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Brian France Addresses ‘State of NASCAR’ Questions on NASCAR RaceDay
Written by: David Harris   
11/19/2006
Homestead, FL
 
Brian France. (Photo: Getty Images/Charles Laberge) ยป More Photos

NASCAR President Brian France joined the NASCAR RaceDay on SPEED crew during the NASCAR season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway this past weekend. France addressed the state of the sport, and what to look forward to in 2007 and beyond.

Host John Roberts led a panel of questioners which included drivers Jimmy Spencer and Kenny Wallace, along with former crew chiefs Larry McReynolds and Jeff Hammonds. Here is what France had to say:

Roberts: This is quite a scene to have all three of your touring series complete their seasons here at Homestead.

France: I can't think of a better place to have the finale than here in south Florida.

Roberts: It's been the buzz around the garage area and around the shows we've been doing, USA Today, front page Wednesday afternoon, you see the headline, 'After 15 Years in the Fast Lane, NASCAR Slowing Down.' I'm sure you are aware of those numbers, is it cause for alarm?

France: I think they know part of the story. There's no question ratings are down a little bit, off of historic highs of last year. Ratings on your network (SPEED) are up; Truck ratings are up, qualifying is up, lots of things are up. The truth is; I think a little bit is anticipation for '07. There are so many things that are going on, but they all happen in '07. Not taking anything away from this year, but we have Juan Montoya (who made his Cup debut at Homestead)
and he'll be full time. You've got Toyota entering the series. You have a different network package in the second half. You have the car of tomorrow. You have a lot of things that are building some anticipation for '07. We're excited about it.

Spencer: You made a change that had everyone saying, 'Man Brian, why would you do such a thing.' Now, we have all the people saying that it's not exciting. How can you think that they would even say that?'

France: When you get a little criticism, that's part of it. But look, the racing is good, we're really happy with it. It's side by side, its NASCAR style. I think the 'car of tomorrow' is going to, at least, give us better racing. With the testing that's been done, it's already showing that.

Wallace: They said that having Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Jeff Gordon in the Championship Chase would make everything euphoric - and it didn't. Junior said to shorten the races. You have always said we can adjust. Have you ever looked at shortening the races?

France: We have shortened races from time to time - Dover is an example. Let me give you one statistic, this year, out of 34 events, NASCAR was either number one or number two as the largest sporting event on television. Nobody needs to have a pause for concern. We're a sport on the move and we have a lot of things for '07 that I think there's a little lull before the storm. The racing is good.
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