TV Times – Cup Ratings Turnaround Possible?

We think that NASCAR and the Sprint Car Series has an opportunity, right now, to turn things around in the ratings. The sanction should let the drivers be themselves much like Kyle Busch as last weekend at Pocono when he destroyed an expensive custom built guitar. Much like some the rock stars do in their performances on stage. His explanation was that he wanted to give his winning crew a memento. Some of what we are talking about is drivers and crewman involved in some on track controversy including physical contact.

The Cup races, these days, are very sterile and a colorless presentation. No wonder the fans are turned off. We can recollect back in 1979 when Cale Yarbrough and the Allison brothers really got into it on the final lap of the Daytona 500 that year. The race was covered from start to finish, live,for the first time on CBS. All that created a high interest on what NASCAR had to offer every weekend. It was beginning of NASCAR’s rise in the sports world. Somehow eliminating all of this color over the past few years contributed to where NASCAR racing is right now.

Fox’s broadcast of that Sunday’s Autism Speaks 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway earned an overnight Nielsen Media Research rating of 3.6 and a 9 market share, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Daily reports. The rating is 14.3 percent lower than the 4.2 fox earned overnight for the race in 2008.

From the Valvoline Track Talk Newsletter is this insight. Paul Tracy, on negotiating with A.J. Foyt to drive at Milwaukee. “I was on the phone with A.J., and I had a tire blow out on my motor home. I was trying to listen to A.J., and I was hanging onto my motor home, trying to keep out of the ditch. I had a lot of stuff going on all at once. I had to cut A.J. off, and I never really got a chance to talk to him again, ’cause we got hung up on the side of the road for about five hours.”

From Sports Business International comes this item. Argentina has been awarded the rights to host the 2010 Dakar Rally, following its successful hosting of this year’s event. The rally will start in Buenos Aires on 1 January 2010, go through stages in both Argentina and Chile, and finish on January 17, also in Buenos Aires.” Following a really successful 2009 Dakar Rally, hosted jointly by Argentina and Chile, we are pleased to announce that the 2010 Dakar Rally will once again be returning to South America,” said Etienne Lavigne, a spokesman for the organizers. The press release announcing the news said that the 2009 Rally attracted participants from 49 countries and over 3 million roadside spectators.

Autoracing1.com reports that Roger Penske will buy the Saturn brand from GM. The Captain has always had several balls in the air and if this is true he isn’t slowing down at all. And if he does in fact buy Saturn, we expect him to turn it into a real performance as well as fuel-efficient brand. He has brilliant business acumen and one of the few to mix business holdings with racing, successfully. Plus, he still makes a lot of money. That’s why he’s a billionaire. He’s made his money using a combination of private financing as well as public stockholder companies. His former and current holdings reflect that he knows when to hold and when to fold. There’s been so much, it’s also very difficult to remember them all, past and present.

Let’s check to see what’s on the tele for gear head action this week through the weekend. From Monday through Thursday catch ESPN2’s NASCAR Now at 5 p.m. Also on Thursday Speed offers the Camping World East race from The Glen.

Friday has Speed airing Sprint Cup Practice from MIS at 11:30 a.m. with Camping World Practice at 1:30 p.m. At 3 p.m. Speed and TSN team up to offer Sprint Cup Qualifying from MIS. Speed comes back at 5 p.m. with the ARCA REMAX Series from MIS. The Duce airs NASCAR Now at 6 p.m. followed by the NASCAR Nationwide event from Sparta, KY.

Saturday ramps up big-time and early with an 8 a.m. Qualifying and the Start of the 24 Hours of LeMans on Speed. At noon Speed switches to Sprint Cup Final Practice from MIS then the NASCAR Camping World Trucks event from MIS at 2 p.m. At 4:30 p.m. Speed returns to the 24 Hours of LeMans coverage. At the same time NBC offers the AMA MotoX race from Mt. Morris, PA. ESPN2/TSN kick in with Nationwide Qualifying from Kentucky. The Duce offers NHRA Qualifying from Englishtown at 7 p.m. followed by the Nationwide race from Kentucky in concert with TSN. At 10 p.m. it’s the American SuperBikes from Road America on Speed. Then ESPN2 comes back at 11:30 p.m. with NHRA Qualifying from Englishtown.

Sunday will be as busy with a midnight airing of the 24 Hours of LeMans right through the 6 a.m. Finish of that twice around the clock grind. At 9 a.m. ESPN2 offers NASCAR Now. Speed has NASCAR Now at 10:30 a.m. TSN offers the NASCAR Canada race from Delaware, Ont. at 11:30 a.m. At 2 p.m. TNT/TSN/RDS all offer the Sprint Cup race from MIS. At 2 p.m. Speed airs the Grand-Am race from The Glen. Then the FIM 250 motorcycle race from Spain at 5 p.m. followed by the FIM MotGP from that same venue. The Speed Report follows at 7 p.m. with a weekend round up then NASCAR Victory Lane from MIS and then Wind Tunnel at 9 a.m. ESPN2 returns with the NHRA Finals from Englishtown. All-in-all it’s a pretty busy weekend so choose your TV time carefully so you won’t get on the bad side of your significant other and/or fall behind on those household projects and chores this weekend. (END)

NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESSES RELEASES, NOTES AND OTHER SOURCES.