Motor Sports: State of the sport -- NASCAR

By Patten Fuqua Sportsfanatics columnist

NASCAR's Popularity It has been said several times, over the past ten years or so, that NASCAR is America's "hottest" or "fastest-growing" sport.

The attendance figures have increased for each race by tens of thousands. A new television deal has brought in almost three times as many viewers at some races than the exact same events as last year. New superspeedways are popping up all over the place in everywhere from Kentucky to Nashville to Kansas to Chicago to an indoor superspeedway being built in Pennsylvania.

In addition, it seems that even with all of NASCAR's buildup in the past decade, NASCAR, despite the governing body's efforts to the contrary, has been the most popular sport of 2001 (seeing as football season has not started yet).

Obviously, most of the popularity of NASCAR this season can be attributed to the tragedy at Daytona where you know, unless you've been living in a cave, that Dale Earnhardt was killed on the last turn, of the last lap, of what very well may have ended up being his last Daytona 500, even if the crash had not occurred. (I am under the impression that Dale would have pulled a Michael Jordan and quit after winning title number eight).

The Earnhardt tragedy served as a setup. Once these outsiders became curious, they tuned in to watch other races (and found them easily on FOX), and were treated to what has been pretty much a full season of unusually tight, close racing. If they were ever able to figure out how the points system worked, they would also be treated to one of the closest points races in recent memory. Until last week, the top three drivers in points were separated by eighteen points.

These new fans have also been treated to the near-fairy tale victories of Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. They have been introduced to a character that NASCAR fans simply refer to as Tony. They witnessed Elliott Sadler pull off one of the biggest upsets in NASCAR history...then come close to doing it again.

Many people talked about how the Earnhardt tragedy was the worst thing that could possibly happen to NASCAR. Nearly six months later, strangely enough, it seems that the enormous heartbreak that millions of fans saw, has turned into the biggest blessing NASCAR could have wanted. The organization was thrust unwillingly into the spotlight at the beginning of the season. Many outsiders called for a ban on stock car racing.

Instead of folding to the pressure and canceling races, NASCAR continued to run the show, as they had always done after a tragedy in the past, and had several gambles pay off.

Silly Season As in other sports, one of the biggest parts of every season is following the hiring and firing of drivers. In NASCAR, they call it "silly season," because it becomes so confusing that it is silly.

Generally, silly season begins around June with the announcement of a big name driver leaving for another team or acquiring new sponsorship.

Unlike years past, however, this year has been less silly than the rest. The only announcements so far have been that certain big name Winston Cup drivers or big name prospects would be staying put. The only exception is that Jeff Green would be driving for Richard Childress next year.

Otherwise, the only silly season activity this year has been the shuffling of backmarkers such as Mike Bliss, Kenny Wallace, and Mike Wallace.

Silly season should be getting a lot more silly in a month or so.

Questions That Have Been Answered At the beginning of the season, fans asked many questions:

Q: How bad will the new TV coverage be? A: Actually, the coverage has been quite good. It would be a good bet that the antics of Larry, Mike, Darrell, Chris, Jeff, Matt, and Dr. Dick won over several non-fans and casual fans.

Q: Will Dale Earnhardt win his eighth Winston Cup title? A: No, but there is still a small chance that he will still have a part in it if Richard Childress manages to win the owner's championship.

Q: How long until Robby Gordon gets fired? A: Five races.

Q: Will Jeff Gordon return to his old form or is he all washed up? A: I never understood how a driver could be "all washed up" at the ripe old age of 29. (He'll be 30 Saturday).

Q: Will Tony try and run double duty at Indy and Charlotte again? A: No "try" to it this time. Tony ran both and did great in both (leading laps at the 500).

Q: Will we see more "No Brakes Coverage"? A: For reasons beyond me, it seems that the answer to that is "No."

Q: Who will be the first driver fired? A: Robby Gordon.

Q: How long until Buckshot gets fired? A: Apparently, he won't be.

Q: Who will win the rookie title -- Kurt Busch or Casey Atwood? A: Unless a miracle happens for either of the two, neither. Kevin Harvick seems to be a given from here on in.

Q: How quickly will Benson win? A: The jury's still out on this one.

Q: Will Dr. Dick get rid of the hat? A: It seems.....YES!

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Article courtesy of Sportsfanatics.net.