Is NASCAR dying?

Question for those that know the inner workings better than I do.

I keep hearing doom and gloom talk about cars not having sponsors / losing sponsors. It seems to me that a lot of what teams spend money on are nice to have items and not really needed. The fact that small teams run at the track every week show it isn't as expensive as it needs to be.

For instance if a team went from getting $20 million a year in sponsor money to $5 million, they could still build cars and race but may have to get rid of things like hiring ex college athletes to the pit crew and having personal trainers etc. Mechanics would go back to being pit guys if they had to.

Real concern I could see is if drivers quit making much that top talent might leave and go to other series but this would only hurt NASCAR if guys already in the sport jumped (ie Larson) and not if an up and coming driver decided to go open wheel instead of stock.
 
Someone once said that the first auto race took place when they built the second car.

With that logic I'm thinkin' that the last auto race will take place shortly before the next to last car still running breaks down.

Just hopin' that somehow I'm able to make it to that last race . . .
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
The Gen-6 cars, and the Gen-5 car for that matter, look way more like street cars than the fourth generation cars did after the year 2000.
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Agree. At least they resemble the Ford, Chevy, and Yota people drive.
 
I've not watched a race since baseball season started. I come on here still occasionally because I enjoyed you guys and am holding out hope that NASCAR will see the error of it's ways and change course. It's sad. I never thought I would give up what, for the majority of my life, was my favorite sport. For me, the fake cautions was the last in a long line of straws going back to the beginning of the Chase. Each successive change made the outcome of the race less about which driver was fastest and more about randomness and luck. Whether this has permanently poisoned the well for me I'm not sure. It took me 15 years to get into baseball again after the steroid era. From my perspective, Nascar seems to be dying as I think there are a lot of fans that dont understand these ridiculous changes, and another segment that will leave with Junior unless Chase Elliot starts winning very soon.
 
29-4 said:
I've not watched a race since baseball season started. I come on here still occasionally because I enjoyed you guys and am holding out hope that NASCAR will see the error of it's ways and change course. It's sad. I never thought I would give up what, for the majority of my life, was my favorite sport. For me, the fake cautions was the last in a long line of straws going back to the beginning of the Chase. Each successive change made the outcome of the race less about which driver was fastest and more about randomness and luck. Whether this has permanently poisoned the well for me I'm not sure. It took me 15 years to get into baseball again after the steroid era. From my perspective, Nascar seems to be dying as I think there are a lot of fans that dont understand these ridiculous changes, and another segment that will leave with Junior unless Chase Elliot starts winning very soon.
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The racing this year has been great. Better than 2014, better than the COT years. No longer do I care about points or a championship, I just watch and enjoy the product on the track. So far, so good.
 
2 Sweet said:
The racing this year has been great. Better than 2014, better than the COT years. No longer do I care about points or a championship, I just watch and enjoy the product on the track. So far, so good.
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But the racing (to me) is ruined by planned take cautions. I could use the rationalizations you use when the changes were all off the track. But the segments effect the on track product, and that is something I haven't been able to abide.
 
2 Sweet said:
The racing this year has been great. Better than 2014, better than the COT years. No longer do I care about points or a championship, I just watch and enjoy the product on the track. So far, so good.
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I like the racing too but I really, really want to care about the championship again. That's my biggest gripe with the sport. The format has caused me to lose interest in the season overall. I don't think I'll ever look at this sport again the way I did for so many years preceding the 2004 season.
 
Cholo said:
Question for those that know the inner workings better than I do.

I keep hearing doom and gloom talk about cars not having sponsors / losing sponsors. It seems to me that a lot of what teams spend money on are nice to have items and not really needed. The fact that small teams run at the track every week show it isn't as expensive as it needs to be.

For instance if a team went from getting $20 million a year in sponsor money to $5 million, they could still build cars and race but may have to get rid of things like hiring ex college athletes to the pit crew and having personal trainers etc. Mechanics would go back to being pit guys if they had to.

Real concern I could see is if drivers quit making much that top talent might leave and go to other series but this would only hurt NASCAR if guys already in the sport jumped (ie Larson) and not if an up and coming driver decided to go open wheel instead of stock.
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You'll notice those teams with the $5 million sponsorships aren't competitive with the $20M ones.

For example, say you save money by droping the dedicated pit crewmen and have the mechanics to do double-duty. You lose the ability for those crewmen to practice pit stops during the week. They're too busy doing their mechanic duties getting the car ready. If you have them practice stops, they may not have time to get the car up to snuff, or to stay up to date with changes in their specialties.

I don't know how much of a team's budget goes into the visible 'at the track' and administrative office activities vs. how much goes into the R&D and testing stuff we don't routinely see. I suspect the R&D and testing is a pretty good chunk. Again, this has big effect on competitiveness.

If there was an annual spending cap, this wouldn't be an issue. That's less likely than simians piloting airborne swine from the end of my digestive tract. The decline in sponsorship dollars will likely reduce the difference between the high-end and low-end teams. We'll have to wait and see if they decline enough to force most or all teams to modify some of their current 'necessities'.
 
Cholo said:
Question for those that know the inner workings better than I do.

I keep hearing doom and gloom talk about cars not having sponsors / losing sponsors. It seems to me that a lot of what teams spend money on are nice to have items and not really needed. The fact that small teams run at the track every week show it isn't as expensive as it needs to be.

For instance if a team went from getting $20 million a year in sponsor money to $5 million, they could still build cars and race but may have to get rid of things like hiring ex college athletes to the pit crew and having personal trainers etc. Mechanics would go back to being pit guys if they had to.

Real concern I could see is if drivers quit making much that top talent might leave and go to other series but this would only hurt NASCAR if guys already in the sport jumped (ie Larson) and not if an up and coming driver decided to go open wheel instead of stock.
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If Nascar sinks so low they can not pay drivers a wage, no other auto sport could either so Larson isn't going anywhere. My other point is these guys don't have degrees that will allow them to go to another job and make anyway near this money. These young drivers would be thrilled to drive 30 races a year for $300,000 a rear salary.
 
Team Penske said:
The inability to draw a breath of life.
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No, that's dead (assuming no mechanical assistance is used).

What exactly is meant by 'NASCAR is dying'? Fewer races? A reduction in the number of sanctioned series at any level? The Daytona offices moving to a smaller building?
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I like the racing too but I really, really want to care about the championship again. That's my biggest gripe with the sport. The format has caused me to lose interest in the season overall. I don't think I'll ever look at this sport again the way I did for so many years preceding the 2004 season.
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I couldn't agree more.
 
Cholo said:
Question for those that know the inner workings better than I do.

I keep hearing doom and gloom talk about cars not having sponsors / losing sponsors. It seems to me that a lot of what teams spend money on are nice to have items and not really needed. The fact that small teams run at the track every week show it isn't as expensive as it needs to be.

For instance if a team went from getting $20 million a year in sponsor money to $5 million, they could still build cars and race but may have to get rid of things like hiring ex college athletes to the pit crew and having personal trainers etc. Mechanics would go back to being pit guys if they had to.

Real concern I could see is if drivers quit making much that top talent might leave and go to other series but this would only hurt NASCAR if guys already in the sport jumped (ie Larson) and not if an up and coming driver decided to go open wheel instead of stock.
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I am definitely not "in the know" but my understanding is that the value on Nascar sponsorships is resetting to reflect what they are actually worth in today's market. I also understand that many sponsorships are based upon someone in the sponsoring company being a Nascar fan or having a relationship with someone on the team it sponsors. I believe that Bass Pro Shops and Geico are that way as was GoDaddy with Danica Patrick. Often times when a new CEO comes into a company they will look at their expenditure on Nascar and essentially see it as throwing money out the window.

I believe that sponsorship problems have been going on for a number of years but what really exacerbated things was when Monster became Nascar's title sponsor and paid $20 million per year for it. Sprint had been paying in the area of $75 million so when Nascar takes a haircut like that it only stands to reason that current and prospective sponsors are going to take notice and will want a huge discount on what they are spending. I suspect that teams like JGR and SHR that have experienced sponsorship troubles are pricing themselves out of the market as reality has not hit them yet.

IDK what reduced dollars to the teams will mean but employees are the most expensive thing to have so my guess is that there will be layoffs, some teams will just go away and others will merge in order to cobble enough money to run 1 team. The only difference we will notice is if one team is getting substantially more money than others they should be able to dominate. If most of the teams have to discount sponsorships in the same amount we shouldn't notice any difference.
 
Team Penske said:
If Nascar sinks so low they can not pay drivers a wage, no other auto sport could either so Larson isn't going anywhere. My other point is these guys don't have degrees that will allow them to go to another job and make anyway near this money. These young drivers would be thrilled to drive 30 races a year for $300,000 a rear salary.
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Well except maybe Newman.He is an engineer.
 
Allenbaba said:
... and the market is readjusting. At some point, spending will be of equal value to a realistic revenue expectation, and all will be right in the sport again.
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The voice of reason. Thank you.
 
aunty dive said:
From the rating thread:
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This is a total cherry pick. I could easily go into a similar ratings thread and find someone that rated a race negative because their driver didn't win or the race was a total bore. Aero is never a factor at a short track.
The racing from Richmond this past weekend was certainly one of the better races lately, but is that because it was truly a better race or are we just comparing it to the racing in the past few years, that some might argue has not been very good?
 
StandOnIt said:
I pretty much agree with most of this article. Nascar fan for life warts and all. Drop the flag!

When you hear about the TV ratings and the attendance and people leaving the sport, you sort of shrug: Oh well, their loss. Unlike your favorite TV show that loses viewers, NASCAR isn’t in danger of being canceled. The fact IndyCar still exists (it pulled in a 0.27 rating this weekend!!!) shows NASCAR can go on in some form indefinitely.


But that doesn’t mean you as a fan have to get sucked into the negative energy. You follow NASCAR because you love it, not because you have the answers to save it. If you don’t want to participate in all the hand-wringing, then don’t let it ruin a good thing for you.

My advice? Put your scanner headphones on, block out the noise and smile. It’s only five days until race day.

http://jeffgluck.com/how-to-enjoy-your-favorite-sport-when-it-feels-like-no-one-else-is/
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The thing is I've been following Nascar since I was kid, but in the last 5 years I can't remember the last time I sat down and actually watched an entire race from start to finish. It just isn't that interesting anymore, and I was an avid fan, the racing isn't that good, Nascar keeps adding gimmick after gimmick, and it just makes the sport worse. There are too many 1.5 mile tracks on the schedule and not enough shorter 1/2 mile- 1 mile ovals where racing is exciting and actually non dependent on aero. I post a lot of negative about Nascar because right now there is a lot of negative to post, the sport is indeed going down the tubes. I don't see it being on a major network after the next contract is up, Nascar will hopefully cut the season down some so it doesn't run into football as much, and get back to racing without all the added gimmicks which just dilute it.
 
LewTheShoe said:
I disagree strongly with this. Frankly, it makes me wonder if you are watching the races, and if so, what are you comparing them against. The quality of Nascar's on-track product has never been higher, IMO. There have always been some great Nascar races, and some good ones, and some mediocre. The standard today is higher than ever (in my 50+ years of following the sport) in conducting races that are closely competitive contests of skill, hard fought, and with the outcome in doubt throughout. There are more great races, and fewer clunkers, today than ever before, IMO.

I don't have answers for how to improve TV ratings or live attendance among young consumers... but I have followed many forms of racing for quite a few decades. I give credit to Nascar for transforming the racing over the last several years.
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Really? In the past 50 years of being a fan of the sport, this year's racing has been the best ever? I respect your opinion, but IMO this isn't the case.
I won't say all of the format changes and rule changes have been bad, because I do enjoy the chase (not in the current format, but in general).
IMO, the racing was better when the cars were different from one another and didn't have the side skirts and splitters, i.e. before the COT. This was at the peak of NASCARs popularity back in the late 90's early 2000's. Back in this time frame, you could tell the difference between the cars without the stickers on, and each car had a small advantage over the competition in one form or another, i.e. the ford was better in the turns, the chevy faster on the straights, and the pontiac was a balance between the two.
I think this is why I like the IMSA series more and more lately. The cars are different and some have advantages in certain areas that others don't but the racing has been fantastic this year with the exception of a few missteps. Basically the cars aren't all the same. Again, this is all IMO.
 
LouieLouie said:
This is a total cherry pick. I could easily go into a similar ratings thread and find someone that rated a race negative because their driver didn't win or the race was a total bore. Aero is never a factor at a short track.
The racing from Richmond this past weekend was certainly one of the better races lately, but is that because it was truly a better race or are we just comparing it to the racing in the past few years, that some might argue has not been very good?
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I respect your opinion, I just don't see things the way you do.
 
Mopardh9 said:
The thing is I've been following Nascar since I was kid, but in the last 5 years I can't remember the last time I sat down and actually watched an entire race from start to finish. It just isn't that interesting anymore, and I was an avid fan, the racing isn't that good, Nascar keeps adding gimmick after gimmick, and it just makes the sport worse. There are too many 1.5 mile tracks on the schedule and not enough shorter 1/2 mile- 1 mile ovals where racing is exciting and actually non dependent on aero. I post a lot of negative about Nascar because right now there is a lot of negative to post, the sport is indeed going down the tubes. I don't see it being on a major network after the next contract is up, Nascar will hopefully cut the season down some so it doesn't run into football as much, and get back to racing without all the added gimmicks which just dilute it.
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Brian France and a couple of members here believe that racing has never been better than today. I am not making this up.
 
LouieLouie said:
Really? In the past 50 years of being a fan of the sport, this year's racing has been the best ever? I respect your opinion, but IMO this isn't the case.
I won't say all of the format changes and rule changes have been bad, because I do enjoy the chase (not in the current format, but in general).
IMO, the racing was better when the cars were different from one another and didn't have the side skirts and splitters, i.e. before the COT. This was at the peak of NASCARs popularity back in the late 90's early 2000's. Back in this time frame, you could tell the difference between the cars without the stickers on, and each car had a small advantage over the competition in one form or another, i.e. the ford was better in the turns, the chevy faster on the straights, and the pontiac was a balance between the two.
I think this is why I like the IMSA series more and more lately. The cars are different and some have advantages in certain areas that others don't but the racing has been fantastic this year with the exception of a few missteps. Basically the cars aren't all the same. Again, this is all IMO.
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The funny thing with Brian France and his couple of minions is they claim the racing today is better than ever so lets suspend reality and pretend they are correct. What good is the best racing ever if people are tuning out Nascar in droves?
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
What good is the best racing ever if people are tuning out Nascar in droves?
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The racing this season has been pretty damn good. You can't arrest the slide in attendance and TV ratings without that.

And ... for those that remain, it's been enjoyable. Its popularity among this or that demographic is meaningless to me.
 
When you have 23 million tuning in for all or part of the Daytona 500 this year some of these comments are laughable. Most of the races don't have a problem pulling 2, 3 million viewers or much more easily. Yeah there will be more "downsizing" but they are going to keep dropping the flag and that is all I care about when it comes down to it.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
Nascar doesn't have the same benefit of stick and ball sports that are played at school, in leagues and in neighborhoods and there are other factors like the lack of interest in cars by younger people and I am sure the rising number of families headed by females doesn't exactly help get eyeballs on auto racing.
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I am sure all of this plays a role. I wouldn't disagree at all, but NASCAR has been forever built on family and the idea that on a Saturday night you can go to a local track and watch guys compete either for money or for fun. I have been attending local racing since I was 13 years old and in that time I have lost my love affair with the sport and re-gained it all due to the lack of car count and the lack of exciting racing series to watch. Every driver started somewhere. Go back to that spot and become a part of the track. Bring it back to life. People love the idea of being able to watch the greatest in the world do what they do from arms length away. When these drivers go back home and strap into a 410 outlaw and wheel that thing around a 3/8 mile dirt track and still get beat by one of the hotshots in the series it means something.

I always have watched NASCAR. I have never been into fixing cars. I enjoy cars and horsepower, but I have never had a fast car and I don't know my way around a car too well, but I still am very much in love with the sport because of what it takes to do it and because I find the ability it takes fascinating. The product as a whole in person is a top 3 dollar for dollar buy in my opinion. When I had my son, he got hooked just from watching it. He was curious about the cars, so I took him to a friend's shop to show him his late model. I will never forget his face and his trepidation of the car and when it turned over and the motor fired he jumped back into my arms. His eyes were stuck on it though and before we knew it he was in the seat with a helmet on acting like he was winning a race. At 2 years old my kid was standing on the door with his hands up in the air pretending that Gatorade was being sprayed all over him. It's been on since that day.

So, all of this means to me that we have to foster the sport into our kids and expose them to it. Sitting on the couch and griping about the product is not going to produce any new fans. Exposure and making larger than life people both on TV and at the local tracks will.
 
I know I have enjoyed the races I have seen this year and while I don't think the stages are necessary I do like the fact that I have not seen 1 bogus caution so if stages are the price to pay then so be it. I don't know of anyone that is actually worried about Nascar's future as I think most folks believe it will be around in 1 form or another for many years but just look different and be much smaller than today. That is not necessarily a bad thing as a smaller more streamlined series may end up featuring some great racing.

It will be interesting to see if Monster exercises its option after 2018 and it will be very interesting to see what if anything the networks that carry Nascar do. I remember at the time there were some fools flapping gums about how the TV deal was a no brainer as both FOX and NBC would be be able to raise the rate they charge cable/sat providers for their sports channels and were going to make money hand over fist. Instead the Networks are pissed and unhappy with the product they are getting but they really only have themselves to blame. Can anything reverse the downward spiral we have seen for several consecutive years?
 
clarkfn2284 said:
I am sure all of this plays a role. I wouldn't disagree at all, but NASCAR has been forever built on family and the idea that on a Saturday night you can go to a local track and watch guys compete either for money or for fun. I have been attending local racing since I was 13 years old and in that time I have lost my love affair with the sport and re-gained it all due to the lack of car count and the lack of exciting racing series to watch. Every driver started somewhere. Go back to that spot and become a part of the track. Bring it back to life. People love the idea of being able to watch the greatest in the world do what they do from arms length away. When these drivers go back home and strap into a 410 outlaw and wheel that thing around a 3/8 mile dirt track and still get beat by one of the hotshots in the series it means something.

I always have watched NASCAR. I have never been into fixing cars. I enjoy cars and horsepower, but I have never had a fast car and I don't know my way around a car too well, but I still am very much in love with the sport because of what it takes to do it and because I find the ability it takes fascinating. The product as a whole in person is a top 3 dollar for dollar buy in my opinion. When I had my son, he got hooked just from watching it. He was curious about the cars, so I took him to a friend's shop to show him his late model. I will never forget his face and his trepidation of the car and when it turned over and the motor fired he jumped back into my arms. His eyes were stuck on it though and before we knew it he was in the seat with a helmet on acting like he was winning a race. At 2 years old my kid was standing on the door with his hands up in the air pretending that Gatorade was being sprayed all over him. It's been on since that day.

So, all of this means to me that we have to foster the sport into our kids and expose them to it. Sitting on the couch and griping about the product is not going to produce any new fans. Exposure and making larger than life people both on TV and at the local tracks will.
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I agree 100% that Nascar or any form of racing would benefit from having someone introduce another person to it and also getting someone to a track where they can take in the sights, sounds and smells is big. I am lucky because Winchester, Eldora, IRP and Mid-Ohio are relatively close as well as there is a strong short track with a decent promoter within reasonable distance.

Some of the older folks here don't give a hoot about introducing Nascar to any young people as the attitude is "as long as I can see it I don't give a crap what happens." In fairness it is not their responsibility but you would think that if they loved Nascar as much as they claim introducing others to it would be something they enjoyed doing. People.....ya gotta love 'em.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
But, but, but ESPN doesn't carry NASCAR! How can it be losing viewers??? Surely people aren't watching less of ALL sports-related broadcasting!?!?!

(Don't leave me hanging, people...)
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NHL playoffs up 5% so far, NBA playoffs up 12% from last year through the first round.

Additionally:

 
And ESPN recently fired over a hundred employees. The gorilla in the room seems to keep being ignored

FS1's decline in subscribers cost the network around $12 million -- partially canceled out by an increase in FS2 revenue, NBC Sports Network lost just a million dollars and the NFL Network lost just $5 million. You can see my math here. Of course, the cable bundle is under siege everywhere, not just in sports. (If you're interested in the total subscriber count for every cable channel, you can go check it out here.) As these subscriber losses continue to grow each quarter it's certainly fair to ask the question -- when will they end? Where's the bundle floor? Essentially, how many reliable cable and satellite bundle purchasers are there?


http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/e...ubscribers-as-cord-cutting-accelerates-052816
 
StandOnIt said:
And ESPN recently fired over a hundred employees. The gorilla in the room seems to keep being ignored

FS1's decline in subscribers cost the network around $12 million -- partially canceled out by an increase in FS2 revenue, NBC Sports Network lost just a million dollars and the NFL Network lost just $5 million. You can see my math here. Of course, the cable bundle is under siege everywhere, not just in sports. (If you're interested in the total subscriber count for every cable channel, you can go check it out here.) As these subscriber losses continue to grow each quarter it's certainly fair to ask the question -- when will they end? Where's the bundle floor? Essentially, how many reliable cable and satellite bundle purchasers are there?


http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/e...ubscribers-as-cord-cutting-accelerates-052816
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I see your point but it certainly has nothing to do with the empty grandstands.
 
What networks have paid to air Nascar is just a drop in the bucket and when it comes to the overpaying issue. The networks are stuck much deeper covering stick n ball expenses.

ESPN, for instance, has committed exorbitant sums to rights fees: $1.9 billion a year to the NFL for Monday Night Football, $1.47 billion to the NBA, $700 million to Major League Baseball, $608 million for the College Football Playoff, and hundreds of millions more to the SEC, the ACC, the Big 12 and the Pac 12. At an absolute minimum it would appear that ESPN presently pays out nearly $6 billion a year to sports leagues just in rights fees.

This means that before it can make a dollar, ESPN has to pay out roughly $6 billion a year to sports leagues.
Right now ESPN has 89 million subscribers. That's still $7 billion in subscriber revenue a year. What we don't know is this, what would happen if cord cutting eventually drove that number down to, say, 70 million subscribers? Then ESPN would bring in $5.6 billion and owe the sports leagues six billion a year.



Uh oh.

http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/e...ubscribers-as-cord-cutting-accelerates-052816
 
FLRacingFan said:
NHL playoffs up 5% so far, NBA playoffs up 12% from last year through the first round.

Additionally:

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I am happy for the NHL as it is a decent property in terms of growth potential and demographic and in reality Nascar would be much better positioned for today and the future with the NHL's smaller overall numbers.
 
yeah the NHL is just groovy, a point nothing in the ratings. But as it has been said, they can keep something that small around, they shouldn't have a bit of trouble keeping Nascar


NHL ratings hit new lows on NBC for regular season

The 2016-17 NHL regular season averaged 467,000 viewers across NBC and NBCSN, down 7% from last year (503K) and down 5% from 2015 (503K).

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/nhl-ratings-hit-new-lows-nbc-regular-season-201324298.html
 
BobbyFord said:
I see your point but it certainly has nothing to do with the empty grandstands.
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It is all smoke and mirrors and no amount of spin and obfuscation changes the fact that Nascar in its current form is in a downward spiral. Teams can't find sponsors, fans stay away from the tracks, people play lawn darts instead of watching the broadcasts, the title sponsorship went from 75 million a year and each year gets worse despite changes that are supposed to help. There is no defense of this unless your name is Special Ed.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I agree 100% that Nascar or any form of racing would benefit from having someone introduce another person to it and also getting someone to a track where they can take in the sights, sounds and smells is big. I am lucky because Winchester, Eldora, IRP and Mid-Ohio are relatively close as well as there is a strong short track with a decent promoter within reasonable distance.

Some of the older folks here don't give a hoot about introducing Nascar to any young people as the attitude is "as long as I can see it I don't give a crap what happens." In fairness it is not their responsibility but you would think that if they loved Nascar as much as they claim introducing others to it would be something they enjoyed doing. People.....ya gotta love 'em.
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I have never really understood the NASCAR fans. They complain a lot. I get being frustrated with the product and the gripes that come with changes, but times evolve and things cannot always stay the same. I am a huge Baseball fan and I believe in the eye for an eye "unwritten rules" of the game, but I have a very real understanding of how antiquated that line of thinking is in today's game. NASCAR fans have resisted modification and change at nearly every turn. For me, the product itself is still very much entertaining, but I find many different things that make it fun for me. It isn't just about the racing. Obviously, you have the personalities, but I think you have to have a real interest in a driver. For me, I was always a Bobby Labonte fan, but when he went to smaller funded teams and was winding down his career I struggled with the sport because there wasn't a driver every week that I needed to pull for. I'm a CA guy who watched Larson come through the ranks, so when he got a shot it made sense to me. It is always nice to see a local kid make it. It makes it a little more real. I watch religiously every week and we get to track a year for a CUP race. Not every race is going to be exhilarating and every fan will watch for different reasons and feels like their style of racing is better then the other. I am a short track guy myself. I just like to see guys beat and bang and get their elbow's up. I like slick, sliding side by side grind it out racing. However, I went to Fontana last year and if we could get all mile and a half tracks or larger to race like that place we would be just fine. I just have never really understood the refusal to evolve.
 
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