For the fourth time since assuming the role of NASCAR president in 2018, Steve Phelps took to the podium on Friday to deliver his annual "State of the Sport" address ahead of NASCAR's Championship Weekend. When compared to his initial address four years ago, the tone of Friday's press conference was starkly different.
When he took on an expanded role as one of NASCAR's top executives in 2018, stock car racing had been going through a prolong period of morose, with poor attendance and TV ratings highlighting the stagnation and descent of a once-hot spectator sport into dangerous irrelevance. Under the leadership of Phelps and others, that trend has begun to be reversed. Phelps sounded the trumpets of a successful 2021 season and a bright future.
"I remember using the phrase (in 2018) that our best days are ahead. I'm not sure everyone in this room or folks around the country, world, believed that to be true. I did," Phelps said. "I think the results that we have seen are more than encouraging. I'm very proud of them ... It really took an industry coming together in order to make that happen. It took race teams, our broadcast partners, our sponsors, tracks that we own or tracks that we don't own, that all came together to create an opportunity for our sport to grow, which is exactly what's happening."
In about an hour of time with the media, Phelps discussed a number of topics relevant to NASCAR's immediate present as well as its imminent future. Here are some of the notable discussion points that Phelps touched on.
Next Gen aerodynamic rules
Over the last three years, arguably the biggest philosophical battle in stock car racing has been between those who believe that high horsepower and low downforce produces the best racing and NASCAR's move towards running lower horsepower with high downforce on tracks a mile-and-a-half or more in length. Although fans and competitors alike have grumbled about this, NASCAR is set to proceed with similar aerodynamic and power rules for the Next Gen car. Recently, it was announced that the Next Gen car would use a 550 horsepower package with an eight-inch spoiler for intermediate-size tracks, while short tracks, road courses and smaller ovals would be run with 670 HP (down from 750) and a four-inch spoiler.
Justifying this course of action was Phelps' assertion that the current racing product in NASCAR passed both the optics and data test, and he acknowledged critics of the sanctioning body's direction as a "vocal minority" -- though he conceded NASCAR could not please everyone.
"I've said it before, and I know that it seems convenient, but we are not going to make every race fan happy," Phelps said. "I wish we could, I really do. But what one person likes, another person doesn't. So what we're trying to do is we're trying to look at the number of people who are saying, the maximum number of people who are saying, I really like that, give them more of what they're getting."
NASCAR's relationship with its drivers
Complaints about NASCAR's aerodynamic rules are part of the larger issue of exactly how much or how little NASCAR seeks out or consults its drivers on major competition and technical issues -- something that came to a head in the summer. After the announcement that Atlanta Motor Speedway would be reconfigured as well as repaved, drivers made it known that they felt they had not been consulted and did not have a say in the matter. Drivers were also uncertain about the safety of the Next Gen car after rumors began to spread concerning the results of a crash test at Talladega.
Since then, Phelps stated that NASCAR has repeatedly met with drivers to try and alleviate their concerns. While there were times where drivers and the sanctioning body "were not on the same page," Phelps now believes things are in a better place and can still be improved even without the presence of a driver's union or council.
"I speak with drivers myself if they have concerns. I want to address them. I know the entire NASCAR team feels the same way," Phelps said. "Do I think that the communication between our drivers and the sanctioning body can improve? Yeah, it can. It's going to.
"I think there's some different things that we've spoken to some veteran drivers about that will address some of those. May not be a driver council, per se, but we'll continue to have all-driver meetings, probably have some smaller meetings with a handful of drivers, then we'll have individual driver meetings."
New manufacturers
The introduction of the Next Gen car as well as other developments in NASCAR have sparked some hope that the sport will soon be able to welcome another original equipment manufacturer to join Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota. During Friday's press conference, a reporter specifically mentioned chatter about Dodge -- which has fielded cars intermittently throughout NASCAR's history -- returning to the sport for the first time since 2012.
Phelps reiterated NASCAR's desire to have another OEM join the sport, and mentioned the introduction of the Next Gen car as a prime enticement for the automotive industry at large.
"We are an attractive place, I believe, for OEMs to come into the sport. Now is an important opportunity for them to do that because of the Next Gen car," Phelps said. "I also believe the fact that the sport is growing and has a relevance that it hasn't had in decades is causing some real interest from other OEMs.
"Nothing to report at this particular point. It is important. I would suggest things are progressing or I would say that things are progressing. When we have something to announce, we will."
Driver etiquette
After last weekend's events at Martinsville Speedway, the topic of whether or not drivers had enough respect for one another or were policing their own behavior enough was a hot-button issue. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race devolved into a "Bump 'em-and-dump 'em" affair, highlighting a trend of over-aggressive driving in that series. The Cup race on Sunday brought up similar discussions as Denny Hamlin took exception to how he was raced for the win by Alex Bowman.
Although NASCAR has tried to stay out of policing drivers, the sanctioning body has taken recent action in a feud between Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick. Phelps said that NASCAR's stance is that they will not put up with anything that goes beyond the boundaries of "good, hard racing", but said the latter was something that was good for the sport.
"It's a great opportunity for the sport to have guys that are racing hard each and every single week," Phelps said. "If Denny disagrees that guys that are sailing it in there, are not being respectful of each other, it's not just good, hard passing, I would suggest that a portion of that certainly is in our DNA.
"Did anyone ever say to Dale Earnhardt that he's disrespectful when he's taking guys out, which he did a lot. That's good, hard racing. At least it was. Does it change over time? Maybe it does in kind of people's perception or drivers's perception of what is okay and not. I think the drivers have traditionally figured it out, I think they're going to continue to figure it out as well. But I think the drivers are going to continue to be up on the wheel, continue to race each other incredibly hard."
Next Gen rollout
In recent comments, Steve Phelps stated that the Next Gen car presents a "panacea" for all that still ails NASCAR. But just three months out from the car's debut in the new Clash at the Los Angeles Coliseum, there are still some issues present that complicate the car's rollout, including supply chain issues as well as hiccups in development.
In recent tests at Daytona and the Charlotte Roval, heat inside the racecars and steering box issues have been the two most-pressing concerns. Phelps stated that the supply chain is currently not an issue, and that solutions are in place for the development issues that the drivers are more satisfied with.
"Listen, until it comes out and we're actually at the L.A. Coliseum, we're at the (Daytona) 500 with race cars on the racetrack, I'll continue to be concerned. But I would say Steve O'Donnell, (John) Probst, Brandon Thomas, that group, working with our teams, working with our OEM partners, have done an incredible job getting us to this point.
"I'm super proud of the group. I think this is a really important milestone for NASCAR. We have to get it right."
Miscellaneous
- Phelps addressed certain issues pertaining to individual racetracks, including lackluster attendance for recent races at Texas Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway. While attendance issues at Kansas were attributed to a poor weather forecast, Phelps mentioned that the number of tickets sold for Texas was "unacceptable" and that NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports Inc. have put together a group to determine how to sell more tickets in the marketplace.
- Phelps was also uncertain whether or not the reconfiguration of Auto Club Speedway into a half-mile short track would be complete by 2023 due to pandemic disruptions and supply-chain issues among other challenges.
- Phelps declined to comment on the current or future status of NASCAR Cup Series Director Jay Fabian. Fabian was charged with felony animal cruelty in August after the alleged willful neglect of his dogs left one of them dead and two others badly deprived.
- Phelps believes that the current number of NASCAR members who have taken a COVID-19 vaccine is "not high enough", but mentioned that there has been a significant increase in vaccination rates in the garage area. Phelps was uncertain whether or not that rate would continue to climb.
- While Phoenix Raceway has hosted the season finale for two seasons and will do so again in 2022, Phelps left open the possibility of the final race of the season rotating to various racetracks. For most of NASCAR's modern era, the season finale has been held at either Homestead-Miami Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, or the now-defunct Riverside International Raceway.
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