// The MotorSportsNews.Net(work)Home of the FREE Stock Car Gazette e-zine!

Last weekend’s TD Banknorth Oxford 250 had 121 pre-race entries (according to its webpage) at Oxford Plains Speedway in western Maine. That’s a very impressive number. But, last Sunday only 88 of them showed up. That wasn’t a surprise as some teams file an entry early just in case they have the assets to race in a major event like the 250. And especially if there was no fee for an early entry.

Continue reading »

The TNT TV ratings match last year’s numbers. Final Nielsen Media Research numbers show that TNT’s coverage of six NASCAR Sprint Cup races this season matched its ratings from 2007 with one big gain and one big loss, Street & Smith’s Sports Business Daily reports. The network averaged a 4.2 coverage area rating and 5.7 million viewers for the six events, the Daily reports. Its first race this year, the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway, earned a 4.6 coverage rating, up 27.8 percent from last year, but it was the only TNT event to see a ratings increase. The Daily reports that three of the next five races declined from ‘07. This report came from StockCarGazette.com.

Continue reading »

As the time nears for ESPN’s coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the new Monday roundtable edition of ESPN2’s NASCAR Now continues to gain momentum with NASCAR fans looking for in-depth analysis of their favorite sport.

ESPN, which covers the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season, will televise the final 17 races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series beginning with the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on July 27 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Included will be all 10 races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup televised by ESPN on ABC.

Continue reading »

With gas prices reaching record highs, home values plummeting and nest eggs shrinking, too many of us feel like the American Dream is fading. But on July 13 at 7 p.m. ET, CNBC’s Jim Cramer reminds viewers that the American Dream is still very much alive and that he, himself, is living proof. In this one-hour NBC Special, “The American Dream with Jim Cramer,” one of the best minds on Wall Street and the host of “Mad Money w/Jim Cramer” heads to NASCAR’S Pit Road to talk straight about the economy, investing and helping Americans unlock the wealth of money-making opportunities everywhere, even in their favorite pastime.

Continue reading »

At a recent meeting of a group of motorsports types in New England, the subject of Detroit automakers involvement in motorsports, particularly NASCAR, was among various things discussed. It was the opinion, of those in the know, that NASCAR could feel the impact of the Big Three automakers who must reinventing themselves in order to survive. We’ve also seen some news reports regarding this. In all likelihood expect to see budgets slashed of the top NASCAR teams who have deals with Chevy, Ford and Dodge. Because sales of new vehicles are not expected to rebound until the price of oil settles down. With $5 per gallon of regular looming by Labor Day weekend, the buying public is very leery of making a major purchase of a new vehicle.

According to reports on ESPN, NASCAR teams are really feeling the pinch due to the high cost of fuel. Also, funding NASCAR teams have risen from $10-$15 million to over $20-$25 million due to increases especially driver salaries. “We could see six or so teams shut down if they are not funded. Nobody is going to run this out of their own pocket for too long, myself included, so it is a serious situation, ” said team principal Doug Yates, owner of Yates Racing.

Continue reading »

NASCAR Sprint Cup racing posted a 3.3/9 (5.1 mill.) that Sunday for racing from Michigan on TNT. In its first fair comparison to last year (last week’s comparison was impacted by rain in 2007), NASCAR on TNT was flat among all Homes (3.3) and down among M18-34 (-13 percent), M18-49 (-8 percent), and average audience (-3 percent).This report came from TNT PR and the Jayski.com webpage.

Continue reading »

Turner Sports hit the track that Sunday with the first of it’s six 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Summer Series races on Turner Network Television (TNT) and unveiled Race Buddy, NASCAR.COM’s live online companion to the network’s televised coverage, with both platforms delivering strong early results. TNT’s coverage of the Pocono 500 earned a 3.9 US rating, up 27 percent over last year’s coverage on the network. NASCAR.COM’s RaceBuddy shined in its debut, garnering 712,000 live streams to NASCAR’s official site during the race.

(editor’s note: maybe it’s because no one can afford to go anywhere anymore, and they’re all just sitting at home watching the races. You can surely tell that the attendance is down, except for that Nationwide race at Kentucky that sold out (7 years in a row))

Continue reading »

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.

Continue reading »