Why the Nascar Chase for the Cup is Ruining Nascar

I was once a proud Nascar fan. Before the Nascar chase for the cup was instituted in 2004 I would rush home from church on Sunday evenings to settle on the couch with my pizza, popcorn and drinks to cheer my favorite driver to victory. I loved the sport and loved the excitement it brought both on TV and in person.

My Sunday afternoons now consist of settling on my couch flipping through the channels and watching either a baseball game or flipping the channels back and forth between a race or some other sporting event. If it is fall and the NFL is on I will only flip the channel to the Nascar race to see who is winning or how my favorite driver is doing. I must admit that I miss Nascar, but I am now an apathetic Nascar fan. So what is wrong with this once proud sport? Speculation is rampant, and the facts are hard to ignore. According to the Sporting News there has been a double digit drop in the ratings since 2007. Scrott Graf of NPR reports that Nascar is continually showing signs of losing fans. As an outsider it is easy to see that the sponsors Nascar depends on have slowly walked away from the sport. Brands such as Kodak, Dodge, and others used to be displayed proudly on the side of these race cars. So what is wrong with the sport?

In order to find what is wrong with Nascar I think you have to start at the beginning. From its infancy Nascar was a proud Southern sport. Most if not all of the races were held south of the Mason Dixon Line and east of the Mississippi. Race tracks such as Rockingham Motor Speedway and North Wilkesboro Speedway used to fill the Nascar schedule. As Nascar grew so did it's borders. Nascar began expanding westward to places like California, Las Vegas, and Dallas. This expansion took away from the sports base and added great new markets, but somewhere along the lines the Nascar powers got greedy. The increased audience from adding new markets created a hunger for created expansion. Nascar turned to gimmicks to promote its sport.

The first gimmick Nascar ran to was its attempt at creating a play off system. In 2004 Nascar began the season for the first time in its history knowing that the first 26 races were the regular season. Drivers who once could dominate the sport by running consistently were now being forced into a different strategy. Only drivers who were in the top 10 in points would be eligible for the points championship. I believe this is where the watering down of the sport began. Mediocre drivers could finish in the top 10 in points after 26 races and still be eligible to win the Cup Championship. Drivers who previously would have never won a championship were now on the front lines battling away. To some this may seem like a good idea, but what this system does is reward mediocrity. Nascar fell into the trap that the rest of our country is falling into that there should never be a dominant team, or a dominant driver. By allowing mediocre drivers to compete for a championship Nascar crowned its first mediocre champion in 2004.

The second gimmick Nascar fell victim to was the attempt at leveling the playing field. Pushing the limits of rules has always been an accepted part of racing. Nascar has begun cracking down on what was once known as racing ingenuity and has begun punishing those who seek to gain an advantage. The problem with this is that if you are a racer and you aren't trying to gain an advantage then you really are not racing. The constant push to increase horsepower and fuel mileage is and should be a part of the sport. By punishing ingenuity Nascar has once again started to reward mediocrity. No where is this more seen than in Nascars new car. Once billed as the Car of Tomorrow, Nascar did something noble in trying to make their cars more safe. In the process of making the cars more safe they also made every car alike. One would be hard pressed to distinguish a Ford from a Chevrolet out on the track. This has ruined the once proud saying of winning on Sunday sells cars on Monday. It has had the affect of killing brand loyalty on the track and in the showroom. Could this also be why American car companies have seen a drastic decline in sales? One can only speculate.

Nascar needs to wake up and remember what made them America's fastest growing sport. Dynasties make for popular sports. Does anyone really think that Major League Baseball would be where it is today had it not been for the New York Yankees and the many championships they have won? Would the NFL be the most popular sport in the US without the Steelers, Cowboys, and Patriots? Nascar...it is time you see that you have marginalized the very fans that got you to where you are. We told you not to institute the Nascar chase for the Cup. You still are trying to convince us that its a good thing. How long will you continue to allow your ratings to plummet before you see what the real problem is? Please don't go looking for another cheap gimmick such as your double wide restarts. Please go back to rewarding ingenuity and consistency. Please go back to allowing the great drivers to be year long dynasties. I really do want to watch your sport again...but until you make some changes I promise I will continue to be disinterested in the Nascar Chase for the Cup.