NASCAR: Fixing what's not broken since 2004

GRID REPORT 2: NASCAR, Fixing what's not broken since 2004

By now, you've probably heard the news that Brian France, CEO of NASCAR has sent out a exploratory balloon of sorts via the Charlotte Observer on new changes to the "Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. These changes include a 16 driver cutoff, with winners getting automatic bids, and a rolling elimination system where the top four drivers would race for the cup in a winner-take all championship race in Homestead. The reaction from fans was less than enthusiastic. In fact NASCAR fans were despondent on social media that Brian France was destroying the sport by fixing what wasn't broken: The NASCAR points system. The disconnect from fans and NASCAR management comes from Brian France's need to make the sport like the NFL instead of helping he sport stand on its own merits.

Since Jimmie Johnson won his fifth straight championship in 2010, NASCAR has been struggling with sagging TV ratings and empty seats as an unappealing car combined with an equally unwanted champion sapped fan interest. Even epic points wins by Tony Stewart, who won a championship via the NASCAR Tiebreaker rules for the first time in the Sport's history, and Brad Keselowski, who took the fight to Jimmie Johnson and ran the future all of famer hard to win his first career championship, did little to spark the fans interest as Jimmie Johnson lurked in the shadows each time. 

NASCAR alleviated one of its problems last season with the creation of the "Gen 6" race car, that gave the machines more street-car like look. The fans were intrigued, until lackluster racing pushed even more fans away. Coupled with Jimmie Johnson winning yet another Sprint Cup title, and NASCAR found itself with a crisis in its hands. Worse, the consolidation of open wheel and sports car racing series in the country, NASCAR finds itself in a battle for ratings.

But instead of opening up its stringent rulebook and shaking up the schedule, NASCAR has decided to attempt to fix what isn't broken. Embracing mediocrity by adding 16 cars to the championship chase, and including an NFL-like playoff system to try and boost ratings has turned off fans that believe that NASCAR is becoming closer to the WWE than an actual sport. These fans could be lost to other racing series, where stability and action during NASCAR's chaotic period have seen there fortunes rise in terms of audience and TV ratings. 

To be clear, none of these  changes have been confirmed, and it will be the end of the month until we find out what NASCAR will do, if anything. But Brian France must take the fans' vehement opposition into the proposed chase plans, and explore other options to shake up the sport for the future. If not, then Brian could go down in history as the France that destroyed Big Bills' motorsports empire.