NASCAR needs boost today at Daytona 500
TV ratings, attendance are down, new title sponsorship deal not as lucrative as hoped
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The good news for NASCAR is that all signs indicate Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a legitimate shot to win the Daytona 500.
A victory for NASCAR’s most popular driver, in his return to racing after a concussion sidelined him the second half of last season, would be a massive boost for the sagging series.
Earnhardt was part of a Hendrick Motorsports qualifying sweep for today’s season-opening race. Chase Elliott won the pole, and Earnhardt will line up next to him on the starting grid.
Earnhardt is not ready to call himself a favourite, and thinks he’ll have his hands full with the Joe Gibbs Racing group and Penske drivers Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski.
“Watching the last several plate races, I think the Gibbs guys have the market cornered on the favourite,” he said. “The Penske guys are really strong. So I think it’s their race to lose. The Hendrick cars are going to be up there trying to mix it up.”
NASCAR needs today to go off without a hitch.
The series is under heavy scrutiny because of sliding attendance and television ratings, plus the title sponsor deal with Monster Energy came in at a fraction of what NASCAR was looking for when it began shopping the naming rights almost two years ago.
In an effort to add excitement to the racing — something both the television partners and Monster wanted — all events will be run in segments this year. That means the Daytona 500 won’t exactly be a 500-mile race of attrition, but will instead be cut into three parts. There are points on the line for each segment, giving drivers incentive to race hard the entire race — with a final push to the checkered flag.
It’s a risky move for NASCAR, but one embraced publicly by drivers. Some fans, particularly longtime watchers, are horrified at the gimmicks NASCAR is using, but a rising crop of young drivers is eager to give it a try.
“I think you have a group of guys coming along that are going to put their signature on this sport,” said team owner Chip Ganassi.
“The sport’s gone through some changes. We’re looking at a new format. Some of us older guys, when they talk about changing the format, we look at each other, ask questions. These young drivers, they go, ‘OK.’ It’s kind of no big deal to those guys.”
Indeed, the faces are rapidly changing in NASCAR as the stars are aging out of their rides.
Jeff Gordon is now a television analyst and will drive the pace car today. Tony Stewart retired at the end of last season. Carl Edwards decided in late December he didn’t want to race this year after coming 10 laps short of winning the championship. Greg Biffle has committed to a television job.
With all those open seats, the series is starting to shift and there’s more attention for drivers like Elliott, Gordon’s replacement a year ago, and Daniel Suarez, the Mexican driver who turned his Xfinity Series championship into a promotion to the Cup series when Edwards retired.
JGR development driver Erik Jones is a rookie this year and will team with Martin Truex Jr. at Furniture Row Racing as de facto Gibbs drivers.
Austin Dillon made the playoffs last year, and his younger brother, Ty, has a full-time Cup ride this season. Kyle Larson also made the playoffs, and Ryan Blaney had a productive rookie season driving as a Penske development driver.
The starting grid today will look a lot younger, but the car owners who pay for the talent don’t seem to mind.
“I love to watch the young guys. I don’t know whether it makes me feel young again, I don’t know what it is,” said Rick Hendrick. “It’s just fun to watch those guys mature, grow, come up through the ranks. I’ve never seen the level of talent that we have today. I think these guys adapt so much faster.
“The level of the young guys that you see coming along that have the talent that they have, it’s super exciting.”