NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: France Salutes Start Of Season
NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said the year is off to a good start...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted March 09, 2011   Charlotte, NC
Brian France, grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., is NASCAR's chairman and CEO. (Photo: Getty Images)
After several years of declining attendance, sagging Sprint Cup television ratings and a general perception that the sport had lost critical momentum, suddenly NASCAR is red hot again.

And that’s enough to give NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France encouragement three races into the 2011 Cup season.

Buoyed by some great storylines, most notably Trevor Bayne's shocking Daytona 500 victory to open the season, enthusiasm for the sport has returned in a big way this season.

That was France’s main message during a national media conference call on Wednesday afternoon.

“In general, with a very dynamic Daytona 500, and having, really, a young star born (Bayne) and then having the iconic 21 Wood Brothers team in victory lane with 74 lead changes and a very interesting way the competition played out during the Daytona 500,” said France. “Starting with there and on to Phoenix and getting Jeff Gordon back into victory lane and record lead changes again there, and attendance up across the board. Obviously, the competition has never been better. And that’s been brewing in terms of going in the right direction for a number of months dating back well into last year.”

Despite the plethora of good news early in the season, France acknowledged that NASCAR is not out of the woods yet, given the myriad economic issues the sport and its teams are facing.

“There’s still some challenges for us and for many, many sports and many, many companies, with the still-uncertain outlook with the economy,” France said. “We’re not, as we’ve said all along, we’re not economists, we’re not building around a doom-and-gloom or a robust economy. We’re doing what we think we need to do in general terms. And, obviously then, fuel prices are never helpful.”

France attributed much of NASCAR’s early season success to on-track competition.

In the Sprint Cup Series, already there have been a host of records set: On average, so far there have been 41 lead changes per race, 16 different leaders per race, and a total of 32 drivers who have led at least one lap this season, all new records for the first three races of the season.
Trevor Bayne celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 2011 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo: Getty Images)

With competition at a high level, France said the sanctioning body is continuing to look at ways to grow and build the sport.

“No one around here is celebrating,” France said. “We're obviously pleased we're up dramatically in our ratings. But we know that is an ebb-and-flow thing. We're focused on a lot of things that will give us growth down the road. We're going to work on those, not get too excited or too down.

“I look at the interest level of the sport, and that's growing after having peaked and maybe dropped back a little bit for some reasons a couple years ago. The general interest level is going up and that's what we're going to be working on, is creating new fans.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.
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