Fox’s broadcast of that Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Nextel Cup race at Martinsville Speedway earned a 4.9 overnight Nielsen Media Research rating an an 11 market share, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Daily reports.
The rating is 3.9 percent lower than the 5.1 the race earned overnight in 2006, according to SceneDaily.com and the jayski.com webpages. We have not seen the final ratings as yet.
Ryan Burr will join Erik Kuselias and Doug Banks sharing the host role of ESPN2′s NASCAR Now (6:30 p.m. ET M-F, 10 a.m. and midnight Sundays) beginning Wednesday nights earlier this month. Burr, who joined ESPN in August 2005 from FSN in Pittsburgh, will continue to anchor ESPNEWS.
Burr said, “NASCAR Now is a wonderful opportunity to keep the NASCAR fans up to date on a daily basis, and I look forward to this next challenge in my broadcast career.” The Syracuse graduate added, “NASCAR is the fastest growing sport in this country — definitely a priority at ESPN, and the goal of NASCAR Now is to educate and entertain NASCAR fans everywhere.”
ESPN2′s NASCAR Now, ESPN’s first daily program dedicated solely to NASCAR news and information, debuted February 5, 2007, and features highlights, opinion, debate, analysis, and the latest news from drivers, crew chiefs and insiders both on and off the track.
The NASCAR Now team includes:
Tim Brewer, two-time NASCAR Cup champion crew chief
Angelique S. Chengelis, Detroit News NASCAR writer and columnist
Stacy Compton, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver
D.J. Copp, front tire changer on the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet
Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News NASCAR writer and columnist
Brad Daugherty, five-time NBA All-Star and former winning NASCAR team owner
Mike Massaro, SportsCenter reporter, ESPN NASCAR pit reporter
David Newton, ESPN.com motorsports writer
Boris Said, NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and NASCAR Busch Series driver
Marty Smith, NASCAR insider, ESPN.com contributing writer
Shannon Spake, SportsCenter reporter, ESPN NASCAR pit reporter
We read with interest the Roanoke(VA)Times coverage of last week’s ISC Annual Shareholders Meeting held in Daytona Beach, FL. That southern VA daily posed the question. Is NASCAR Stagnant? Considering that ISC has backed off their efforts, for now, to put new tracks and Cup dates in NYC and the US Northwest the company should reassess their strategy. Cup TV ratings are down 14 percent, Busch ratings are down 9 percent and the Truck ratings are up three percent. However, ISC execs told their stockholders, the attending security analysts and the press that they have plans to increase shareholders value and get that company back on track. The report was also carried on stockcargazette.com a daily subscriber service.
Yes, He REALLY Said That- from the Valvoline Track Talk Newsletter-Terry Angstadt, president of the IRL’s new commercial division, on the series’ future. “I think we are really positioned for explosive growth.” We hope that Terry is correct. However, it begs the question of when it’s going to happen. Is it the near future or the distant future?
Let’s see what’s on the tele this weekend for Gearhead action. Get ready for some wall-to-wall coverage which starts Friday at 7 a.m. with F1 Practice from Bahrain on Speed. Stay with Speed for its 12:30 p.m. NASCAR Cup Practice from Texas and then Cup Qualifying at 4 p.m. Saturday goes like this. It’s F1 Qualifying from Bahrain on Speed at 7 a.m. then Cup Practice from Texas at 11:30 a.m. and then Final Practice at 1 p.m. Surf over to ESPN2 at 3 p.m. for the Busch go from Texas. The Duce offers NHRA Qualifying from Vegas at 6 p.m.
Then it’s the ALMS on Speed from Long Beach at 8 p.m. On Sunday it’s the GP2 race from Bahrain on Speed at 5:30 a.m. followed by the F1 race from that same venue. At 1:30 p.m. Fox offers the Cup race from Texas. NBC kicks in with Champ Car action from Long Beach. Speed offers Superbike action at 5 p.m. and ESPN2 returns with NHRA Finals from Vegas at 7 p.m. So plan your TV time accordingly.
NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES AND NOTES.
The Daly Planet has a matching story about the problems with NASCAR and the TV philosophy that is currently in play. Between DirecTV’s “Hot Pass,” pay-per-view in-car packages, and internet videos, things are changing rapidly where NASCAR’s former dominance is being challenged from all sides. The link is http://dalyplanet.blogspot.com.
I started following NASCAR around 45 years ago listening to races on my 9 transister AM radio. I listened to every race I could find on the radio and when it finally came to TV, I watched every one. However, times have changed and I now record the races on my DVR and skip the wasted hour in the beginning, the commercials, cautions and boring follow the leader parts of the race. It still takes most of an hour to skip through and watch the 15 minutes of actual racing in a 500 mile race. When I watch a race live, I find myself fallin asleep frequently.
NASCAR has gone from unique cars driven by unique drivers to generic cars driven by programed drivers. Cover the decals, cover the faces, alter the voices and I’ll bet 90% of the fans couldn’t separate one team from another.
Ken, they’re losing me, too. I rarely even bother to record a race any more. Why should I bother? It’s a shame I don’t like drag racing, Indy cars, or F1. Ah well, maybe I can take up watching sport car road racing or… MONSTER TRUCKS! Yeah, that’s it!
My suggestion to everyone is to go to your local short track! This is where the real racing is at! Grassroots racing is what it’s all about!
Great idea, Steve… I have just moved, and I need to “track” down my local speedways and see what they’ve got going on this spring/summer. It’s gotta warm up sometime, right?
I’m another NASCAR fan with over 35 years of loyalty that is coming to the end of the road with whole deal. Hours of meaningless dribble followed by mind numbing boring races. Add to that the goofy auto mechanics classes with cut away cars in the middle of the race. Imagine what would happen if they showed training camp films during a NFL game?
I agree that it’s time for the local tracks and maybe the ARCA circuit.