated that NASCAR would make public any changes on these issues around Labor Day as they traditionally do.

4. Finally it was interesting to hear that NASCAR is entertaining discontinuation of ethanol fuel use in 2011. This was the first time any NASCAR official has stated such a thing. France then spoke to a reporter’s question on what the sport is doing to go green. Once again the politician came out and responded without really saying too much. From what was said, it appears Sunoco may be rumbling around about the fuel so it’s probably sayonara ethanol…

Other areas touched on:

France assured the media that most of NASCAR’s 400 different sponsors have renewed their sponsorships.

The car manufacturers have stabilized their operations and are re-investing in NASCAR for the long-term.

The hard economic times are yielding many benefits as NASCAR and it’s family are critically reviewing how they operate.


Any suggestions that would be easy to implement, meet with general acceptance and generate positive results?

NASCAR needs a little self-analysis...

(You busy klvalus?)

Resource:
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/07/brian-france-discusses-future-chase-nationwide-series-and-ethanol-nascar