NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France acknowledged that “the economy is still having an impact in the NASCAR garage area but he is happy with what he can control -- the competition on the track and the measures the sport has taken to help teams in this economy,” according to Bob Pockrass of SCENE DAILY. France said that NASCAR “has started negotiations with Sprint on its Cup Series entitlement, which ends in 2013, calling the existing relationship ‘very good.’” He also “addressed the state of the NASCAR garage as Red Bull Racing will no longer field a Cup team and Richard Childress Racing and Roush Fenway Racing don’t have sponsorship to field all four of their current Cup cars for next season.” France: “It's very, very difficult out there for companies and for people in the general economy. That has impact on us, and it will continue to have some impact on us.” Pockrass noted another “possible economic casualty could be the Nationwide Series race at Montreal,” as ISC “has not renewed its contract to help promote the races there and the local group failed to obtain economic incentives, putting a return to the facility in jeopardy.” France said NASCAR could not be "any more pleased with how the Chase is unfolding, and frankly how the season has unfolded." France: "With the level of competition, the closeness in the Chase, some of the moves that we made, the wild card being one, and streamlining and simplifying the points system being another, to make it easier for people to understand how you qualify and of course add some additional drama.” The impact “has been felt in the television ratings, with ratings up about 8 percent and viewership up about 11 percent this year.” France: “We've just got to keep building on that and hope that the racing and the storylines continue to do what they have done” (SCENEDAILY.com, 10/9).
KEEP ON TRUCKIN': France said the Camping World Truck Series is “very viable.” France: “It's a franchise for the Speed Channel. It's their highest rated programming every week, depending on what venue. It does fairly well. But yeah, there's no question that that series and every motor support series in the country has got some impact, and some greater than others. I will say that with that particular series we've done unprecedented things in the last two or three years to take cost out of the system for those team owners and the drivers for that matter. But limiting crew members and doing all kinds of things on the regulatory side that have proven a great deal of cost savings, it's a lot cheaper to operate a truck team than it was three years ago” (Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 10/10).
TWO THUMBS UP: France said a night race at Kansas Speedway “will be a consideration.” France: “This whole facility and the surrounding developments are impressive as any place that we go. I’m going to take a tour of the casino … the soccer stadium is beautiful; it’s very additive to the complex here.” France said of the ’11 season, “Our hope always is that we come down to the finale at Homestead and have as many drivers in the thick of it as possible.” When asked what “demographic increases” he is seeing in the higher TV ratings for the Chase, France said, “The increase is primarily coming right where we would really want it to be, which is the younger demo, up I think 20 something percent, has consistently been up 20 something percent” (K.C. STAR, 10/10). The AP’s Dave Skretta noted TV ratings “have been on the rise after a couple of years of stagnation, particularly in younger demographics, a key to the sport's continued growth.” France said that “much of that is tied to the tight Chase standings.” France: "You'll see this in the various playoffs and championships in all kinds of sports, it comes down to storylines and matchups. When you have more of that, good storylines and great racing in our case, you should do better, and we are doing better" (AP, 10/9).
