Yes, the numbers are still big numbers. But just like the Indy 500 (and their pole day & Carb Day), there are still a bunch of people there. But the numbers are down.

Anyway, I agree in large part with mert, when you tout your size, growth, loyalty, etc… and then you stumble; people are more apt to point out your stumble. Ratings/Attendance are/have been down for a few years. As a friend of mine used to say, “they are post-peak.”

Another old saying, “apples and oranges.” There are just too many differences to truly compare them. You cannot directly compare ratings/attendance of NASCAR/NBA/NFL/MLB/NHL/Stars on Ice/Etc.

You can compare ratings of NASCAR and their increase decrease of say 10 years. Then compare the ratings of NFL over that same 10 year period. Did NASCAR increase/decrease more/ less than NFL? Anything else and a good mathematician/statistician can take the numbers and spin them until their sport looks much better than the other.

Second, a bigger point. I think NASCAR brought on a lot of the negative publicity itself by touting itself as the biggest and most exciting thing in sports entertainment since the Sox traded the Babe. The same thing happened to the NBA in the 90′s. When you run around promoting yourself in, frankly, an arrogant fashion, the press will inevitably be all over you when you slip up. The press is not all over the NHL or IndyCar because neither has over promoted itself like NASCAR. But, the bigger you are or, more importantly, the bigger you claim you are, the harder you fall.

Third, I have been going to Dover for ten years now and this weekend was, by far, the lowest attendance. Large swaths of the stands were empty. In fact, the track even turned big blocks of empty seats into billboards. This has to be costing the tracks some real money. I estimated the billboarded seats represented about $300,000 in lost ticket revenue. There was, however, an upside. Never got in or out of the track as fast.

The Chrysler 300 deal didnt last to long, Richard Petty won that many races when their was apox 60 races a year!

Terry Labonte has won as many point titles as Roush!

Let see after Dale SR and Jeff Gordon dominated in the 90s they got a new SB2 engine, then when GM totalally dominated in laps led,wins, 70% of Daytona 500s and Talledaga Titles in the 2000s 2006 got a new RO7 engine, I mean Chevy has great drivers and teams but where are the competition directors? They will never let another brand dominate like that!

Did you feel it was a problem when Roush had all his cars in the Chase? Or when Petty won 27 events in a single year, the Chrysler 300′s dominated and the Hudson Hornets decimated the field?

In short sh*t happens, get over it.

West Coast Kenny – “I think, in an odd way, you’re pointing out one of the major drawbacks of NASCAR, that the season is way too long.”

How does that explain all the time when NASCAR attendance and TV ratings were raising AND the sport was also running a 36 event schedule?

I was surprised at how few cars there were for Charlotte, only 47 for a race that’s right in most teams’ backyards.

I heard comments on Speed TV from Dover about how ratings rise and fall on how Earnhardt JR performs. That’s sad. I don’t care if it’s the driver I dislike the most winning the race, as long as it is a dogfight.

There was a post on TNI months back by a new NASCAR fan asking for advice on attending a race. In short, the root of the responses revolved around take in the sights, sounds, tastes and especially the smell “at” a NASCAR race. Senses you just really can’t tingle while watching on TV. Years past I would not dare miss an Atlanta race. Now, I ask myself is it worth devoting a whole day or weekend and a bunch of coin to hope for an exciting start and finish? It been rightly said that “bullfighting, mountain climbing and auto racing are sports, all others are just games”.

But, since we are fed an almost constant “gloom and doom” message on the news in general, why should it be any different when it comes to NASCAR?