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Sprint Cup
CUP: Helton Says Early-Season Energy Is Good
Jimmie Johnson – ‘Things seem to be trending the right way’…
Mike Helton is not sure about adding a road course to the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Two races. Two popular winners. Record numbers of lead changes. Record numbers of cautions. Zany doings in the point standings.
It’s been an unusual start for the NASCAR season but one that has been newsworthy and water-cooler-talk-worthy, and those largely are good things.
“It’s been entertaining,” said NASCAR president Mike Helton of the sport’s first two weeks. “There have been a lot of conversations about Daytona, which has generated a lot of interest around how the race unfolded with the drafting and then the conclusion – a fresh face from the Southeast (winner Trevor Bayne), the Wood Brothers, and then our reigning figurehead Jeff Gordon wins in Phoenix.
“The energy around it feels good. The numbers are supporting it, but you don’t want to get too comfortable too quick. You certainly hope that things continue to progress.”
Attendance and television numbers have been on the upswing, and a big crowd – possibly a sellout – is expected Sunday for the third race of the year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“I think things are going in the right direction from a buzz and excitement standpoint,” said Chris Powell, LVMS president. “Part of that’s the economy. Part of it is the sport. There’s more excitement about the sport right now.
“You’re not going to be able to see an empty seat Sunday. We might be able to announce a sellout.”
Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson said the racing has been good prior to this season and that some of the economics are beginning to catch up.
“I feel like our product on track and the type of racing that we’ve seen the last few years, it’s still there and it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Johnson said. “I think the garage area has done a very, very good job putting on a good show. Hopefully, the economy and some marketing are bringing people back to the stands.
“I look around at the attendance that we had at Daytona, then again at Phoenix. I haven’t heard how we’re looking for this weekend’s race, but things seem to be trending the right way.”
Two races don’t make a season, of course, but the numbers look better than last year’s. Helton said the task now is to keep emphasizing the positives.
“I think certainly we should work to tell the story of the last couple of weeks and show that NASCAR can still deliver, that there’s still strong support of the series and the sport in general,” he said. “I think there are opportunities for us as stewards of our piece of motorsports to parlay that into the whole motorsports industry – to help re-energize the motorsports industry in general, whether it’s Indy cars or NHRA or short-track racing or what-have-you. If we can manage our role in that with the start that we’ve got, I think that’s important.”
The season opened with NASCAR operating with a new and radically different point scheme for its three national series, and, oddly, teams left Daytona with none of the opening-race winners leading their respective point standings. The anomaly was most evident in the Sprint Cup Series because Daytona 500 winner Bayne had signed on to run for the Nationwide Series championship.
“The way the storyline unfolded in Daytona certainly was good for a lot of reasons, and it did instantly put that topic in front,” Helton said. “We kind of look at each other Monday in the office, (saying) we had come out of the box with a lot of interesting tidbits. It really didn’t sink in until that day that the Cup series has a winner who isn’t collecting points.”
That led to discussion on whether Bayne’s win would count as a victory in determining candidates for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. NASCAR announced the day after the 500 that Bayne’s victory would be counted in Chase consideration.
“That had come up as part of ‘Well, what if?’,” Helton said. “On Monday there was a good deal of conversation about reminding ourselves where we landed on that. That was good because it caused all of us to pay attention to it.
“We had already figured out what we were going to do, but we had to remind ourselves of it. It was kind of fun, actually.”
Helton said he isn’t concerned about the overabundance of wrecks in the season’s first two races.
“We’ve gone through cycles where we’ve had two straight races where there was a lot of activity with sheet metal,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a 9-1-1 right now, but it’s certainly something we have to watch. We’ve seen cycles before. We’ve always seen it correct itself.”
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
It’s been an unusual start for the NASCAR season but one that has been newsworthy and water-cooler-talk-worthy, and those largely are good things.
“It’s been entertaining,” said NASCAR president Mike Helton of the sport’s first two weeks. “There have been a lot of conversations about Daytona, which has generated a lot of interest around how the race unfolded with the drafting and then the conclusion – a fresh face from the Southeast (winner Trevor Bayne), the Wood Brothers, and then our reigning figurehead Jeff Gordon wins in Phoenix.
“The energy around it feels good. The numbers are supporting it, but you don’t want to get too comfortable too quick. You certainly hope that things continue to progress.”
Attendance and television numbers have been on the upswing, and a big crowd – possibly a sellout – is expected Sunday for the third race of the year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“I think things are going in the right direction from a buzz and excitement standpoint,” said Chris Powell, LVMS president. “Part of that’s the economy. Part of it is the sport. There’s more excitement about the sport right now.
“You’re not going to be able to see an empty seat Sunday. We might be able to announce a sellout.”
Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson said the racing has been good prior to this season and that some of the economics are beginning to catch up.
“I feel like our product on track and the type of racing that we’ve seen the last few years, it’s still there and it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Johnson said. “I think the garage area has done a very, very good job putting on a good show. Hopefully, the economy and some marketing are bringing people back to the stands.
“I look around at the attendance that we had at Daytona, then again at Phoenix. I haven’t heard how we’re looking for this weekend’s race, but things seem to be trending the right way.”
Two races don’t make a season, of course, but the numbers look better than last year’s. Helton said the task now is to keep emphasizing the positives.
“I think certainly we should work to tell the story of the last couple of weeks and show that NASCAR can still deliver, that there’s still strong support of the series and the sport in general,” he said. “I think there are opportunities for us as stewards of our piece of motorsports to parlay that into the whole motorsports industry – to help re-energize the motorsports industry in general, whether it’s Indy cars or NHRA or short-track racing or what-have-you. If we can manage our role in that with the start that we’ve got, I think that’s important.”
The season opened with NASCAR operating with a new and radically different point scheme for its three national series, and, oddly, teams left Daytona with none of the opening-race winners leading their respective point standings. The anomaly was most evident in the Sprint Cup Series because Daytona 500 winner Bayne had signed on to run for the Nationwide Series championship.
“The way the storyline unfolded in Daytona certainly was good for a lot of reasons, and it did instantly put that topic in front,” Helton said. “We kind of look at each other Monday in the office, (saying) we had come out of the box with a lot of interesting tidbits. It really didn’t sink in until that day that the Cup series has a winner who isn’t collecting points.”
That led to discussion on whether Bayne’s win would count as a victory in determining candidates for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. NASCAR announced the day after the 500 that Bayne’s victory would be counted in Chase consideration.
“That had come up as part of ‘Well, what if?’,” Helton said. “On Monday there was a good deal of conversation about reminding ourselves where we landed on that. That was good because it caused all of us to pay attention to it.
“We had already figured out what we were going to do, but we had to remind ourselves of it. It was kind of fun, actually.”
Helton said he isn’t concerned about the overabundance of wrecks in the season’s first two races.
“We’ve gone through cycles where we’ve had two straight races where there was a lot of activity with sheet metal,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a 9-1-1 right now, but it’s certainly something we have to watch. We’ve seen cycles before. We’ve always seen it correct itself.”
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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