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NASCAR Ratings Up - Down: Who Cares?

by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

August 28, 2009 9:16 pm CDT 3 Comments

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About every other On Pit Row show, Steve talks about - or there’s a Fast Lap question that wonders - why NASCAR’s TV ratings are down. Or up.

Do you really care? I know I don’t.

NASCAR got a boatload - several really big boatloads actually - of cash in their last TV contract(s) from three very willing bidders, for the right to present NASCAR Sprint Cup races.

And guess what. Ratings have been down. I guess. Not as many people are clicking their Nielson boxes during the races. At least, not as many compared to whatever year is being used as the benchmark.

But, assuming this is true, whom does it hurt?

NASCAR? Not this year. Already got the cash, they did.

NASCAR fans? Nope. Far as I know, just because you’re a NASCAR fan, doesn’t mean that you HAVE TO watch boring, three and a half hour races every week, preceded by pre-race coverage that is WAY WAY WAY too long and self serving.

So it must be the TV networks right?

Not if they learn their lessons.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR Bidness, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio

Tagged with: Fast Lap Posts

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Is A Stock Car Road Racing Series Viable?

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

If OnPitRow.com was a NASCAR team, I’d be the development driver of the bunch. In the same way that young hotshots like Joey Logano have been driving since they were in grade school, I’ve been following and writing about all forms of motorsports since I was barely old enough to talk.

August 28, 2009 3:06 pm CDT 2 Comments

While the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has its final off week of the season, the Nationwide Series heads north of the border to Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. This is the third year in a row that Montreal has hosted a Nationwide race, and expectations are high after a pair of interesting races in 2007 and 2008.

The final road course event of the year in a major NASCAR series, this event always attracts some of the greatest road racing talent on the planet. The best among these drivers are Ron Fellows and Boris Said; they are recognized as threats to win every time NASCAR heads to a road course. Other drivers with strong road racing backgrounds entered in this weekend’s race include Andy Lally and Justin Marks.

A handful of former open wheel stars are usually tabbed to replace Nationwide regulars in the road course races every year as well. Former Champ Car World Series drivers entered this weekend include Andrew Ranger, Jacques Villeneuve, Alex Tagliani, and Patrick Carpentier.

Combine those drivers with NASCAR regulars Marcos Ambrose, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Max Papis, and Colin Braun, and it’s clear that this weekend’s field is loaded with road course racing talent. It’s the case every time the stock cars start turning both ways. And it means that three times a year, some of us start contemplating the viability of a national NASCAR touring series that runs road courses all year.

Sure, this idea might have worked better when guys like Villeneuve, Carpentier, and Dario Franchitti were trying to switch disciplines. It would have provided them an opportunity to learn the heavier stock cars while still racing on tracks with which they were familiar. Perhaps a year in a series like this would have helped prevent their respective failures in stock car racing.

While the open wheel invasion may be over, however, it appears that recruiting drivers from other types of road racing is a popular idea around the garage. Lally is only the most recent to defect, running for Kevin Buckler’s Sprint Cup team at Watkins Glen. Before joining the Cup Series this year, Buckler made his mark in sports car racing, running Porsche 911 GT3s in the Rolex Sports Car Series, run by the Grand-Am Road Racing Association, founded by Jim France (brother of Bill France Jr.) and currently owned by NASCAR.

Grand-Am, however, appears to be on the decline. In the Rolex Series, the top class of cars is the Daytona Prototype. A handful of engines are approved for Grand-Am use, but those with the most manufacturer support are Lexus and Pontiac; with Pontiac’s elimination and Lexus’ rumored departure, the series is significantly weakened. Already, some drivers like Braun have made the jump from the DPs to stock cars, and the loss of the top two engine manufacturers may exacerbate that.

It’s not as if NASCAR owners are unfamiliar to fielding road racing teams, either. Besides Buckler, the list includes Chip Ganassi, Roger Penske, Jack Roush, and Richard Childress - four of the most well-known and respected owners in the sport.

Sure, this idea might have made a little more sense for the open-wheelers two or three years ago. But it still makes sense for some of the defecting road course drivers. With Grand-Am’s future looking shaky due to the loss of at least one top Daytona Prototype engine manufacturer, a stock car road racing series could be attractive to those with a different type of Daytona dream.

Filed under: road course ringers

Tagged with: Boris Said, Circuit du Gilles Villeneuve, Grand Am, road course ringers, ron fellows

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Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and Mindy Monday: Different M and M Flavors

by Charlie Turner

August 27, 2009 12:11 pm CDT 2 Comments

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Mindy Monday got a little impatient with Mark Martin and his non-pass of Kyle Busch in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol on Saturday night. She knows what she would have done. And she might just practice the move by racing motorized barstools.

Hey, I just report what I see. And it’s all here in the latest Monday Morning Crew Chief. Watch it now. Then watch a bunch of the reruns here.

Filed under: Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, Monday Morning Crew Chief, NASCAR video

Tagged with: Mindy Monday, motorized barstool racing, Sharpie 500

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Rowdy Looks To Regain Chase Berth

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary,NASCAR video,NASCAR pictures, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

August 25, 2009 3:52 pm CDT No Comments

With his win at Bristol last weekend, Kyle Busch finds himself only 34 points behind Matt Kenseth for the final spot in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup. The one we call “Rowdy” is looking to make up for a series of mediocre runs in the “regular season” and clinch a high playoff seed on account of his four wins.

In order for Rowdy to make it into the Chase, however, one of the current 12 drivers with playoff spots has to fall out. Six Chase drivers are within 100 points of Busch: Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, and Kenseth. Busch has to focus on beating this six-pack of drivers over the next two races to secure one of their berths.

Looking at those six drivers’ career statistics at Atlanta, site of next weekend’s race, nobody is a truly dominant driver at the Georgia track - but neither is Busch. Kenseth has the best average finish (13.8), but no wins at the track. Biffle’s record is comparable to Kenseth’s, albeit with a slightly worse average finish. Martin has two wins and a 17.2 average finish at Atlanta, but his last Atlanta win was in 1994.

Of the six aforementioned drivers, Kahne’s Atlanta statistics are most like Busch’s. Both drivers have one win at the track (Kahne’s in spring 2006, Busch’s in spring 2008) and average finishes in the neighborhood of 18th.

If history is any indication, the drivers most likely to lose ground in the Chase standings at Atlanta are Newman and Montoya. Despite his 5.6 average starting spot at the track, Newman’s average finish is a paltry 18.5; in four of his past six Atlanta races, he fell down at least one lap, and in a fifth, his engine gave out. Montoya’s first Atlanta race saw him finish fifth, but he’s either been lapped or had car troubles in all four races since.

Luckily for Rowdy, if he can make up ground at Atlanta next weekend, he should have a Chase berth in the bag; his average finish at Richmond, host of the final regular season race this year, is an astounding 6.1. While he only has one win at the track, it came this spring. In nine starts at Richmond, he has seven top 5s, a rare instance of consistency in his career. He’s never even failed to complete a lap at the track.

Again, history suggests that the most vulnerable driver of the six is Montoya, whose best finish at Richmond is a 10th earlier this year. Montoya and Biffle are the only two never to have won at Richmond, but Biffle’s 15.8 average finish is exactly 12 points better than Montoya’s. For the Colombian to hold onto his Chase spot, he has to drive as conservatively as he has all year, and avoid making mistakes like he did in the pits at Indianapolis.

Biffle and Martin appear to be the safest drivers in the bottom six of the Chase, especially based on momentum. Biffle has three top 5 finishes in his past five races, for a 9.6 average finish. As for Martin, his entire year has been defined by streaks of bad finishes followed by streaks of good ones. Last week’s second place at Bristol could easily be the start of another string of solid runs for The Kid.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Kyle Busch, NASCAR

Tagged with: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Chase for the Cup, Kyle Busch, Richmond International Raceway

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Bristol is Back Baby!

by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Charlie likes to call me an "idiot". I'm not an "idiot"; I just prefer not to let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

August 23, 2009 8:16 am CDT No Comments

All the complaints about Bristol Motor Speedway not being the Bristol of old can be forgotten.

The beating and banging that fans came to love about Bristol resurfaced on Saturday night. And a close finish that saw Mark Martin and Kyle Busch battle for the win, brought the sellout crowd to their feet. Worries about the size of a perennially sold out Bristol crowd were unfounded as NASCAR fans filled the half mile speedway.

But what fans have been complaining about at the track recently seemed to be rectified as the close, bumper to bumper–rubbing is racing–form of short track racing was back with a vengeance. The only thing missing was someone other than Martin in the second spot on the last restart. If there had been just about anyone else in his position, most likely there would have been a good old fashioned “bump and run” to secure a win.

Martin has long been considered a gentleman racer, someone who would rather be thought of as a nice guy than a champion. Martin may still make The Chase, but he will not sour his nice guy image to get it done.

This all leads us to this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Should Mark Martin have moved Rowdy out of the way to win at Bristol?

Martin could have easily wrecked The Shrub and gone on to the victory, but chose not to. How will Martin be remembered if he ever does retire? Will his good-guy reputation get him into the Hall of Fame if he doesn’t put together a championship season?

Let us know what you think and we could use your comments on this week’s ON PIT ROW radio show. You can listen live from 5-7pm ET Tuesdays at www.onpitrow.com. Call into the show at 1-800-645-2946 and you could be the Shell Nitrogen Enriched Call of the Day and win a Kevin Harvick bobblehead.

Filed under: Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, NASCAR, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, The Busch Bros

Tagged with: Bristol Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin

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