The View from Here: The Business of NASCAR

With the economy slumping, it's becoming harder for NASCAR fans to get to a track to enjoy live racing. Even with tracks lowering ticket prices, most races aren't selling out. You would think that because of this attendance issue television viewership would be just as good as last season, if not better but the truth is ratings are lower now than the same time last year.
True, ratings for the last couple of races (Michigan and Bristol) were up from last year's averages but the reality is football season is about to start and history has shown that once football games begin being aired NASCAR viewership drops.
Now, back to the decline in ratings of this year's earlier races. There hasn't been a clear change in the way NASCAR has presented its races in the past two weeks, so what was wrong with the previous races that led to a drop in viewership? Could it be the much disliked COT that drivers claim isn't competitive enough? Or is it that stock car racing just isn't what it used to be? I'm not old enough to have seen Richard Petty's first win or Bobby Allison's wreck at what is now Talladega Superspeedway, forcing NASCAR to mandate restrictor plates there and Daytona, but I've seen video and TV footage of the beginning of NASCAR's modern age and I know today's racing isn't as exciting. While I love racing and always have, I miss what it used to be just 10-15 years ago. The sport has lost some integrity and I almost prefer local short track racing to sitting at home and watching a Cup Series race on tv.
So the solution to NASCAR's television rating problems is yet to be resolved, even with the recent increase in viewership. Is the economy to blame or is it because of the COT and lack of excitement? Of course there's always the argument that NASCAR just isn't like the old days. And that's the view from here.

HG