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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
JENSEN: Go Time
The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season more or less kicks off this week in Charlotte with the annual Lowe’s Motor Speedway Media Tour...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 19, 2009   Harrisburg, NC
SPEEDtv.com - The Online Motorsports Authority

The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season more or less kicks off this week in Charlotte with the annual Lowe’s Motor Speedway Media Tour, a four-day schlep from race shop to race shop to race shop, where a couple of hundred of media members from all over the country find out first hand what the teams are up to.

Never has a season begun with so many unanswered questions and so much still up in the air. There are still teams who haven’t settled on drivers, sponsors, crew chiefs or even how many cars they are going to field, with Daytona Speedweeks just a couple of weeks away. Hopefully, we’ll fill in some of those blank spaces in the next four days.

The truth is, though, the teams who are still scrambling aren’t the ones who are going to be winning races and contending for the championship this season. They are going to be fighting for survival instead.

I keep going over the scenarios for the coming season in my head and the same conclusion always pops up: There are four teams — Hendrick, Roush, Gibbs and Childress — that are healthy and they will continue to widen the gap between themselves and everyone else. They are also the four teams that will decide the championship, so if all you watch is the front of the field, it won’t look all that different this year. The usual suspects will dominate, just as they have in years past.

The chaos will be from about 20th place on back, because most of the teams outside the top 20 have holes in their sponsor lineups. And once you get past the top 30 or 32 cars, money simply isn’t there. It will be interesting to see how many cars show up at Daytona but are gone by Homestead. Time will tell.

Yet, despite the economic hardships for the teams, it’s actually a pretty good year to be a race fan. Now, more than ever, you matter to the health of the sport, and that’s starting to be reflected in the lengths tracks are going to try to attract fans.

Because of the economy, tracks are offering lots of special promotions and sharply cutting ticket prices, in some cases by as much as 50 percent. At Atlanta Motor Speedway, for example, when you make a purchase of $25 or more at Lowe's, customers get a free ticket with the purchase of a regular ticket to the March 8 Kobalt Tools 500. The track is also offering a $50 discount on a Richard Petty Driving Experience Ride-Along.

Richmond, Darlington, Martinsville, Talladega and even Daytona are among the tracks slashing prices in an attempt to get fans back. Other facilities are taking some innovative steps as well: Lowe’s Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway are actually taking seats out to build premium areas. TMS, for example, is yanking out about 20,000 seats on the backstretch to build a premium RV lot with full amenities.

Michigan International Speedway is in the middle of a $25 million capital improvement plan to freshen up the facility and enhance the fan experience. I had a long chat on Friday with track President Roger Curtis, who said the folks at MIS are burning the midnight oil to try make race weekends better for fans. “Ultimately, the story right now is the people who do show up, not the people who didn’t,” said Curtis. “That’s what our focus is on. We’re going to do everything we possibly can for those folks to exceed their expectations, to make sure they have great memories when they leave.”

Note to any track officials who may be reading this column: The No. 1 fan complaint we hear isn’t ticket costs or even traffic, it’s trying to squeeze too many butts into too narrow grandstand seats.

So, the bottom line here? Teams are still looking for money, tracks are still looking for fans. And it’s just about time to go racing again. Not a minute too soon, if you ask me.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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