I imagine the champagne is flowing at NASCAR headquarters. I bet the genius trio of France, Helton and Darby have a spring in their step not seen in recent years. Their contented sighs must, by now, be annoying all those around them. The reason? Why, those television ratings from the first two races! They are right out of sight!
Let’s be clear on what helped those ratings. For the Daytona 500 three things were in play. First, the weather was terrible in most of the country – except Florida. People were forced inside to spend the weekend with the television remote in hand. Second, there wasn’t a heck of a lot on television. No Olympics, no Tiger Woods, no crucial NCAA basketball contests. Thirdly, viewers surfing through their channels probably caught a glimpse of the unique two by two racing and stopped to ponder what this new spectacle was. A perfect storm led many to find the FOX telecast the only interesting event.
Then, for the Phoenix race, some of the same things happened. A fierce line of storms was moving across mid America forcing outdoor activities to be cancelled. Again, there was no significant television competition from other sporting events. And then there was Trevor Bayne. Even people who did not watch the Daytona 500 heard about the 20 year old and had to get in on the next big thing.
I hate to throw a wet blanket on all the celebrating, but most of these things are going away real soon. Spring will arrive and we will all come out of hibernation from in front of the television set. Other events: March Madness, the Masters, baseball start-up, pro basketball and hockey play-offs will all divide our attention when we do pick up the remote. That unique two by two racing at Daytona and, probably, at Talladega, will get old to fans real quick. And Trevor Bayne will not win any more Nextel Cup races for a while (but will do very well in the Nationwide series).
I predicted last year that we had reached the bottom of the television ratings and would stay there. It had gotten down to us hard core fans. I still believe that. NASCAR, along with FOX, ESPN and TNT better not kick back and start gloating. We will see temporary ups and downs, but the ratings for the overall season will be pretty close to last year.
