If NASCAR was hoping to acquire new blood, then Daytona 500 failed miserably
If someone were on the fence about whether or not to get into NASCAR, then Sunday’s Daytona 500 race provided enough reason to hop off and not think twice about leaving the sport behind.
If you thought NASCAR was boring when it’s just cars going around a track for three hours, try watching cars go around a track for three hours while also having a 2.5-hour intermission in between. Regular NASCAR fans could appreciate the racing that went on in between workers trying to fix a pothole on Turn 2 at the Daytona International Speedway yesterday, but if the sport was hoping to pick up new viewers then the “Super Bowl of racing” failed to deliver.
The Daytona 500 is regarded as NASCAR’s premier event. It’s the one race that is supposed to attract even the causal racing fan and considering it doesn’t have to compete against football for television viewers, it should be enough to attract new blood to the sport too.
But even the staunchest NASCAR fan would have to admit that Sunday’s Daytona 500 was a buzzkill. It should have been a monumental day for the race, with 21 different leaders (most ever at Daytona), 52 lead changes (third most at Daytona), and a winner in Jamie McMurray that led for only two laps (the fewest ever by a Daytona 500 winner). But with 80 laps remaining, a pothole emerged on the track causing two red flags to come out and 144 minutes of down time. A pothole killed an otherwise thrilling day of racing.
NASCAR remains one of those sports where you either love it or hate it. You have to go at least once to appreciate the noise and speed, but to actually get into the season and watch on a weekly basis NASCAR needs more action than what it got on Sunday. Granted, it was nobody’s fault that the track fell apart, although maybe somebody should have thought about repaving the damn thing after not doing so over the past 30 years. But if the Daytona 500 is the best NASCAR has to offer, then why would the semi-interested fan tune in next week?
True racing fans will always appreciate what the sport brings to the table – potholes or no potholes. But after yesterday, Joe Sports Fan probably won’t cry himself to sleep if he misses next weekend’s NASCAR event because the Daytona 500 probably did little to compel him.
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I watched the race yesterday on and off along with the Olympics and it was one long day. By 6:30pm I woke back up for the third time, neck all busted up from sleeping upright in a chair only to see Jr come from behind to take second place making it all worth while.
NASCAR needs Jr. like baseball needs the Yankee’s..love em or hate em.
Red cones, green/white finishes, bump and run means nothing. Get Jr in the top 5 and NASCAR is back in business…..and Oh yes, add Danica to Jr Racing for some additional ratings..
Take away the 2 pot hole delays, and if you didn’t like that race, then NASCAR is not for you. Just like you said, it had many lead changes by many drivers, wrecks, etc…It was a lot better than the last 10 Daytona races!
The Daytona 500 is the kickoff of the NASCAR season and they hype it up more than any other race. But if Joe Fan was to tune into more races he’ll see that each track has something to offer that another one doesn’t and can be equally exciting, but you have to give it a chance.
Its the same with other sports, I like baseball, but to sit down and watch the Padres play the Nationals on a Sunday afternoon…..ugh!
Can anybody watch the Knicks play the Nets??
Football is in a league of its own, I think its the only sport where you can easily watch any two teams play.
Hey, its mid February, give the race in Fontana Ca. a shot next Sunday, what else is on, Olympic Pairs Skating?
And for the record, if Jr. didn’t have that last name, he’d still be living in a double wide! He ain’t got his daddy’s Wranglers!
I think Nascar shot it’s load a few years ago. It brought in some casual fans but now that the economy has driven away the trailer park fan, Nascar can’t grow fast enough to support itself. Now they’ll try some professional wrestling-like good guy-bad guy gimmicks but in the end, it’s still just cars driving around in a circle.
Sunday’s race certainly did nothing to help. If you’re going to stage your biggest event the first week of the season, at least make sure your venue is prepared.
Daytona International Speedway was and is put in a position of they are screwed if they do, screwed if they don’t repave the entire track.
If and when they can repave it, it’s going to take some time to get the track aged enough to have good racing again.
It took 7 months to repave Talladega. An interesting sidenote, Daytona wasn’t the only Florida track to suffer from track breakup this past weekend. New Smyrna Speedway had similar problems on the weekend and canceled their events.