Idle thoughts: NASCAR off to a good start

Posted by Pete Pistone

Now that Daytona is in the rear view mirror the regular season can begin.
But NASCAR officials have to be hoping for a carryover effect from Sunday’s thrilling Daytona 500.
There was a very different vibe at Daytona this year. Yes there was controversy over the two-car drafting tandems, the brand new asphalt surface and subsequent high speeds and all the rules changes NASCAR handed out as Speedweeks rolled on. There’s really nothing new about that, as it seems most every year has something very similar.
But after an off-season of changes and an end to 2010 that had a feeling of general malaise to it, there were a lot of questions about where NASCAR was headed this season.

There has been much worry over falling television ratings and attendance woes and quite frankly if the bubble had burst on NASCAR’s incredible popularity. The sport needed to come out of the box with the biggest race of the year in a big way.
The memory of last year’s Pot Hole 500 was still fresh on a lot of people’s minds and the last thing NASCAR needed was a crummy “Super Bowl” in front of a sea of empty seats.
That was far from the case on Sunday.
The Daytona 500 was a thriller and close to a classic despite the sloppiness of 16 caution flags and the absence of several big names in contention for the win after being erased by either a crash or mechanical issues.
The closing laps and subsequent finish was among the best in the race’s 53-year history. And the story of 20-year-old Trevor Bayne winning behind the wheel of a car fielded by the historic Wood Brothers who have been part of NASCAR since the beginning could not have been written any better.
What Bayne and the Woods did was bridge the generation gap between the coveted young audience NASCAR so desperately needs today and the long-time fan that has been with the sport for decades. The sight of the legendary No. 21 speeding under the checkered flag with the fresh-faced Bayne behind the wheel was the perfect tonic to touch both ends of the fan spectrum.
On a perfect February afternoon an announce crowd of 183,000 turned out for Sunday’s race. Not a sellout but a turnout that dwarfs any other collegiate or professional sporting event.

Television ratings were up by 13 percent over last year’s telecast with an estimated 30 million viewing at one point during Sunday’s telecast, making the 500 the most watched NASCAR race since 2008.
Maybe even more encouraging were the television numbers coming out of such major markets like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The country’s “Big Three” had jumps as high as 61 percent from a year ago when the 500 competed with the Olympics for television viewers.
So as the dust settles on the 53rd edition of the Daytona 500 there are no doubt smiles on the faces of NASCAR and track officials, television and radio executives as well as sponsors. The business of NASCAR is off to a rousing start.
Now comes the test. The grueling remaining 35 races of the calendar and the meat of the season are upon us. The lift of the 500 will only go so far. Those casual fans that tuned in and witnessed an interesting and thrilling race at Daytona may surf over to FOX’s telecast from Phoenix on Sunday. Of course racing on the one-mile desert oval is nothing like the high-speed restrictor plate madness of Daytona so those new fans are going to have to get used to what they’re watching on Sunday.
It’ll be up to the drivers to put on a good show at Phoenix and if the on-track product can be as good this year as it was overall in 2010, NASCAR may be poised for a pretty successful season.
Things are looking bright in February. Let’s see how it looks comes November.