Waltrip: Stars are key for NASCAR

For too long, Fox's Darrell Waltrip says, NASCAR and its TV carriers stressed machine over man.

"Everything was about the car," he says. "We forget there's a driver in the car and got lost in the technology. That turned off a lot of people, and this year our emphasis is on drivers. We were struggling among the 18- to 34-year-old male casual fans -- that's who we're going after."

Fox, which wraps up its Sprint Cup coverage Sunday, has reversed years of sagging ratings to average 5.1% of U.S. households, up 4% from last year.

And Waltrip is right about the 18-34 crowd: Among them, ratings are up 27%.

Waltrip figures NASCAR this season adopting a more lenient eye toward driver aggression -- a sort of "boys have at 'em," he says -- has loosened up the action. "There's more aggression than I can ever remember, even when I drove. Like using the hook -- like Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick at Darlington -- that can put someone in the wall. In my day, hooking was considered unsportsmanlike and wouldn't have been tolerated. I'm just a little edgy where this whole situation ends up, but it's created excitement. But we're redefining aggressive driving, and I don't know where the limits are. We haven't reached them."

Waltrip also figures tinkering with the points scoring system has helped motivate race crews to take more risks. Although Waltrip says the sparse attendance at some tracks this season was "jaw-dropping," he also suggests the whole sport -- race teams, sponsors and fans -- has adjusted to the sluggish economy. "We've all had to make amends for what we've done in the past."

Source: http://network.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/waltrip_stars_are_key_for_nascar/4852327

Vittorio Brambilla Toni Branca Gianfranco Brancatelli Eric Brandon