[robertt]

Even before the season started NASCAR was talking about how good they do win Dale Jr wins. Low and behold he wins the Daytona 500, finishes second at Phoenix and Las Vegas, which if he hadn't run out of gas with a half lap to go he would have won. How many years has it been since he's done squat? NASCARS ratings are in the toilet and the crowds at the tracks too, sooooooo, coincidence? The pessimist side of me says the fix is in because their is so much money involved and a buddy of mine handles the fuel at some of the races for the pit crews and he says TV doesn't do justice to how empty the stands really are. After the end of last year with Waltrip and Newman and all the goings on with them, Danica, and other things, I'm pretty much done with NASCAR anyway. So am I imagining things? OK, now you Jr fans can let me have it!

[Mr. Ford95]

Stands didn't look too awful bad at Phoenix and Vegas. Gotta remember about Vegas, they got hit real hard during the economy dump, so I'm certain many local's didn't turn out. Even Kyle Busch said that the majority of the fans that do go to Vegas are not from that area. Vegas is hard to tell though on how empty it is from the TV, the upper stands have the seats painted all sorts of colors so it actually kind of hides just how empty they are. Did hear that qualifying at Vegas had their best turnout ever for fans.

Daytona on the other hand didn't look too good, the Supercross on MavTV Saturday night looked like it had 3/4 what the 500 had on the main stands..................

I don't believe NASCAR themselves were saying anything about needing Jr to win. It's been the media hyping it up. Fact is, he led the points last year for a while going into the Chase, fans weren't turning out in droves. It has been 10 years since he was competitive like he was last year and the start of this year. 2003 and 2004. I do not believe the fix is in at all. Had the fix been in, NASCAR would have thrown a yellow for "debris" within 5-10 laps on the final restart yesterday at Vegas knowing he was a lap short on fuel and before Brad had gotten up to 2nd. Anyways, NASCAR would never rely on 1 single driver to make them go, they have never done that in all these years of existence. Fans tune in for the personalities of the drivers, NASCAR lost their way in the late 90's and 2000's when they started neutering the drivers with penalties for saying this or that or doing this or that. The personalities dropped off and they all became sorta the same personality. In the last few years NASCAR has relaxed some and allowed the drivers to be more of themselves. A guy like Kyle Busch is good, he shows you his personality. I just wish he was a little more contrite on coming home 2nd than to act like he came home 25th but that's just my thoughts. His emotion is good for the sport. Now if the boys start brawling every once in a while like last season started off with...................

[robertt]

Originally Posted by Mr. Ford95

I don't believe NASCAR themselves were saying anything about needing Jr to win. It's been the media hyping it up. Fact is, he led the points last year for a while going into the Chase, fans weren't turning out in droves. It has been 10 years since he was competitive like he was last year and the start of this year. 2003 and 2004.

Actually it was France's son who was saying it. I'll have to ask my buddy how the crowds are when they start running back east. He doesn't do the west stuff. I guess I just miss the good ol days, Earnhardt, Wallace, Gant, Labonte, Elliott, etc., When I was stationed at Dover AFB we use to go to both races every year when the stands just held around 30,000 people, I think it's around 140,000 now. It use to be so much fun, but we quit going after they expanded the place and it became so much more commercial and not so much "fun".

[Mr. Ford95]

God I miss Dover, I went back when it was still asphalt. Yeah it was like 40-50K in there at the time but now it CAN hold well over 100K but it never does. I think the crowds being down is due to the dates. No way around it, you either fry or it's pouring down rain. I remember parking in the front lawn of a house right out front of the frontstretch. House is still there today but you can't park in their yard anymore it looks like, fenced in now. It was easy to get to from down here where I am, 3 hour ride. Just hated it being 500 miles/laps, by the time we got home it would be 11-12 at night plus you had to cross back over the Bay Bridge Toll.

I honestly don't remember hearing him say anything like that, about needing Jr to win in the context that I believe your getting at. I know the media portrayed it the wrong way, in the wrong context. A lot of the drivers lit up Twitter against how it was being portrayed. Yes, Jr winning is good, Jr winning consistently is real good. It's good for NASCAR in the sense that it drives money but not necessarily thru ticket sales and new fans. It's merch that flies off the shelves due to his massive fan base that brings in the money. It's why Hendrick has stood behind Jr during those first tough years at Hendrick, he knows Jr is a cash cow. Him winning also gives the sport a bit more exposure than David Ragan winning or even Tony Stewart. Jr is to the point now in his career though that his fans have grown up, they aren't the late teens, young adult demographic anymore that wants to party like a rockstar.

It's too bad Steve Wallace is racing little bullrings and not still in Nationwide or up in Cup now. With Jr you'd have an Earnhardt, Wallace and coming soon an Elliott. NASCAR has a bunch of real good young talent coming in and coming up. I think we will start to see the old days upon us again when the same few guys are mad at each other week in and week out. When you get that much talent together at the front for victories, they are bound to ruffle each other up. Heck, Chase Elliott and and Austin Dillon are already doing a pretty good job of angering the older guys a tad bit.

[robertt]

Originally Posted by Mr. Ford95

I remember parking in the front lawn of a house right out front of the frontstretch. House is still there today but you can't park in their yard anymore it looks like, fenced in now.

I remember that house! I also remember people camping out along Rt.1 at the south end of the track, campfires, music, it would get pretty wild. That was before the Rt 1 bypass too so the traffic would be crazy.

[robertt]

[h=1]Here's what I was talking about. This isn't the article I saw initially, that one was more recent, but he has said it in the past as shown here.

With Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Daytona 500 win, everything is right in the NASCAR world — at least for one day[/h]Jerry Bonkowski
Feb 24, 2014, 2:23 AM EDT

4 Comments

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – There’s no question NASCAR has faced its share of challenges in recent years.
From falling attendance to slumping TV ratings, and then NASCAR officials trying several ways to right the ship – from new-style cars to the recently announced changes in this season’s Chase for the Sprint Cup – things have been tried, some with success, others not and others to be determined.
But for one night, Sunday night at Daytona International Speedway, everything was right in the NASCAR world because its most popular driver,Dale Earnhardt Jr., just won the Daytona 500, the sport’s biggest race, it’s Super Bowl.
Four years ago, NASCAR chairman Brian France took an unprecedented step by publicly stating that if it was to thrive again, the sport needed Earnhardt to win races and championships.
It wasn’t a request, it was a plea. If all was right in Junior’s world – and that indeed means winning races and contending for championships — everything would likely be right in NASCAR’s world. France isn’t stupid: as Junior goes, NASCAR goes.
So now that Earnhardt has won his second Daytona 500 – 10 years apart, mind you – could this be not only Earnhardt’s comeback year of sorts, his year to finally win the championship so many have predicted, hoped for and prayed for over the last 15 years, and ultimately be the year NASCAR makes its long awaited comeback?
It sure seems that they’re all intertwined, doesn’t it? When Junior was going good and strong during his years at Dale Earnhardt Inc. from 2000 through 2007, NASCAR was at the height of its popularity.
But when the economy started going south near the end of 2007 and into 2008, it was also the time that Earnhardt made the split from the company his father founded, Dale Earnhardt Inc., and joined Hendrick Motorsports.
Of course, the economy going south and Junior moving on were coincidental, but there is definitely a symbolism and synergy that some NASCAR fans can’t be blamed if they feel those events truly were tied together in some strange fashion.
And now that we’re here in 2014, the economy is improving, unemployment is dropping, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally not only won a race after a 55-race dry spell, he did it in the most dramatic and big fashion, capturing the biggest race of the year – and potentially the biggest race of his career.
Not only is it just one race into the 2014 season and Junior has already clinched a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup – 26 races from now – but this could very well be the year that he truly does win that elusive first Cup championship and NASCAR makes the big comeback its officials and fans have hoped for.
Earnhardt won Sunday with arguably the best car in the field, but like a delicious stew, there was so much more that went into it.
There’s the fact crew chief Steve Letarte was atop the pit box for his last Daytona 500. Junior would like nothing more than to send Letarte out a winner before the latter joins NBC as a TV analyst in 2015. He started with Sunday’s win; he hopes to finish his gift to Letarte with the Sprint Cup championship at season’s end.
“If you’re going to win one, this is the one you want to win,” Letarte said. “(Earnhardt) knew how much I wanted to win this one.
“I’m a little said this is going to be my last 500. … Everyone has a bucket list and you don’t work in racing and not have the Daytona 500 on your bucket list. It seems awkward or surreal, but my career defining moment came in my last shot at it.”
There’s the fact Junior will be 40 years old later this year, a kind of unofficial demarcation line that if he doesn’t win a championship by then, the opportunities he’ll have left after he turns the big four-oh will quickly become fewer and fewer with each passing year.
“It’s not a weight when you’re able to deliver. It’s a weight when you’re not able to deliver,” Earnhardt said. “When you’re running fifth or 10th every week, it’s very challenging because you want to deliver and you’re not delivering. This brings me a lot of joy. … I don’t know I’ve realized how big a deal it is, but I know I have a lot of fans that are real happy about what we did tonight and can’t wait to go hang around the water cooler and brag to their buddies tomorrow.”
There’s the fact that Junior had finished runner-up in three of the four previous Daytona 500s. As Brad Keselowski said after the race, no other driver likely was more due to win Sunday than Junior.
“Winning is all that matters when it comes to Daytona,” Earnhardt said. “They won’t remember you for running second. I’m grateful to have won it twice now; I was grateful to win it once. In six months, I’ll probably be as urgent to win it as I was with the first.”
There’s also the likelihood that the once-massive Junior nation has dropped in size, fervor and hope over the last several years. With each passing season that Junior didn’t win a championship and was once again an also ran, many of his fans lost interest or belief in him.
Seeing his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson, win six championships in eight years didn’t help matters for Junior. Those were seasons that were in the prime of his racing career, and yet he came away with nothing but a pat on the back and everyone telling him, “Don’t worry, we’ll get it next year.”
After so much frustration, close calls and shortcomings, it couldn’t help but work on Earnhardt’s belief in himself.
But perhaps when he was at his lowest when it came to thinking he could win more races and championships, team owner Rick Hendrick linked Earnhardt with Letarte, and the best driver-crew chief combo that Junior had since Tony Eury Sr. early on in his DEI days began.
Letarte found a way to get inside Earnhardt, to make him believe in himself, to make him believe in his team, to make him believe he could be a winner – even if Junior had only won just one race prior to Sunday with Letarte on the pit box.
All that is a distant memory now.
“When I crossed the finish line, I was relieved I had done it and I did it with the people I was with,” Earnahrdt said. “It’s like I was back.”
Where does Earnhardt go from here? Will the third time be the charm? By that I mean, when he broke his nearly two-year winless streak in 2008 at Michigan, Earnhardt predicted he’d go on a tear and start winning lots of races.
He did the exact opposite, going more than 130 races before finally reaching victory lane again – at Michigan, no less – in 2012.
Now it’s the third time, not a time to strike out but to rather hit a home run.
Will this time be different? Will Junior be able to take his Daytona win and build upon it with several more wins in the next 35 races this season?
Will he finally bookend his season-opening win with a season-ending championship?
All that remains to be seen. But on a day that started at 1 p.m. ET, included a six hour, 22 minute rain delay and ended nearly 11 hours later, in a town that some are already starting to call Dale-tona, everything for at least one day truly was aligned, balanced and right in the NASCAR world.
No less an expert than Jeff Gordon admitted as much.
“Congrats to Junior, the world is right, Dale Jr. just won the Daytona 500. That’s a sign the 2014 season is going to be a good one,” said Gordon, who finished third in Sunday’s race.
And if Junior has anything to do with it like the way he did in winning Sunday, NASCAR as a whole will be as much of a beneficiary as he will be.
“I’m pumped up, man,” Earnhardt said. “Trust me, we are going to have a blast this year.”
It’s certainly started out that way.
Follow me @JerryBonkowski


Tags: Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson

And a more recent one:

[h=1]Brian France: Daytona 500 win good for Dale Earnhardt Jr., good for NASCAR[/h]Jerry Bonkowski
Feb 27, 2014, 6:32 PM EDT

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As Dale Earnhardt Jr. goes, so goes NASCAR.
If Junior wins races – and potentially and finally wins a Sprint Cup championship – it would likely be the big shot in the arm NASCAR needs to completely recover from several years of struggling at-track attendance and slumping TV ratings.
NASCAR chairman Brian France alluded to that back in 2009 and it remains as relevant today as it did when France first said that.
“It’s sort of like when the NBA doesn’t have the L.A. Lakers or Boston – a couple of their key historic franchises – in the race, that impacts the league,”France said in an interview back then with the Charlotte Observer. “We’re in the same boat.
“Our No.1 franchise, which happens to be Dale Jr. right now, (when he struggles) that’s going to have some impact on his fan base. It just does. … He has won a lot of races in the past. We could have a resurgence and the world would be a better place.”
In light of Earnhardt’s win in Sunday’s Daytona 500, the second time in 10 years that he’s won the Great American Race, could 2014 be both Earnhardt’s year and NASCAR’s year?
Granted, there’s still 35 races to go – including the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR’s marquee event of the season.
But Earnhardt’s win at Daytona has certainly got NASCAR fans, particularly Earnhardt’s large Junior Nation, excited and hopeful.
“Any time his fanbase gets revved up, that’s a good thing,” France said in an interview Wednesday with SportingNews.com. “That’s good for him, and that’s good for us.”
Earnhardt has been so excited since Sunday’s win that after several years of prodding from fans, he finally took to Twitter late Sunday evening and has continued to post a number of entries, particularly from his celebratory media tour that has crossed the country since then.
Needless to say, Earnhardt’s tweets have helped rev up what had been a somewhat dormant Junior Nation in recent years.
France covered a number of topics with SN, but the conversation drifted back to Earnhardt and his big win, his first time in victory lane in 55 races, dating back to 2012, and his third overall victory since the start of the 2007 season.
“The really great thing is how authentic he’s been throughout the week here as he’s doing (on Junior’s promotional media tour),” France said. “That’s great. We’ll have to see (how much of an impact Earnhardt’s win will have over the entire season).”
Earnhardt has been voted by fans as NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver the last 11 years, second most to Bill Elliott’s stout mark of 16 years as the sport’s most popular driver.
Follow me @JerryBonkowski

[Mr. Ford95]

The Bonk!! Didn't know he was with NBC now. I see it with France now but it's been portrayed incorrectly as I said. They want his massive fan base excited because it reaches so far, it will drive interest for people who aren't currently fans to maybe start tuning in. In the end, NASCAR doesn't NEED him in order to be successful themselves. Many people thought losing his dad would kill the sport but it hasn't. Jr and Jr alone winning races won't fill up the grandstands again though, fans have been turned off over the last 6-7 years for many different reasons. I got a co-worker who hasn't watched a race or kept up with it since Rusty retired. In the end, France never should have said what he did.

[robertt]

Originally Posted by Mr. Ford95

I see it with France now but it's been portrayed incorrectly as I said.

LOL! HE said what HE said but.......it's not what HE said? How do you "portray" a quote incorrectly? Whether what France said was right or wrong, he said it.

See ya later!

[Mr. Ford95]

Like I said, in the end he should have never said it. All the drivers, including Jr himself couldn't believe he said that stuff. He painted himself and NASCAR into a box that makes it appear that 1 driver IS bigger than NASCAR when that isn't true at all.

I really think the poor fan attendance isn't down to the quality of racing/lack of but to prices. Tix have only slightly crept down from what they were in 2007-08. Hotel prices certainly haven't come down at all. Fans are still quite upset about it. Just 3 days ago, saw a fan upset with Dega/Nascar about hotels near the track being outrageous in price. Friend who went to Dega bout 20 years ago said it was like that then. Said they had to get a hotel up towards Chattanooga, 2 hours away. NASCAR claims to have done some work on that to fix it but obviously that hasn't happened or worked.

I used to go to Richmond all the time when I was younger, totally different place now than it was back then. I refuse to go anymore until the track does some cleaning and hires traffic cops that don't stand there and watch chaos ensue. Martinsville does it right, love going there. Unfortunately it's a 4-4.5 hour ride home and since they don't go green until 2-2:15 it's rather late when I get home. At the same time, the fans are much more friendly, like the NASCAR I remember. At Richmond these days, the fans are raging drunks looking for a fight from anyone. I was appalled at how nasty the fans had gotten there.

[GMAN]

I have been wondering for a while whether NASCAR may have over saturated the market. You have a lot of tracks. Of course, the expense is also a consideration. The economy is still not doing that well and if you have to travel very far, it can be rather expensive to attend a race.