Most of us that has took the time to comment on subject did love the sport . My family like so many would always try to attend any race within the southeast.
So many times our on family get togethers would in with a relative going home pissed if someome talk bad abouth their driver. Some us would rather to have walk before riding a Chevy, Ford, Dogde or even a Plymouth.
We loved and took pride who and where our favorite driver even was born. Only
now the driver are selected by how they will apeal to the young or women.
I'm tried of listen to " DW" talk about himself and now his dum ass brother is doing the same crap.
Nascar has and will bend the rules for thier so call super star's. Everyone know
that due to sponsor and the ratings certain driver will also ways find away to start.
My dad and I was at Charlotte Fair Ground when Richard Petty won there. Also
at Charlotte Motor Speedway the very first race .
He is 82 and I 62 , we did enjoy many races at diffent tracks over the years.
Nascar with it changes and desire to "kiss Hollywood Ass " have turn our family
away.
NOW WE GO GOLFING ON SUNDAY >

I've been watching NASCAR since the late 80's and now find myself like many fans no longer interested or even care for that matter. I remember a time in the mid to late 90's when I could not miss a race but those days or long gone. I now watch only bits and pieces of races mainly the last 20 laps or so after FFWDing on my DVR and wouldn't even consider actually going to a race as I frequently did in the past. I could blame the economy but I know that is simply not true not when I have spent big money over the last few years going to NFL games and PBR events. The truth is I no longer have the love for the sport because it is no longer a sport it has became a commercialized joke. They became so hung up with trying to broaden their fan base that they lost most of the dedicated fans they already had and they are still to stupid to realize it. Younger drivers, Danica Patrick or a stupid Gopher is not the solution, fans want to see real racing once again and if you don't know what I mean just tune in to one of those espn classic races back from the 90's when drivers were beating on each others doors for 500 laps and racing back to the checker flag after each caution and I'm not talking about some bogus debree caution I'm talking about the days when crew cheifs actually worked on the cars rather than trying to just manipulate and work around all of nascar's silly rules and restrictions. I hate what NASCAR has become but I want lose any sleep over it because there are other great sports out there to enjoy and I don't see them changing any time soon unless the Helton's buy them out. Lol...

NASCAR sucks. All they care about is their sponsors. Their fans have the IQ of a monkey. Watch Formula 1 instead.

Has NASCAR been cancelled yet? And if not, why not?
This is the biggest waste of gasoline in human history. I don't think anyone w/ an IQ over 80 is even allowed to watch this thing...

NA$CAR killed NA$CAR. Idiots like Helton and France. Where else would you open a Hall of Fame and two of the first inductees were two of the France family - unreal. I guess drivers like David Pearson weren't as important. The sport is boring and dead.

Nascar has taken the greatest spectator sport in this country and destroyed it with their own arrogance and greed. Never ending rule changes such as restrictor plates, common templates and the Car of Tomorrow have resulted in unnecessary expense to car owners and boring racing for the fans. I used to attend many races but the 2008 Brickyard 400 with the ten lap tire change cautions was and will be my last. Nascar, IMS and Goodyear should have given all ticket holders free tickets to the 2009 event out of shear embarrassment. Thank you for the opportunity to vent.

NASCAR should be cancelled as the biggest waste of gasoline in human history. This thing , I can't call it a sport or a game because it isn't, is simply awful; rednecks' delight...ugh!

The reason ratings are on a downhill slide is the racing itself condoned by NASCAR......The free pass, competition cautions, wave around and all anti racing rules has ruined racing. The start and park cars are nothing but insanity. Would you support a race with many cars entered but won't compete, when I think about that, for some reason, I think about Shoeless Joe Jackson or Pete Rose, not sure why. Maybe it is the dishonesty involved, supported by NASCAR, it is one reason they will never get any support from me. When I see the much supported cup drivers competeing in the Nationwide races, with less experienced drivers with less equiptment, reminds me of some men taking their sons out of a go cart and competing against the young kids and winning, WHO CARES. NASCAR will continue to drop in all ratings as long as they keep all the anti racing rules in effect. NASCAR needs to do as we all need to do in Washington, clean house and start over.

Bristol is easy to figure out. It ain't Bristol anymore. They destroyed the track when they rebuilt it. Might as well take the dates and give them to Kansas.

You want to know why attendance is down?

Because no one wants to see the leader pull out to a 4-second lead and the second place guy can't catch him no matter what because of "clean air."

Because without the debris cautions, every race would be a parade, with cars strung out several seconds apart - even at Bristol these days!

NASCAR seems to think you get side-by-side racing by forcing everyone into the same vehicle. It doesn't work that way.

You couldn't get me to watch the Texas race tomorrow if you paid me. There will be barely any passing. The leader will check out to a huge lead. The cars will simply turn laps instead of race. BORING

It's SIMPLE...The "old" days had a Chevy, Ford, or a Chysler.......Now we have a COT...WTF?!? No one can differenciate from the other without the teams putting the "Manufacturer's" logo and name on the P.O.S.that they have now!

Maybe NASCAR should take a look at how they have treated the long time fan. They catered to the new fan by making changes and now, that fan has moved on to something else, while the long time fan feels cheated........I know I do!

Yep, my passion for the sport is tied to the all mighty dollar. Not only was my salary cut, but so was my vacation time. To properly enjoy a weekend at TMS I gotta take off Friday and Monday just in case of a rain out. (Which right now looks possible.) Otherwise I draw a camping spot close to the highway and every fan knows the closer you are to the highway the better the chance of being ripped off by thieves. Nothing short of a 25$ ticket for a seat north of row 30 and a 25$ camping spot could get me out there this weekend and we all know there ain't no way that's gonna happen. I'll be watching on TV.

Why are the attendance numbers a mystery? Only if you don't read. There are many papers on the topic, including an excellent prediction model developed by Dr. Craig Depken at UNCC; go to their web site, then Dr Depken's page and read:

Outcome Uncertainty, Attendance, and Television Audience in NASCAR
with Jason Berkowitz and Dennis Wilson

The numbers in the grandstands are not a surprise, the low and declining TV ratings are; we've been plotting TV numbers since 2002, the viewing audience peaked in 2006 and has been going down ever since,...currently almost 25% off from the 2006 crest.
There's a lost generation of non-fans for motorsports, people 20 to 45 or so, who never became racing fans, so it isn't a matter of getting that demographic back, NASCAR never had them. This is a real problem for the motorsports industry, the core fans are getting old, and their numbers are diminishing.

NASCAR, and all motorsports, needs a new generation of fans.

Prof pi

Martinsville used to run in mid April (generally nice weather). Now they run it the last week of March. Our group (8 seats) has been going since 2002. We will no longer go because of weather issues. They need to move the date back to mid April.

Too many 1.50 mile tracks. Can't believe they want a second race in Kansas (because they now have a Casino- bull-xxxx).

Fontana should not get any races.

NASCAR forgot what made them successful. Innovative mechanics (who can forget Smokey Yunick), differentiated cars, and drivers like Earnhardt (only one who comes close in my opinion is Stewart).

There are a ton of reasons Na$car is hurting and when you have management who are pompus and clueless and hire nothing but yes men to work for you this is what you get. Bristol is getting hurt because I'm not paying $200 to sleep in a tent and freeze at night at the all American campground and then pay $200 bucks or more for tickets and all the other expenses like gas and food I can go to the Carribbean for 7 days for less than that. Tv is killing the interest because the product on TV is so bad that you don't want to go to a live race because you will think that it sucks like the Tv portrays it. Then when you get into the COT, the lucky dog and all the 1.5 mile tracks that looks like they are racing at the same place each week. I could go on for another hour.

Yep. NASCAR has become a joke. That Digger character is not helping. Dang cartoon is in the way and his girlfriend's skirt is so short, I can see it's woo woo wool. NASCAR today is a 5 gallon bucket of wrong. Not even close to what I enjoyed 10 - 20 years ago. 1992 was a the last great year. RIP Davey & Alen.

It's not that hard to figure out. When you have generic cars driven on generic tracks with generic drivers, why watch the parade. Even if you watch, why watch the first 99% because they're going to find a reason for a caution so they can have an "exciting" finish with a GWC? I went to the Bristol night race with a free ticket and left feeling cheated because I was cheated out of my time. If I want contrived and manipulated winners, I will watch professional wrestling. If I want an honest winner, I will watch college football. If I need a nap and can't sleep, I watch NASCAR.

Attendance declines STUMP NASCAR. Really, well that's because they haven't been paying attention to the fans for quite a while now. Sounds like we all have about the same opinion - maybe NASCAR should be reading these comments. The racing on the track and being shown on TV is no longer worth the money or the time. Yep, Brian France got his "parity" with the IROC car, then instituted the stupid chase format so that everyone points races from the first race until the last 10. Since the 10 race crapshoot is run on the same 10 tracks, well, a smart crew chief figured out the system, the tracks are almost all alike in their configuration and we now have a waste of time for those 10 races, too. Go figure. If you're a 48 fan, I'm sure it makes you happy but for the rest of us, it results in "who cares".

I hate the multiple GWC junk at the end of each race. It takes all the strategy out of things and since NASCAR works to make sure there's a caution at the appropriate time, well, I'm with the person who said - can you say WWF!

They can't get real exciting racing going with the product on the track, so they have to create it. One of the media - I forget who now - actually said that it is NASCAR's job to "create" entertainment. If I want entertainment, I'll see a movie, what I want to see is a sporting event, not manufactured finishes.

I used to watch every minute of NASCAR programming - now I don't watch the prerace garbage, if its raining where I live, I have the TV on mute because the babbling in the booth has become ridiculous and I have to use my computer and listen to the coverage on the radio to actually know what is happening in the race and I can do other things around the house waiting for the last 20 laps when there might be racing that the TV broadcast MIGHT show me. We still have tickets to races, but over the last few years, we've sometimes made the decision that it was cheaper to ditch the tickets we'd already paid for than to spend the additional money to GO to the race.

Sorry, NASCAR, but you really screwed the pooch here with trying to attract the casual fan -- they aren't interested any more since it's not the current thing for the beautiful people to do and you ignored and disrespected the hard core fan for so long, that the product on the track no longer interests them. Oh yeah and on top of that, we have the code of silence where the broadcasters, drivers, owners can't say anything "negative" about the sport. What a joke. But then NASCAR's ownership and management (poor as it is), thinks the fans are too stupid to be able to tell when things are good or not all by themselves.

The empty seats and dropping ratings tell that tale.

Its plain and simple same guy winning the cup and goverment motors winning every week

About 5 or 6 years ago, if one team or manufacturer was dominating, they would either try and reign them in with a change to that particular manufacturer or do something to let the others catch up. They haven't done that lately, and now the same team/manufacturer is winning every other week. The new car didn't help either. No lead changes. Might as well chain 42 cars behind the leader. They'd save $ on fuel that way. It's not the economy, it's the product.,

Why would anyone go to any of the first 26 exhibition races? The Chase has made them totally meaningless.

And why would I watch the first 95% of a race. NASCAR is going to find a way to make sure as many cars as possible are on the lead lap and then we will have the crapshoot that is known as the GWC. It's a complete joke.

I spend my money to go watch SPORTS. I gave away my Bristol, Martinsville, and Richmond tickets after the 2004 season when it was clear to me that NASCAR was now about entertainment and not being a sport anymore.

The person who mentioned IROC cars hit the nail on the head. These races are just plain boring. Once someone gets in front there is no stopping them unless a wreck or pit stop shuffles the field. Bring back the old cars and take off the restrictor plates.
Make the engines smaller if you must reduce the power. A 302cid engine making 700hp would be fine..

Despite what people say, its a sport that is basically out of touch with people today. Many people aren't willing or dont have the hours to spend watching a boring product on their free time. Way too much competition for their time and money.
And the non stop marketing, PR spin almost makes you puke. Do these new paint schemes really sell more diecast models anymore? Somebody needs to tell these guys that there are more words in the vocabulary than "Honor". Sounds like they all went to the Tony Soprano school of public speaking.

A great example of its impact anymore is look at GM and Ford. Which has more success on the race track, and which has more in the showroom. It hasnt been "win on Sunday sell on Monday" for a while.

Can you spell "WWF"?

I agree with Anonymous {posted 20 hours ago} that the overregulation by Nascar has killed the competitive spirit of the sport. Nascar's goal was to achieve parity for all the teams. I believe that they have created bigger gaps which has allowed teams like Jimmie Johnson's to be so dominate. Years ago the teams could be innovative and put their creations into place without fear. Teams could experiment and gain that edge to beat the competition. Today, Nascar rules give them no breathing room and instill the fear that if the teams are caught "cheating", they will pay dearly in points and fines. This has all but killed the racing that was once unpredictable, competitive, and truly exciting. Nascar needs to give the back the control of the race cars to the teams and the manufacturers. Nascar is not the expert in the fielding of the race cars; the race teams are. Nascar, you claim to be listening to the "die-hard" race fans; show us through de-regulation of the race teams. You and the fans will love the end result; racing as it use to be!

I can't believe I'm saying this: the entertainment -for-dollar value of the race in Birmingham, AL was far better than the Cup race at Talladega, AL.

Well the economy sure hasn't helped the issue....I for one..among the unemployed...have chosen to forgo my attendance of two races yearly..and opt for watching them on TV (hey I'm already paying for the cable...beer and soda and food are cheaper at my house, my bed is paid for, my house is air conditioned/heated, gas is soooo expensive, I could go on and on and on with my "savings"). But for me..the economy is not the straw that broke the camels back....it's NASCAR itself. "They" have decided they are going to listen to the fans...I really would like to know who the heck these fans are they are listening to..and why they chose these certain fans to listen to. I like the double file restarts..good deal. The start times..well that's better. Phoenix screwed up adding laps..so let's not start a trend there. What the heck is with this "wave around" rule..come on guys..you already have a "lucky dog"...now we have the entire "pack" of dogs going around the track every time that nasty debris shows up (I thought I was watching car racing not greyhound racing). AND don't get me started on the "debris" cautions...funny how one showed up at Martinsville right when it looked like a runaway finish. That brings me to GWC finishes...come on guys...Three of them! I can't decide if NASCAR has three GWC finishes because they want excitement, a demolition derby, or the guy restarting 20th to get the win..hey it could happen if it does take three GWC's..the first 19 restarters will have crashed by then..NASCAR ONE GWC is enough! To me it has TOTALLY altered the finishes..its staged..or at the best it's a crapshoot and negates all the racing and strategies of the entire race. AND this "have at it boys"...was there somewhere in the fine print that said "have at it boys until you kill or seriously injure another driver or fan"? I just don't get the "new" NASCAR...there are so many things they could do for the fans...but so far all I see is them doing for themselves...but, I think over the years NASCAR has gone from being a "sport" to being "entertainment"...and "the show must go on".

What happened was Brian France sold out. and the same guys up front every race doesnt help either

I was a season ticket holder at Talledega...Until the year they decided to increase the parking by taking away half of the camping areas. When they did this, they also thought " Lets take away half of the port a potties". What a bone head move, just to save a buck. We would make a week long thing out of Both Races. After that weekend, before I left,I sold my spot and seats. The hell with NEXTEL Series or what ever the hell they call it now days. I havent watch a race since. It stopped being NASCAR when it was no longer WINSTON CUP SERIES!

IT STill should be . " WINSTON CUP RACING !

NASCAR has made a concerted effort to abandon its traditional, real, fans in favor of once-and-done nouveau fans in places like California and New York, and now it has come back to haunt them. Instead of universal start times, how about a Labor Day Southern 500 at Darlington, a race at Rockingham, a few more short tracks, a few less boring tracks (Cal, Mich, Indy), a few less cookie cutter 1 1/2 mile tracks, and a high-banked 3/4 mile track. Just some thoughts from a traditional fan who used to never miss a race, but now watches when I don't have anything better to do.

The above reasons given in this posting are true. But from my prespective, the sport is no longer as exciting as it used to be. NASCAR in my opinion has created an expensive IROC series out of the Sprint Cup Series. It is ridiculous when NASCAR officials tell teams what shocks to place on a competitor's race car. The strict overregulation has made competition very boring. Crew chiefs , much like football coaches are having their "plays" taken away from them when they are being placed in such restricted positions when it comes to car setups. It used to be nice about twenty five years ago, when you could go to the speedway during practice sessions, place a stop watch on a competitor, have him come back to the garage, change the setups and go back out for more practice. Now one has to check with a NASCAR offficial for a chasis part change..can't use that spring....can't use that shock...can't use that spoiler..not NASCAR approved. I have stopped going to races for many of these reasons, but I have also limited my viewing of these events on television. Baseball. Golf, and Football are much more exciting and more importantly.....UNPREDICTABLE!!! In essence, more exciting.

I believe (hope) that the empty stands at Bristol will light a fire under NASCAR. Its simply too expensive. I have commented before that even if you obtain free tickets to a NASCAR race, its still too expensive if you have to cover food, lodging, parking, etc... NASCAR needs to make some sort of deal with these entities. If NASCAR quits coming there everyone losses.

People who go to one race a year are also more likely to catch more races on TV thru-out the rest of the year.