New Year Resolutions for NASCAR in 2010

We are closing in on the ball dropping on another year, and for the first time in recent years our sport is in serious trouble heading into the next season. Fans have stopped filling the stands, and they have stopped watching it on television as much. Not only that but there is a severe lack of rivalries on the track, lack of personalities off the track, and a certain most popular driver is noticeably missing from victory lane more and more each season.

Now I know Nascar can’t control all of these things, but they sure can make a few New Years Resolutions that will begin to fix a lot of what is decaying the sport we love so dearly.

Does NASCAR Need Franchises To Survive?

Franchising according to theorists would help pull in sponsors, because there would only be 43 Franchised teams. This would mean nobody would go home at the end of qualifying on Fridays, and would also guarantee a full 43 car starting field. Then if a salary cap is applied on expenses (like in the NFL or NBA), the power at the top of the heap would be more evenly spread.

I could not disagree more.

The Competition Caution 400 (formerly known as the Brickyard 400)

Now that the tire dust has finally settled from yesterday’s race, let’s look at what I feel was the biggest damage done to the sport of Cup racing, sacrificing driver safety for the goodwill of the fans. That NASCAR had to resort to bringing out 6 competition cautions due to tire issues was a shame and I expect Chris covered that issue with his article. However, my thoughts are that if NASCAR was bringing out the competition cautions due to safety issues, then they should have expanded on that by not changing the field during the pit stops…