Sprint Cup Racing on Fox concluded its 2008 campaign with a 4.2/10 for the race from Dover that Sunday to rank as the top-rated event for the weekend. Last year’s race which was rained-out and rescheduled on a Monday afternoon posted a 2.2/7 and was not included in the 2007 season average. For the 2008 season, Sprint Cup racing averaged a 5.2/11 in the meters for 13 races, flat with last year’s average for just 12 races. This report came from the Fox PR office.
Going into that Sunday’s Best Buy 400 at Dover, Fox’s 12 NASCAR Cup features were up an average of five percent — which the network said translates to an average of 9.65 million viewers per race, compared to 9.3 million last year. That came from StockCarGazette.com. The ratings up tick is no surprise as many fans are not going to the races this year and are catching them on the tube.
Also, the NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series race from Dover scored an average Nielsen Household Rating of .82 (597,000 households) on SPEED, up 14 percent from last year’s .72 (513,000 households). This year’s race at the Monster Mile peaked at a .99 (719,000 households), up 16 percent from last year’s peak of .85 (600,000 households). The Trucks, with Nielsen Ratings up for the last four consecutive races and nearly 20 percent year-to-year from 2007.
Turner Network Television (TNT) geared up for its 2008 Sprint Cup Series six week race package, last weekend, by unveiling new, exclusive on-air features and announcing drivers who will join the set during the network’s extensive 90 minute pre-race coverage. Current Sprint Cup drivers who will join TNT’s pre-race show each week include #11 Denny Hamlin (Pocono), #99 Carl Edwards (Michigan), #42 Juan Montoya (Sonoma) and #31 Jeff Burton (New Hampshire). TNT will also showcase both new and veteran NASCAR faces in weekly series called NASCAR Future Stars, featuring the future faces of the Sprint Cup Series, and the Pride of NASCAR, which will highlight six racing legends such as Bobby Allison, Raymond Parks, Ernie Irvin and Marvin Pinch among others.
TNT’s Wally Dallenbach hops back in the car for Wally’s World, this time joined in a second car by Kyle Petty as they get behind the wheel of stock cars and demonstrate to viewers the nuances of each racetrack and break down the strategy required to be successful each week. Finally, pit reporter Lindsay Czarniak will uncover little known facts and stories from each of the race locations in a weekly segment called Lindsay on Location. This came from the TNT PR office and StockCarGazette.com.
Bruton Smith may be in his 80′s but that isn’t stopping him from creating controversy in NASCAR. Obviously, he’s the big mover-and-shaker on the NASCAR scene. Following his purchase of New Hampshire Intl. Speedway in January, he’s been on the move taking a stake in the Kentucky Motor Speedway and also making overtures to Pocono Raceway and Dover Downs Speedway in an effort to buy those two venues. Replacing Humpy Wheeler with his son Marcus, just after Memorial Day weekend, following the former’s retirement, was a bold move. But it wasn’t a surprise considering that he’s been grooming Marcus for many years for such a position. Obviously, when Bruton does something it gets the attention of the media and most of all the suits in the front offices of NASCAR and ISC down on Bill France Blvd. in Daytona Beach, Fla.
One of motor racing’s few billionaires, Smith has an agenda that in the long run is to strengthen his public company Speedway Motor Sports, Inc (SMI). Smith seems to have taken a page out Carl Icahn and Kirk Kerkorian playbooks. Icahn and Kerkorian are major corporate investors who know how to pick their way through the maze of the Fortune 500 companies and most always come out on top. Some of the behind the scenes off-track moves, by Smith, could end up being major stories of the year. In contrast NASCAR and the venues that host those three top-tier events have been wrestling with TV ratings and ticket selling problems for the past two years. This year 2008 seems to be the most challenging for NASCAR due to the uncertainty in the US economy and the up-coming presidential election.
Checking the TV motorsports action this weekend includes the following. It all gets going on Friday with NASCAR Cup Practice from MIS at 11:30 a.m. on Speed followed by NASCAR CTS practice at 1:30 p.m. Cup Qualifying is on that same cable channel at 3 p.m. and Speed also airs the ARCA/REMAX Series at 5 p.m. ESPN2 airs Nationwide Final Practice at 7 p.m. from Kentucky.
Saturday is even busier with extensive 24 Hours of LeMans coverage starting at 8:30 a.m. on Speed. At noon Speed offers Cup Practice from MIS followed by Final Practice at 1 p.m. Speed continues on with the Craftsman Truck Series race from MIS at 3 p.m. ESPN2 kicks in with Nationwide Qualifying from Kentucky at 5 p.m. The Duce returns at 8:30 p.m. with the Nationwide Series from Kentucky. More LeMans coverage goes on Speed at 9 p.m.
Sunday has more 24 Hours of LeMans on Speed starting at midnight and then the Finish at 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. NBC goes with Off Road Racing from Vegas at 12:30 p.m. with TNT offering the Cup race from MIS. For the bikers it’s the FIM Superbikes on Speed at 2 p.m. (END)
NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES, NOTES AND OTHER SOURCES.
