NASCAR is crumbling. That is the image being presented to the casual fan early in this injury-plagued start to NASCAR’s 75th anniversary season.
Through the first 11 races this season, NASCAR has handed down massive penalties, some of which have been overturned by appeal panels. Team owners are in a stalemate with NASCAR leadership over a new revenue model and drivers have been unhappy with the second-year Next Gen car’s performance at certain tracks.
Most alarming, as NASCAR is in the thick of negotiating a new television contract, was the dramatic drop in TV ratings when Chase Elliott was sidelined earlier this season. Elliott has been voted NASCAR’s most popular driver by the fans the last five years; when he spent six races recovering from a broken leg suffered in a snowboarding accident, ratings dropped by roughly 500,000 viewers….