Brian France happy with double-file restarts, NASCAR's overall racing product
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers practice at Daytona International Speedway for Saturday's Coke Zero 400.
// David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR Chairman Brian France praised the success of double-file restarts and reiterated his stance that the sport remains healthy despite the headaches of a sagging economy.
France, speaking to reporters Friday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, said double-file restarts “clearly are putting a nice energy around the events,” which are producing “fantastic” racing overall.
He said NASCAR remains the No. 1 or No. 2 most-viewed and most popular sport on any given weekend, which means that despite the economic downturn, “lots of people would like to have our problems.”
“You gotta keep it in context,” he said. “Is every sport feeling the pinch from people buying tickets because they have less money in their pockets or they’ve lost their job? Sure, we’re no different. Every sport has felt it in one form or another.
“Everybody that would like to point to me that the world is crumbling – I’m not telling you it’s not difficult; it is – but we try to keep things in perspective.”
France said the product on the track is the “most important thing,” and to that end NASCAR continues to evaluate possible adjustments – which he termed as minor changes – to its new model car.
He credited NASCAR President Mike Helton with holding firm and refusing to make changes to the car even in the face of harsh criticism from some drivers, fans and media.
“We needed to let the new car settle in without making a bunch of changes just because someone had not figured it out yet,” France said. “ … We have been under a lot of pressure on that, and it doesn't mean that we won’t [make changes] if there’s something, and some things came out of our town-hall meeting that were interesting to us that we are looking at.”
France repeated his comments from last month at Michigan, when he noted that other manufacturers may be interested in joining the sport. But he said nothing was imminent.
“Our policy remains open, but it is not something that happens easily or overnight,” he said. “These decisions by a potential manufacturer take a lot of time and evaluation on their behalf.”
As for the struggles of current manufacturers – Chrysler was sold to Fiat and General Motors declared bankruptcy – France called it a “painful reminder that no one is immune from difficult times.”
Of the reduced manufacturer support, France said, “We were hoping in that case to be one of the last programs they’d consider cutting – and we were – but as it turns out, they were in a position where they had to make some changes in all of their programs.”
Regarding the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series, France said both were “relatively healthy” despite reduced manufacturer support and the economy in general.
