I’ll admit, doom and gloom describes my takes , and i wish I was lying or had a bias.
The sport has become unwatchable. Unless you’re just in it for the cars or sheer power, and if that’s the case you’d probably be ok if these cars were automated driven or remote controlled. I suppose what kept my interest for 20 years prior was the idea of people , talent , etc. Dave connoly show up in a car Jenkins powered try to take down the Johnson’s, Anderson, Gaines, line, Morgan etc was always appealing. The names just didn’t end, alderman, Allen Johnson, the nba guys for a while nance and hammonds, pawuk. Now it’s guys with money, who look like they graduated high school in the last 5 years who have enough money to lease an engine from a program. Most finals have two guys with same engine building team. And I always thought two Castrol cars in the final sucked.
Look at the sides of the cars if you don’t believe me. Basically comp cars, small no name, local sponsors, or family name. Compared to the likes of McDonald’s (Yates) , ac Delhi, marines, Jäegermeister. Mcgahas mid, koretekys kid, troy coughlins kid, etc. pure nepotism anyway you slice it.
Clearly sponsors aren’t into it anymore either. And yes , less leakers on the track. They also shortened the track by 25 percent, pretty soon it will be a burn out and reaction time contest. But hey as long as they blip the throttle in pits.
And fuel cars are a joke to watch. Qualifying is not really qualifying if everyone gets a trophy and lines up on race day anyway. Used to be interesting to watch, no bump, no threat of not racing on Sunday. Capps and force have been around for 30 years no new blood, it’s good to buy new shoes and styles once in a while .
Yes when the beer and tobacco companies exited, that made it tough, but nascar seemed to do just fine. As a spectator, past 30’different oil and tool brands, what’s the appeal? Us army used to be a cool sponsor, Oakley used to be fine, mad tv, wwf, jerzzez car (vandergriff) , Yankees , McDonald’s, team, etc . Let’s face it, the sport has gone from prime time cable to local access channels at 5 am status