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NASCAR's Steve Phelps and Steve O'Donnell addressed numerous topics when speaking to the media ahead of Championship Weekend.
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Thumbnail Cred: NASCAR Media, Getty
0:00 Intro
1:53 Playoff format
4:55 TV negotiations
6:38 Charter negotiations
9:40 Short track improvements
10:55 Auto Club Speedway update
12:11 Electric vehicles and alternative fuel
13:33 New manufacturers?
14:40 Driver starpower
58 comments
Phelps and O’Donnell are the equivalent of Dumb and Dumber.
they both deserve to lose their jobs. especially O’Donnell.
Beavis and Butthead is more like it
They are proof that the NASCAR administration needs a major overhaul. We are WAY overdue for some fresh blood running this sport.
You can say that again!
Steve and Stever
Will there be burnouts on broadway this year? Or will they do the same thing they did last year
No burnouts and I don’t think the city wants to deal with the rubber or smell of burnt rubber
the playoffs add drama and intrigue to the final races which is their goal so it’s not going anywhere. that said, i still have the most interest in a winston style points system when i’m looking at who was good in a single year
The problem is that it’s manufactured and it hasn’t increased interest whatsoever. In fact, numbers are down during the playoffs…
Give me a break you screw over the best team and open the door for somebody to back into a championship. Newman was one spot from winning the first year of this after running 20th all year. Any system where a guy can win 35 out of 36 races and still get beat is a crock.I would resent the word gimmick too if that’s what the sport I ran became.
1821 is the most perfect sponsor for Eric. You know Eric has his own scent.
What does a diverse schedule have to do with the Playoffs?
He got to say “Diverse” so that all his friends know he’s a good person!!! LOL
Eric is my favorite to drive the #10 car. He brings loads of sponsorship, a dedicated fan base, and a calm, cool and collected personality.
Aric Astepp
Obviously the executives like the playoffs. It gives them money and that’s all they care about.
I don’t think they are getting money. The playoff tv ratings are way worse than the rest of the entire season year over year not just because of football
Clown
@48Nationthen why else would they applaud it?
I don’t think it’s gimmicky, but I do agree that it’s over complicated.
It’s not complicated at all so thanks for saying you don’t understand how simple the playoffs are
I don’t think it’s over complicated at all any website shows the points. I do think similar to every major sport except football they should crown the champion not based on one event, I would prefer 3 race final.
@John Haas Maybe to us Nascar fans because we’re used to it, but to casuals and even other motorsports fanbases it is actually confusing
I mean, the execs came up with the format, so of course they’re going to applaud it. They’re not going to admit any of the faults or the fact that not only has it not increased interest, but ratings have been dropping virtually every year since it was implimented. They’re not going to recognize that the majority of fans don’t want it. They are hell bent on avoiding anything that the fans call for and doing it for as long as they can. They want “the casual fan,” even though there’s no such thing as a “casual fan,” and they don’t understand that a good on track product and solid competition is the entertainment, but instead believe that the entertainment aspect comes first, hence the gimmicks. That’s why if they don’t change, this organization will continue to lose and then fail completely. I don’t want that to happen, but if they continue down this path, it will.
Fans are required to like the playoffs or get called cry baby fake fans and go watch golf for the rest of life
The viewership was dropping since well before 2014. Playoffs have nothing to do with it. Most of the country just isn’t as big a fan of cars as they used to be.
Viewership has honestly dropped sense Dale Sr passed. He was the face of Nascar and what made fans want to tune in. In my opinion, it has more to do with the drivers than anything else.
@Alex Arroyo Viewership actually increased starting in 2001 after Dale Sr passed. It peaked around 2005 and sharply declined once people realized how stupid the chase was.
@Brad Williswell it remained pretty steady until 1. The recession and 2. Jimmie dominated. People had less money and there was less competition.
They may think the playoff format is not a gimmick but it still is. All 4 champ cars crash in a single turn in the final race who is the champ? I’d rather have a consistent 36 race paints season where the champion isn’t decided by random bad luck/eliminations in short term races over a week or two. Rather have consistency rewarded than short term.
The champ would be the driver who travels the furthest. Maybe one of them is able to complete another lap.
The championship is only determined by whom among those 4 completes the most laps even if you had someone else winning the race, if 1 of those 4 drivers finished 2nd that driver is the champion.
Come to dark side of other racing series that go down to the wire
From all this it sounds like NASCAR isn’t going to change their ways. It’s gonna be the same broadcasting partners, same playoffs, same aero package and horsepower. If that’s gonna be the case, they shouldn’t expect anything to change as far as growth. That’s not how you bring in new fans or improve anything.
I agree with every word you said. NASCAR big wigs just can’t admit they’re wrong in certain areas just like politicians.
The current playoff format is 100% a gimmick. The Winston Cup format worked perfectly fine and would work today if you ask me.
It needed tweaking, but the foundation was there. If they used the current system for a full season format, gave the winnners 50pts instead of 40 and brought back bonus points for leading the most laps, leading a lap and added pole position, I think they’d be back in business as far as the points are concerned. The pieces are there, but they’re just in the wrong box.
The Winston era wasn’t perfect, nor is the playoffs, but at least there is always a driver getting the championship in the last race of the season instead of clinches it early. Regardless of if they deserved it or not. I’m only saying that you had seasons in the era that would get the championship early unless you’re a fan of the driver. You’re going to get complaints by someone. If the Winston era was perfect, then why did they get rid of it?
@Stephen Holloway Because the France family thought they could compete with the NFL and College football! No, really, they thought that! A “Playoff” system would keep people from watching football and stay tuned for racing. Seriously, they really did believe that! They also didn’t like Kenseth winning a title in 2003 with only 1 win because he was a model of consistency. They wanted winning to matter more. The Irony is that the winning-est driver this year may not win the Cup and a driver with the least amount could walk away with the title. If that happens, expect more fans to walk away from the sport.
@tobylou8 It’s not like they were the only ones that wanted the points system to change though. Remember some fans thought that Ryan should had won just because he had the most wins that year. Besides there was people who didn’t think that Matt should have won the championship that year because of his 1 win. It’s not like it was just the Frsnce Family alone is to blame for the change. Maybe the anti Kenseth fans sent them letters or emails, NBC, TNT, and/or Nextel could had talked them into it as well. I’m only saying in this case it probably wasn’t just the France Family that made the call far as behind the scenes goes.
@Stephen Holloway I remember “Rocket Man’s” season and it was great as far as wins go, but, he was a prime example of the term “wreckers or checkers”! Along with 8 wins (incredible!), he had 7 DNF’s (also incredible). The points system worked to crown the best driver for the season. Trying to compete with the NFL???? Been downhill ever since.
Can we have more fun nascar memorabilia stuff like back in the 80/90??
I presume you are correct about the points resetting this weekend for the final four, as I can not recall, that would be the only thing to change really. Don’t reset the final four for the least race and whoever the top spot in points becomes champion. Small change, bigger impact as the front runner of the four might not be champion unless they win, which is an automatic championship win.
Final four all have the same amount of points
Then Byron would be guaranteed to win unless his race was catastrophic. That wouldn’t be very exciting honestly. But to go along with this idea, do that exact thing but make the champ 4 its own 3 or 4 race round. So there’s a mini season of their own to duke it out.
The sport has suffered since they put themselves in two boxes. When the sport was covered by multiple more networks throughout the season, there was an abundance of fans. I don’t think I’m wrong to say that when they made gaming less accessible, and forced fans into the inability to watch their favorite sport, that the sport lost a ton of viewers, and most importantly, fans.
False
I kinda agree with all of they said but not the playoffs because that is complicated . If they wanted to appeal to old & new fans then just get rid of stages & points resets and replace them with a halfway break at least.
Playoffs are so simple to understand
@John Haas No, it’s not. Since you’re such a know-it-all of everything, why don’t you explain to us how the playoff format works? Go on, we’re waiting…
NASCAR’s corporate culture is being shaped by sponsors, and drivers are well aware that there is no room for the missteps that often derail big personalities in the era of cancel culture.
They said months ago they were going to try an EV Series! Everyone shook their heads!
It’s like they want to piss off their fan base.
No one would watch, people who drive electric cars are the same who wait outside for the new iPhone and people who watch NASCAR would never watch EV racing
@Dave Hollis Yeah, EVs are meant for the typical douchy yuppies who think they’re saving the environment every time they drive them.
My biggest complaint is that the championship race, points don’t matter… playoff points matter, till they don’t
Points do matter for 5th on back especially the playoff drivers as can make a difference if finish 5th or 16th in points