There is a lot of blame being passed around about the falling NASCAR TV ratings over the past year and half of so. We could blame the economy, the dominance of Jimmie Johnson, or even the Car of Tomorrow. Now that the TV numbers seem to be on an up tick I think they blame can place the blame on the silly winged car that die hard NASCAR fans hated more than they hate almost everything else.
The winged car never caught on with the fans, and after watching car and car get airborne and end up on its rook, it seems doubtful that it was any safer than the old car. Maybe that is a bit harsh, but it seems the spoiler does a lot better job keeping the cars on the ground, and after some fans were injured by flying cars at Talladega last spring that is a very good thing.
As a die hard NASCAR fan myself, I hated that stupid wing. It reminded me of open wheel Indy car racing, and the TV numbers for that are about as low as they come. Why NASCAR felt the need to add a wing is far beyond me, but thank heaven it is gone.
The Fox broadcast of last week’s Darlington race drew in 7 million viewers, up 5% from the same race last year. It also happened to be the highest rated Saturday Night race on Fox since 2008. While the dominance of Johnson and his #48 certainly plays a role in diminished interest it looks like the spoiler is what NASCAR fans want to invest their time in watching.
