Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / NASCAR "State of The Sport" | Are The Playoffs Too Gimmicky? Race Manipulation & More!

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NASCAR "State of The Sport" | Are The Playoffs Too Gimmicky? Race Manipulation & More! · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
Attendance, they will have a sell out here again.
0:03
I think if you look at attendance over the last three
0:06
years, we've made small gains, single digit gains.
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Would I like to have greater gains?
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Yeah, and we're going to endeavour to do that.
0:16
So if you think about 25, we have a race at Bowman Gray which
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will be a sell out. You have a race in Mexico City,
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which I believe will be a sell out and you have a race in
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Richmond on Saturday night in August that I also will believe
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believe will be a sellout to add to the double digit sellouts
0:34
that we had this year. Would we like to sell out every
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race? We would.
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Is that feasible for 25? Probably not, but we'll keep
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digging at it and we need to make sure we continue to invest
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in the fan experience and the capital acquired in order to to
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keep these facilities looking good.
0:55
Ratings. I'll spend a little time on
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ratings because it's super important.
0:59
I want to go back and have a little story time.
1:04
The beginning of this year to early February, we had an event,
1:09
the Clash at the Coliseum, and we were looking at a historic
1:15
atmospheric river event I believe is what they called it.
1:18
Lots of just a lot of rain. I guess we'll go with that.
1:21
And so we did something we had never done before.
1:24
We pulled a race up a day and we raced on Saturday night, got
1:29
crushed in the rating right So fans didn't know when it was how
1:34
we're going to get there. Saturday night's the lowest
1:36
rated day of the week, but it was the right thing to do.
1:41
It was a financial bath for us but it was the right thing to do
1:45
for the industry. Go 2 weeks down the road and we
1:50
had more rain and so we delayed the start of that race of full
1:55
day and we took a ratings bath. So we were down -27 Then we had
2:02
rain shortened race at the Coca-Cola 600, a rain
2:06
interrupted event at the Chicago Street race.
2:08
So three of your biggest races down double digits.
2:12
So mid teens for the 600 and for the Chicago Street race.
2:16
And then -27 if you would ask me at the beginning of the year, I
2:21
will bet you that you can dig out of a 2027 percent hole at
2:27
the 500 and then 2 double digit ratings declined on your next
2:32
two highest rated races or two of the three highest rated
2:35
races. I would have said there is no
2:38
way that's going to happen. As we sit here for our Cup
2:41
races, we are in the positive numbers.
2:44
And what does that say? To me?
2:45
It says the sport is resilient and the sport is growing.
2:51
So let me pivot real quickly to our productions facility that we
2:55
built this year opened in January. 2 things that that
2:59
facility does, It does live event broadcasts and it does
3:04
content creation. And what we've done so far in
3:08
that building is nothing short of extraordinary.
3:12
I'm super excited about the content that we're creating
3:15
content through different channels of distribution like
3:21
Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube TV or YouTube through Macs and
3:30
Tru TV and other outlets either owned or not owned.
3:34
The those those outlets are you must meet our fans where they
3:40
are or potential fans where they are are those outlets do exactly
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that. And we need to make sure that we
3:47
are delivering better and more content through those channels
3:50
of distribution and then we're going to do that.
3:53
The other component to that is data in the amount of money,
3:55
millions and millions of dollars that we've invested in data in
3:58
our data garage. Once you know who those people
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are, you can market to them, you can deliver great content to
4:06
them and that's exactly what we are doing it Just a quick shout
4:11
out. I know this is going to sound
4:12
like a bit of a non sequitur, but I did want to make sure that
4:15
I said something about Martin Truex and his retirement from
4:20
full time racing. Martin has been a a class act.
4:24
He is a clean race car driver, never dirty and he's got a great
4:30
fan base and we will miss him. We are hopeful that he'll come
4:33
back and do one off races or participate in other ways in the
4:36
sport. And then likewise, likewise,
4:40
Tony Stewart's selling his charters.
4:42
And so Tony is going to concentrate with Leah on their
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family and on drag racing. So we wish Tony well.
4:50
Tony is always welcome at our race tracks as well.
4:54
All right, now a bit of a pivot to charters.
5:00
Probably a lot of frustration in the room that NASCAR over the
5:04
last 2 1/2 years has not talked about charters publicly or with
5:09
with the media. We've done that purposefully.
5:12
We don't believe the media is a place to have discussions about
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our negotiation with our race teams in our charter extensions.
5:20
That was by design and I know people are frustrated about
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that. We are not going to negotiate in
5:27
the media about charters ever. And we are very happy that 32 of
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our 36 charters were extended and we are excited about that
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because those race teams were the deal that was put on the
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table for them, which primarily the the big win for the race
5:53
teams was money. And I won't go into what that
5:56
money split looks like. But what I will say is that
6:00
amount of money, it now puts the race team starting in 25 as the
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single largest beneficiary of our media deal.
6:09
And we did that because the race teams were upside down
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financially. So two ways to get out of that
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right, You give them more money, right or help them earn more
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money through sponsorship. So we did the have done the
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former, we're going to do the latter to help our race teams
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and then trying to cut costs and that provides for healthy race
6:29
teams and that's our expectation is moving forward.
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The race teams are going to be financially healthy and why
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should fans care about that? Fans should care that care about
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that because healthy race teams provides better racing full
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stop. So we're excited about what that
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looks like. One last thing as it relates to
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charters. We are not going to answer any
6:52
questions today about charters. So that was a statement about
6:55
charters, but we are not going to talk about charters or answer
6:59
any questions. We are an active litigation and
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we that matter is closed, at least for this.
7:08
At this point, I'm looking forward to 25 and I'll be very
7:12
brief so I can get Steve can actually say something and then
7:16
get to your questions, 'cause this is not meant to be a
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filibuster. 25 is an important year for us.
7:23
So we've got 2 media partners who are tremendous that are
7:26
coming back in FOX and NBC. And then we're going to welcome
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The CW for the Xfinity race, Xfinity races and then Amazon
7:36
Prime and Warner Brothers Describery or Turner Sports.
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We are thrilled for that. And So what can you expect?
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You can expect great racing in 25 because arguably we've had
7:46
the best racing we've ever had. And Steve, we'll get to that.
7:51
And the other thing you can expect is tremendous promotional
7:54
support for NASCAR on a level that we've never seen before.
7:59
So let's just take the beginning of the season.
8:01
So you've got Fox NFC Championship Game promoting
8:05
NASCAR, You have the Clash and Fox, obviously the promotion of
8:11
that, and then the Daytona 500 promotion that comes with it.
8:14
Then Fox has the Super Bowl and they're going to promote the
8:17
Daytona 500. And then you have The CW that
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we're promoting the Xfinity races.
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You have The CW that I'm sorry. Then you have Nextar, which owns
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The CW and their 201 affiliates that will also be supporting the
8:32
start of this season. You've got Amazon Prime that the
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next week after the 500 is going to start practicing qualifying
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on on their outlet. So they're going to be promoting
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the season. And then you've got Warner
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Brothers Discovery with this subscription product on Max,
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which is the in car cameras and marrying that with the audio,
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and they too are going to support it.
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So our 5 media partners alone, four of them starting in
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February or or late January are going to promote the Daytona
9:06
500. And that's going to be an
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important thing for us as people migrate to those platforms.
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So I will turn it over to Steve for his comments.
9:20
All right, thanks Steve. Just a couple things on my end.
9:23
I think Steve covered covered most things.
9:26
But as we talk about, you know, the competition area, I want to
9:30
recognize, you know, our, our team and our folks, but but just
9:33
give you a couple stats to think about in terms of the next Gen.
9:37
car and, and where we are today. Probably need to come up with a
9:40
new name 'cause it's not Next Gen. anymore, but two teams that
9:45
are now have or will compete for the championship did not exist
9:50
before the Next Gen. car. And so when you look at the
9:53
history of the sport, how long it took teams to come up through
9:57
the ranks, build a championship caliber team, have a
9:59
championship driver, it's been a game changer in terms of who can
10:03
come into the sport, who can compete at a high level and who
10:07
has access to different parts and pieces.
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So we are, we continue to look at that as a huge positive for
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the sport. Again, we had 18 different
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winners, ten different organizations, all three OEMs
10:19
not only winning but here competing for a championship.
10:22
Another testament to what you're seeing in the sport just this
10:26
year. Three of the top three of the
10:30
seven closest finishes in, in our history since 1993 with with
10:34
the scoring data in one year. So, you know, unbelievable
10:38
performances on the racetrack, really dedicated to the teams
10:41
and the driver stepping up, working closely with our folks
10:44
at the R&D center. And when you talk about the, the
10:47
team that we have with John Probst, Elton Sawyer, Scott
10:51
Miller, Brandon Thomas, a lot of work behind the scenes that
10:55
continues to go into this car. We see fan comments.
10:59
We we know when there's challenges around short tracks
11:01
or what can we do and how do we make improvements upon the
11:04
product. And you look at the race at
11:07
Martinsville and, and we'll address, you know, things that
11:09
happened, But when you look at the quality of that race, what
11:13
Goodyear delivered from the tire, how that's working
11:16
together with a car, it's going to be tough to challenge really
11:19
the performance for that car with a diversity of tracks we
11:23
have throughout the schedule that allows us to have the best
11:26
drivers in the world competing on a variety of different race
11:29
tracks. And it it really opens up an
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unbelievable market for us to continue to look at new tracks
11:35
wherever they may be or whatever they may be, may be made-up of.
11:38
So, you know, our group, I also want to recognize, you know, has
11:42
had to navigate Steve reference weather and some other things we
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have, we've had to navigate some tough challenges throughout the
11:47
year. But I will say about our group,
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especially those officiating each and every weekend, there is
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no harder sport to officiate. We don't have timeouts.
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We don't we don't wait during the action cars going 200 miles
12:01
an hour. You got to make split second
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decisions. We don't always get those right,
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but for the most part we do. And what I'm most proud of is we
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come, we speak to the media, we're transparent on every
12:12
single call that we make. And when there's a challenge or
12:15
when we can learn from something, we're going to do
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that and we're going to make adjustments like we always have.
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And I can tell you, I've been here almost 30 years, and every
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race you probably see something different.
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And then it's our job to react to that and come up with a new
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rule or come up with a new policy that we've got to go
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after it. So Steve mentioned, you know,
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just a thank you to the tracks. I've had a lot of time this year
12:35
to spend more time with our our different groups, the tracks,
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especially the investment they've made around the fan
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experience has been terrific. A lot of new fans coming to the
12:44
track trying to navigate for the first time what it means to be a
12:48
NASCAR fan in the work that Michael Velotti and his team
12:51
have done about around the event experience has been tremendous.
12:55
And then the work that both Brian Herbson and Tim Clark
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continue to do, Steve talked about, right, new media,
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partners, content, digital, huge asset for us.
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We want to be forward thinking and we are in terms of what
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we're bringing to our fan base. So if you're looking for content
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in a sport that's really going to over deliver for our fans,
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look no further than NASCAR because we've got a really
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talented team that's with the best in the industry and will
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continue to innovate like we will this weekend as well.
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So proud of the group. I'll also give one shout out.
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Steve and I talked about Wayne Auten, who I think everybody
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loves in the sport, right? It's hard to do to be loved by
13:30
everyone in the sport, but I think Wayne actually is, which
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is unbelievable. He'll be retiring and he's done
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a heck of a job and just a great, great all around guy as
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well. So with that, I'm going to turn
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it over to Eric to open it up. OK, So we'll start to take your
13:45
questions. Just give us a minute to get a
13:46
microphone to you. And remember, we're going to try
13:48
to limit it to just one question so we can get to everybody.
13:51
Make sure you say your name and your outlet to start.
13:54
All right, we'll go with Jeff Gluck.
13:59
Hi for Steve Phelps. You open by talking about the
14:03
deserving drivers who made the championship for this year, but,
14:07
you know, citing that they played to the system and did
14:09
what they had to do under the system.
14:10
In terms of the system itself though, none of the Championship
14:14
4 drivers are leading in any of the major statistical category.
14:17
So just for the system itself not deserving to be there, why
14:21
is it still the best way for NASCAR to decide as champion?
14:24
So I think listen Jeff, the format is the format, right?
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And we are always looking if there are opportunities for us
14:31
to tweak something, so be it. I mean, we're not the only sport
14:35
where the best statistical team does not get to the, the Final
14:40
four or the Super Bowl or the World Series.
14:44
So the, the format, there was a huge emphasis put 10 years ago
14:50
when the format was put into place about winning, right.
14:54
The three of the four on Sunday, they won to get through.
14:57
And I, I just, I, I go back to the format itself, I think
15:04
creates incredible racing. So if we are all going to be
15:07
honest and say, hey, how's the racing been during the playoffs
15:10
in these nine weeks? I don't think it's been ever
15:13
better. And I think part of that is due
15:16
to the system itself. They raced their guts out.
15:19
They did Tyler Reddick two weeks ago, Ryan Blaney last week,
15:23
Chase Elliott trying to get in, Larson trying to get in, racing
15:26
their guts out. And I think it provides great,
15:31
great racing for our race fans. And Steve, it's fair to say
15:35
we've talked about this too. So the format is one thing,
15:38
right? But play offs, I think we're,
15:40
we're not going to go away from play offs.
15:42
So we, we read fans and everything.
15:44
So we, we will, as we always do, right?
15:47
And Steve's, Steve's LED us to this.
15:49
We'll absolutely look at, you know, what form the play offs
15:52
take in the offseason. You always learn, like I said
15:55
before, but play offs in and of itself, as Steve said, you
15:59
cannot argue with the quality of racing that the play offs have
16:03
delivered. You can talk about the format if
16:04
we do some different things, but absolutely we're going to stick
16:07
with it. All right, we'll go Dustin, and
16:10
then Bob and then Jordan. Dustin Long, NBC Sports.
16:17
What was the message delivered to the OEMs this week about race
16:21
interference after last week? And how much weight is really
16:25
behind your words when Elton Sawyer said this week that there
16:28
was no mechanism in the rule book to penalize them.
16:31
So if you can say something, how much weight, what did you say
16:35
and how much weight is is behind your actual words to the OEMs?
16:39
So, so let's go back to what what just happened in
16:43
Martinsville. I would argue before what we saw
16:47
one of the best races again I've seen in the playoffs.
16:50
And it's unbelievable that we're sitting here talking about this
16:53
topic, right? And, and I'll probably get in
16:55
trouble for saying this, but I'll say it anyway.
16:57
I've been around a long time. But you know, Bill France used
17:00
to say being pissed off is not a plan.
17:03
What I saw in Martinsville pissed me off and it pissed
17:07
everyone off at NASCAR because we all know better and we know
17:11
what happened. So we do have rules in the rule
17:14
book where we can address it. And, and we did.
17:16
We had a call with our OEMs where we were very clear in what
17:20
our intentions are going forward.
17:22
It is true, Dustin, do we have a, a rule right now where we
17:25
could do something we don't. Well, we have a rule next year
17:28
1000% and they're aware of that and they're aware if anything
17:32
happens this weekend, which it won't, but we will react.
17:35
And then we have a meeting with our drivers on Saturday.
17:38
The reason we chose not to penalize the drivers, I'll just
17:41
address that now because we we've seen that a lot as well.
17:44
We made the decision that the drivers are holding the wheel,
17:47
but the drivers were told essentially what to do.
17:50
We gave them the benefit of the doubt.
17:52
Saturday's message from Elton and and John to the drivers will
17:56
be that that's your warning. We know what happened and going
18:01
forward, we'll have to penalize you as well.
18:03
But what do our words mean? We're not going to let people,
18:08
drivers, teams, anyone OEMs challenge the integrity of the
18:12
sport, OK. Bob Pockrus, Fox Sports.
18:18
I'll just check, does the not talking about charters include
18:22
the Stewart Haas charters that could potentially could be
18:24
transferred and any plan for those?
18:31
I, I don't, I don't know what's going to happen to the Stewart
18:33
Haas charters, Bob. So I mean speculating.
18:37
Well, I mean, it's in the law want to do that, that they're
18:40
that they're going to purchase them.
18:43
I have no idea what's happening there.
18:45
So do we know about, you know, Justin Marks, he has signaled
18:48
that he is going to purchase one of those.
18:50
The answer is yes. Nothing else has been done.
18:53
So everything else is going to be hearsay.
18:55
So I have no, I have no comment on it.
18:59
Go to Jordan. Jordan Bianchi, The Athletic
19:06
This is probably a question for OD.
19:09
You talked about officiating, officiating said several
19:11
controversial moments this year. It seems to kind of following a
19:13
pattern the last few years. Is there anything that you'll be
19:16
doing over the offseason to maybe look at revamping the
19:19
officiating process to try to get this more, be more
19:21
streamlined so you have less of these moments?
19:25
Can you name 1 sport that doesn't have officiating
19:27
questions throughout the year, Right?
19:29
So, so absolutely, we, every year we, we address those.
19:33
And I think a lot of it is around technology, right?
19:36
And a lot of it's around formats that you look at and different
19:39
things that come into play now. So, you know, one of the biggest
19:43
ones that that we saw, you know, consistently right was a damaged
19:46
vehicle policy. You know, through really no
19:50
fault of trying to in essence save the industry money, We
19:54
created a challenge in terms of of how we officiate.
19:58
And so that's something we want to continue to investigate.
20:00
And I think one of the biggest things you want to do is how do
20:04
we continue to use technology in real time to notice what may or
20:08
may not be occurring on the track, address that as soon as.
20:11
As as possible, but I don't believe we have an an
20:15
officiating issue at all. I think we have the best and the
20:18
brightest in the business. Yes, we make mistakes.
20:21
They're they're humans. Hopefully we'll never get to
20:23
just AI making calls, but we will make adjustments.
20:27
And I think if if me or John or Elton or Steve are not up
20:31
talking before the Daytona 500 about adjustments that we've
20:35
made, then we haven't done our job because that's what we
20:37
always do in the offseason. All right.
20:39
We'll go to Zach Albert next, then Jerry Jordan and then
20:42
Jenna. Thanks, zachalbertnascar.com.
20:46
And this is for either of you. I knew NASCAR is taking the Cup
20:49
Series to Mexico for the first time next year.
20:53
Are there plans to sustain that beyond next year and potentially
20:57
expand the series international footprint, say Canada, maybe
21:01
elsewhere? I'll take it.
21:05
So the we're excited to go to Mexico to to Mexico City.
21:10
As I said, think we're having a packed house.
21:14
We're going to see some great racing.
21:17
Our intention is to stay there past next year.
21:21
You know, we kind of typically look at a three-year deal and
21:24
see how that works and if it's continuing to work.
21:26
We go to year 4 or 5 or 6 or whatever that might be.
21:30
Have we had discussions with folks in Canada?
21:32
We have, would I like to see us go to Canada?
21:35
I would. I think schedule variation works
21:40
and it's proven that it works. It works from an attendance
21:44
standpoint, it works from a rating standpoint, and not
21:49
insignificantly, it works from, you know, kind of a brand
21:53
standpoint, what it means to be bold and innovative and do
21:57
things differently and change things up that drive success.
22:01
And I think that's what we've tried to do as a sport is do
22:04
those things and not just schedule innovation, but other
22:06
things as well. So I anticipate further
22:10
expansion. Jerry Jordan kicking
22:17
thetires.net for OD. It's kind of been lost I guess
22:20
this year that at Chicago we debuted, you guys debuted the EV
22:24
car that platform and works for several years.
22:27
You said it was adaptive. What has been the progress since
22:31
then on making, you know, going to a hydrogen format?
22:34
Do you have any, anything planned for that for this year,
22:36
offseason and next year? Yeah, good, good question.
22:39
I think around EV, it was a great debut with our friends at
22:44
ABB as well. Brandon Thomas has, has LED that
22:47
project for us and it's, it's a bit of a challenge for us,
22:51
right, Because you see it in the, in the automotive industry
22:53
right now navigating, you know, hybrid electric, hydrogen, you
22:57
know, VA, it's what, what is it going to be?
22:59
And, and a lot of folks have the luxury of, of playing in all of
23:03
those spaces. You know, for us, we've
23:04
sometimes got to pick and choose, but I think what I'm
23:07
most proud of and we're all proud of with our R&D and, and
23:10
group is that they've been able to showcase new technologies.
23:14
It may not necessarily race it in a series, but showcase what
23:17
we can do. And if we ultimately went out
23:19
and created a series, we're more than capable of doing that.
23:22
So what you saw with the electric car, it's here, I
23:25
believe it's here this weekend, same thing, showcasing it to
23:28
fans that we have the ability to do this.
23:30
And then when you pivot to a hybrid, which could potentially
23:33
be in play or even hydrogen, a group of us went over to Japan
23:37
last year, looked at a hydrogen race car.
23:40
So a lot that goes into that. But the good news is there's a
23:44
lot of talented engineers at the R&D center that can work with
23:47
the industry to start developing that concept if need be.
23:50
So a lot of words to say that all, all of those are in play
23:54
for us. And I think as you look at our
23:56
R&D center in the future, you know, the goal will be here's
23:59
what we race, but here's what we're capable of in the future
24:02
to kind of tease and showcase the fans and and maybe develop
24:04
those into racing series in the future.
24:08
All right. We'll take Jenna's question next
24:10
and then Chris. Hi, Jenna Fryer with The
24:12
Associated Press. You said what you saw at
24:16
Martinsville pissed you off. How is that any different than
24:21
than Kozlowski not being pushed to the wind at Talladega because
24:25
it was a different manufacturer than the way that the
24:28
manufacturers work together at Talladega and Daytona.
24:32
And I, you know, I, I guess 15 years ago we were at boys have
24:37
at it. And that seems to now not exist
24:41
anymore in in the way that officiating is.
24:45
What is the standard going forward and and and do does the
24:50
eye test from Martinsville apply to Talladega and Daytona?
24:54
So the era of boys have at it no longer exists.
24:58
I would say we have the greatest racing we've ever had in our
25:01
history. So what what we are looking at
25:05
is there are different variations, right.
25:07
I think we all are smart enough to see what may happen from an
25:12
OEM at Talladega with teams drafting together versus what
25:16
occurred at Martinsville. Are there some things we need to
25:18
look at in terms of how things are communicated, what can be
25:23
communicated between team alliances or OEMs in general
25:26
during race? Absolutely.
25:28
We'll we'll continue to address those.
25:31
I don't think anyone has any doubt I would.
25:34
I would look at what Ricky Craven said, what Mark Martin
25:37
said, guys who've been in this industry a long, long time,
25:40
raced during boys have at it unequivocally said what they saw
25:44
at Martinsville and everybody understands what happened.
25:48
And we made that call. Was it perfect in terms of all
25:51
the data? No, right.
25:52
We we, but we will put things in place to make those calls going
25:56
forward. And I guess, you know, the thing
25:58
I would say is we're not going to allow the integrity of the
26:01
sport to be called into question.
26:02
And it's it sounds, you know, like a a bit of a a push, but
26:08
you always see something new. And and I would agree, Talladega
26:11
is one thing. I think everyone OK, you know,
26:13
this is kind of how the sport works.
26:15
Martinsville, no way. That was very different.
26:17
So to your point, how do we officiate?
26:20
So it's consistent through those two tracks.
26:22
Maybe we can't, but we will make that call again if we ever saw
26:26
that happen. And after Chris, we'll come to
26:29
Lee. Chrisnightcatchments.com I was
26:33
just wondering if you could please give an update on whether
26:35
Xfinity will return as part of the title sponsor of the Xfinity
26:38
Series in 2025? South, the answer to that is
26:42
yes, we are working through some, some final things with
26:48
Xfinity or Comcast about their premier partnership and what our
26:52
overall relationship looks like. So nothing, nothing to announce
26:57
today other than apparently I've just announced that they're
26:59
coming back next year. So if I was not supposed to say
27:05
that I I'll take I'll retract that they they will be back next
27:09
year. Lee, Spencer Sears, XM NASCAR
27:15
Radio and catchments.com Steve, do you anticipate that we'll see
27:19
more intermediate tracks on the schedule in 2026?
27:23
And particularly, could we go back to homesteads, the season
27:26
finale? Well, let's see.
27:32
Let me answer the second part first.
27:33
So the championship, which is which is a hot topic, but as as
27:37
we talk about it, it's very difficult to replicate what we
27:42
see this weekend, the atmosphere, what goes into it,
27:45
the crowd that shows up consistently.
27:48
So as we look and consider other venues, all of that has to come
27:52
into play. So Miami certainly been one that
27:55
that we've looked at. I would say that in March when
27:58
we go back, you know, how do we do it from an attendance
28:00
standpoint? That's going to be really big
28:02
for us to see. Can we gain some momentum?
28:04
We already know the racing's terrific, right?
28:06
So we're going to deliver on that, but we've got a job to do
28:09
collectively as a sport to to drive attendance.
28:11
And then you look at a number of other venues that are out there,
28:14
you know, Darlington, Charlotte, you name it, Vegas, There's a
28:19
lot of considerations for us. I think the goal for us, Lee,
28:23
would be to get well ahead in the future on the schedule.
28:26
So that we're talking about not necessarily the whole schedule,
28:29
but Championship 2032 will be here 2031 and we can back that
28:34
up. A lot of work to do this coming
28:36
year, but I think Ben and his team are really looking to
28:39
really advance that forward. So long winded explanation on
28:42
intermediates. I would say you'll have more of
28:44
the same balance. I think we really like the
28:46
balance we have right now. You could see maybe a tweak here
28:50
or there, but for the most part, it's a good balance of all
28:53
different types of race tracks. All right, we'll go to Deb.
29:00
Deb Williams out a week, this is Steve.
29:02
This is for you. In regards to the short track
29:05
racing we've had you tried a lot or OK, we've tried a lot of
29:13
different things to improve the short track racing and it seemed
29:16
like at Martinsville with the softer tire, maybe you really
29:20
hit the nail on the head finally.
29:23
Do you see that going forward as what you'll focus on rather than
29:26
trying different aerodynamic situations or and possibly Rd.
29:31
courses as well? Yeah, What we saw at
29:34
Martinsville was a result of a ton of hard work from Goodyear
29:38
and like NASCAR, right, with aero packages, we don't always
29:41
get it right, but it's not from a lack of putting a ton of
29:44
effort and study into it. And Goodyear's efforts
29:47
throughout this year, be it a rain tire, softer compound, I
29:51
think Martinsville nailed it. And so yes, we'll build upon
29:54
that for future and as we look at kind of the road course and
29:57
how that played out with short tracks and lean pretty heavily
30:02
on Goodyear in the future. But they've proven to us that
30:05
they can deliver. I think the challenge is, you
30:07
know, potentially always going softer.
30:09
You know, we always hear from the industry that, you know,
30:12
softer, softer, softer. But yet if there's a tire
30:15
problem, they're the 1st to get blamed.
30:17
And, and that's unfair because they're trying to put out a
30:20
great product on the street and an even better product in terms
30:23
of racing. So they both, they both go hand
30:25
in hand. So our job's to push them.
30:29
They continue to deliver. But I think that's what you'll
30:30
see is, is more, more from Goodyear.
30:32
Thank you. All right.
30:35
Any other questions? OK, got Greg over here.
30:39
Hey guys. We, we ask this every year, but
30:42
is there been any change to the look for a, a new OEM to come
30:46
in? I mean, it's something we've
30:48
we've needed and we ask this every year and, and I'm hoping
30:51
that we get a little bit of a door opening this year in that.
30:57
Yes, I'll, I'll expand on that. Yeah, we've had some, we've had
31:03
a number of discussions. So what I would say is that
31:05
we're in different phases depending on the OE.
31:09
So right now we're in discussion with several O ES about coming
31:12
in. I won't get into exactly where
31:17
those are and who they are, but we have an OE that is, is, is
31:22
close and it's, you know, they OE has buy off from those that,
31:27
that are in the racing portion of that.
31:31
And so it really just comes down to the business portion and can
31:35
we strike a deal that is advantageous for them and for
31:38
us. Are we the right fit for their
31:40
brand? Are we not?
31:43
But I'm, I'm cautiously optimistic and then we need to
31:47
accelerate the other discussions we had because I think in our
31:51
opinion, you know, 5 is probably the right number of O ES.
31:55
Obviously we're at three right now.
31:59
Would the front runner, if you will, you know, we are a couple
32:04
years away. That takes a while obviously to
32:06
get up and running. But we're, we're excited about
32:10
it because we would like to have another OE or two and so do our
32:15
existing 3 OS OS. They want to have additional
32:19
competition from additional OS from for a number of reasons.
32:24
OK. We'll go to read and then we'll
32:25
wrap up with Jordan Bianchi, Reed Smith with the NASCAR wire.
32:36
To follow up on the short track tire a little bit, was the fall
32:40
off that you saw at Martinsville soon enough and extreme enough
32:44
or would you like to see more of that?
32:49
I think you'd always like to see more, but there's a balance
32:52
here, right? So I think that's part of what
32:54
the group's going to study. You know, during the offseason,
32:56
what did we see? How quickly did it fall off?
32:58
Because the opposite, right, Maybe a Bristol situation and
33:02
and you don't want that either. So, so somewhere in the middle
33:05
there. The ultimate goal is that if you
33:08
go out on a brand new set of tires and you just go after it,
33:12
somebody better be catching you or you better pay for that,
33:15
right. I think that's what all the
33:16
competitors want in some capacity, even even when you
33:18
have the the best car out there. So we'll continue to strive for
33:21
that. A lot of testing will continue
33:23
with Goodyear, but I'd say directionally absolutely in in
33:27
the right place. But maybe if we could tweak it a
33:28
little more, we would. Jordan Bianchi, Jordan Bianchi,
33:35
The Athletic For Steve Phelps, I know you said no charter
33:38
discussion, but during the conversation here today, the
33:41
ruling came in and the teams were denied their preliminary
33:45
injunction. Wondering if you can comment on
33:47
that. I have no comment on that,
33:48
Jordan. OK.
33:51
Well, thank you everybody. Steve, any final remarks before
33:55
we cut out? Yes, we other than you can't
33:57
make it up with timing, right? Yeah.
34:01
All right, so again, good luck to all the competitors this
34:04
weekend. We have a race that's about to
34:06
start. I'm really excited about it.
34:09
I think it's a great cap to the season.
34:10
I think we're going to have on the National Series 3 great
34:14
champions. I do think it's important for
34:20
everyone to understand, charters notwithstanding, in what's going
34:24
on there. Our relationship with the race
34:26
teams is really important and our race teams working with
34:30
NASCAR is really important to the success of this sport, as is
34:35
our relationship with Speedway Motorsports in the independent
34:38
tracks, as is our relationships with our broadcast, our
34:43
broadcast partners and our sponsors.
34:46
It's what makes this entire thing go.
34:49
And I would suggest over the last 56810 years that we have
34:55
not optimized the opportunity in front of us.
34:59
If we do that where we have alignment and everyone
35:02
understands the vision, the strategy about how we're going
35:05
to move this sport forward, then I am positive we are going to
35:09
have success. And if we don't, it's up in the
35:14
air. But I'm confident that we can
35:16
get this group, this stakeholder group to come together because
35:20
everyone is going to benefit, including the race fan.
35:24
And I'm really excited about that and kind of to that we are
35:29
going to continue to be bold and innovative in everything that we
35:32
do, not just the race schedule, but everything we do to drive
35:37
this sport forward. It's the only way you will grow
35:41
is to be bold and innovative, the decisions that are made and
35:44
we're going to do that. And so I've said this at every
35:47
single one of these states of the sport.
35:50
This is my 7th year saying this and I will say it this year,
35:54
next year and the following years which is the best days at
35:58
NASCAR are not behind us, they are ahead of us and I believe
36:02
that to be true. Thank you for your time.