
Brad Keselowski could be on the receiving end of payback at the Phoenix Cup race. (Credit: AP photo)
By Lou Modestino
The crowd was way off for the Texas Cup race and no doubt track president Eddie Gossage can and will attribute that the F1 race in Austin, Texas took away a lot of fans. Although the Texas Cup ticket prices were a huge bargain compared to the F1 event in Austin.
The brawls after the Texas Cup race continue to cause a lot of tension between the drivers because of what Brad Keselowski pulled when he saw the opening and proceeded to make the hole wider in order to pass Jeff Gordon at the end of the race. The ensuing brawl resulted in some punches, shoving and bloody and bruised faces of Keselowski and Gordon. All that has got to sell some tickets as well as kick up the TV ratings for this weekend’s Cup event at Phoenix.
By the way, surprisingly there were no fines for those two brawlers or loss of points either. However, there were suspensions for some crewmen who started the pushing, shoving and fisticuffs. Some seem to think that Bad Brad will be on the receiving end of retaliation at the Arizona track. Some purists claim that NASCAR is copying the WWF. There may be some truth to that!
After the dust cleared, Joey Logano is still the top Chase driver with 4072 points and 5 wins, Denny Hamlin is tied in points with Logano and has 1 win. A consistent Ryan Newman is next with 4070 points and no wins, while fourth is Jeff Gordon with 4060 points and 4 wins. On the bubble after Phoenix are: Matt Kenseth with 4059 points no wins, Carl Edwards with 4059 points and 2 wins, Brad Keselowski is next with 4055 points and 6 wins and Kevin Harvick with 4054 points and 3 wins. In this new format wins are tie breakers.
If neither Newman nor Kenseth win the Chase to the Nextel Cup without scoring a win, the designer of this very controversial and difficult to understand format, Brian France could end up blowing a gasket. He wanted wins to count big and eliminate the consistency factor. We’ve seen and heard many comments from fans who follow the NASCAR scene. Many hope that either Newman or Kenseth will be able to win the championship without a win, and that’s how much they dislike the NASCAR CEO’s tinkering with the format. They would prefer the old traditional way of choosing the NASCAR Cup champion.
The United States Grand Prix at COTA drew a 0.7 overnight rating on NBC, a big bump in their usual number considering most GPs are at bizarre times for Americans. NASCAR drew ratings nearly four times higher than F1 overnight, earning a 2.5, according to SportsBusiness Daily.
In an update, ESPN’s live telecast of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 2, saw its highest rating and viewership in two years according to Nielsen Media. The race earned a 2.8 U.S. rating, averaging 4,749,000 viewers, both numbers up from last year’s race (2.6 rating, 4,179,000 average viewers) and the 2012 race (2.5 rating, 3,943,000 viewers). Greensboro, N.C., was the highest-rated of the nation’s 56 metered markets with an 8.8 rating, followed by Greenville, S.C., at 8.1 and Indianapolis at 7.1. Raleigh-Durham, N.C., was fourth at 6.5 with Knoxville, Tenn., fifth at 6.4. Rounding out the top 10 markets were Nashville, Tenn., 5.9; Charlotte, N.C., 5.8; Jacksonville, Fla., 5.5; and a tie between Richmond, Va., and Louisville, Ky., at 5.2.
ESPN’s live telecast of Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Texas also saw ratings and viewership growth over last year’s event with a 1.1 U.S. rating and an average viewership of 1,633,000. Last year’s telecast earned a 0.9 rating and averaged 1,395,000 viewers.(ESPN)
Persistent and interesting rumbles are being heard again about a Sprint Cup race being moved to another venue! We’re not so sure that it would be the wisest thing to do, considering that there are still many empty seats at all of NASCAR’s Cup events.