Jones is among the slew of young drivers that is expected to be a boon for NASCAR's Cup SeriesGETTY IMAGES
Erik Jones led only the final lap of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 to win a race that touted "16 different leaders" at Daytona Int'l Speedway in front of 60,000 fans, according to Godwin Kelly of the Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL (7/8). Saturday marked Jones' first Cup series win, and ESPN’s Laura Rutledge noted he is among the group of young drivers "expected to carry the torch after so many veterans retired recently.” ESPN’s Ricky Craven said of Jones, “The sky’s the limit. The greatest endorsement for Erik Jones is that Kyle Busch discovered him, endorsed him, hired him and continues to promote him” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 7/8).
NOT FAIR TO ASSIGN BLAME: ISC President John Saunders made headlines last week when he blamed attendance woes on the lack of success from the heavily hyped group of young drivers in the sport. NBC's Dale Jarrett said, “Putting someone’s face in this group -- their face on a billboard, or all over social media, or all over TV and commercials -- that’s not going to make them stars. ... Every single one of them are trying as hard as they possibly can every single week. They want to win worse than we want them to win and way more than anybody in NASCAR wants them to win.” NBC's Kyle Petty noted Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. have won the majority of races this year, and said, "Jimmie Johnson’s not winning races, Kurt Busch is not winning races, Ryan Newman’s not winning races, Jamie McMurray. If we look at those guys as the ‘old guard,’ how can we point a finger at the young drivers and say, ‘You need to be winning races to help the sport?’” (“NASCAR America Saturday,” NBCSN, 7/7). In Charlotte, Brendan Marks writes Saunders' comments are a "sign of a much larger problem with NASCAR." Every time a NASCAR exec "comes out and offers up some half-baked excuse," it "fails to address the deeper, more intrinsic issues with the sport." It is just "kicking the can, shoving those issues further down the line ... for someone else to deal with." NASCAR "can't afford to hide behind bogus excuses like this or to ignore that the foundation of the sport has wide, growing cracks" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/7).
WHERE'S FRANCE WHEN YOU NEED HIM? In Orlando, Mike Bianchi wrote, "If you're out there, Brian France, do something. If you still care, do something. Rescue your sport." Perhaps if France would "come out of hiding and actually talk to the fans, his sport wouldn't be in the shape it's in." Fans and media members "can’t remember the last time NASCAR’s boss came down from his luxury suite and graced the masses with his presence." If any sport "needs a strong leader now, it is NASCAR." For NASCAR track owners to blame the sport’s problems on the young drivers is "proof positive that NASCAR leadership has its collective head buried in wet asphalt." Bianchi: "Who knows if NASCAR is even fixable?" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 7/8).
BY THE NUMBERS: SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL's Adam Stern notes viewership for Fox' slate of Cup races "was down a sizable" 19% from '17 and 29% from '16. Still, Fox "insists that only focusing on the year-over-year comparison is not representative of the company’s big-picture view." Fox Sports Exec VP/Research, League Operations & Strategy Mike Mulvihill said, "NASCAR is still a powerful contributor to our overall growth … the sport remains a force in the first half of the year and is essential to our overall business." For its half of the season, Fox "averaged 3.983 million viewers, compared to 4.898 million" in '17. This follows years of other "sizable downticks from the sport’s peak numbers." The series "averaged 5.578 million viewers on Fox Sports channels" in '16. Joe Gibbs Racing President Dave Alpern said, "When you read some of the narratives, you’d think, ‘Man, there’s nobody watching this anymore,’ but the scale of NASCAR is massive -- and that’s one thing I don’t think is focused on enough" (SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/9 issue).
