Members of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Drivers Council said that they appreciated NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France "coming for part of their meeting Friday night at Talladega Superspeedway," according to Bob Pockrass of ESPN.com. France had not gone to "any meetings since the group's inception last year," but he spent "more than an hour in the three hour council meeting before heading to another commitment." France: "We just had a good discussion." Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, "It was great Brian came. ... It was just a good, positive meeting, a lot of good things moving in a good direction." Earnhardt added that the council talked "about a little bit of everything as far as topics, including race formats." Kyle Busch agreed with Earnhardt's sentiment, saying, "It's a shame he couldn't stay a little bit longer. It was nice to have him at least for the start and hear what some of our expectations are." Joey Logano said that the council talked about everything "from aero packages to television ratings" (ESPN.com, 4/30).
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NASCAR SPRINT CUP DRIVERS COUNCIL MEMBERS FOR '16 SEASON
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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Denny Hamlin
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Jimmie Johnson
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Tony Stewart
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Kevin Harvick
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Kyle Busch
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Joey Logano
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Kyle Larson
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Brad Keselowski
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FEELING SOME MOMENTUM: ESPN.com's Ryan McGee noted the formation of the Drivers Council is one of several elements in NASCAR's reorganization that has "taken place under the direction" of COO Brent Dewar, who along with Exec VP/Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell and Exec VP & CMO Steve Phelps is "working toward a sort of industry super summit, with the hope of getting all the different parties into a room ... to crystalize their efforts." Dewar said, "This approach is much harder. But I think that we are beginning to feel genuine momentum now. There is real enthusiasm." Earnhardt said the Drivers Council meetings are "very well done and are very productive because of a lot of the efforts that NASCAR puts in to preparing for the meetings themselves." Dewar: "One of the main goals of all this is to remind everyone to think long-term. ... That's how the big moves are made." McGee noted NASCAR is listening to the drivers, and for the first time, the "voices being listening to have been narrowed down to a few speaking on behalf of the many, not the many all screaming at the same time." Tony Stewart said, "To have a drivers council where you have drivers from all three manufacturers and different teams and organizations having a unified voice and everybody saying the same thing, it's validation to NASCAR that this isn't about one individual group and what we want to help ourselves. It's what we think as a group is best for everybody. That is why it's so important to have this started" (
ESPN.com, 4/30).
LEARN AS YOU GO: In Charlotte, David Scott noted saying something "critical of NASCAR in public isn't something that comes easily for many drivers." Martin Truex Jr. said, "It's definitely a balance and you have to be smart about the way you word things." Carl Edwards added, "The way I understand it is that (France) wants us to be outspoken. He wants us to share our opinions on things up to the point where it somehow diminishes the sport's worth as a whole. I guess that's where we have to be careful. I'm not exactly sure the line" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/30).
