{"id":40953,"date":"2022-11-04T16:16:49","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T21:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=40953"},"modified":"2022-11-04T21:25:49","modified_gmt":"2022-11-05T02:25:49","slug":"nascar-leadership-optimistic-about-the-future-of-the-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/04\/nascar-leadership-optimistic-about-the-future-of-the-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR leadership optimistic about the future of the sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

PHOENIX, Ariz. – In a wide-ranging hour-long question and answer session Friday morning at Phoenix Raceway, NASCAR President Steve Phelps and Chief Operating Officer Steve O\u2019Donnell addressed the media, delivering an upbeat update on the state of the sport and addressing issues from scheduling, leadership, diversity and the status of the Next Gen car heading into the 2023 season, which marks the sport\u2019s 75th anniversary.<\/p>\n

\"\"

NASCAR President Steve Phelps (L) and NASCAR Executive Vice President Steve O’Donnell speak to the media during the NASCAR annual State of the Sport address at Phoenix Raceway on November 04, 2022 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The leadership team was optimistic about opportunities next season \u2013 from NASCAR\u2019s first-ever street race in Chicago to the uptick in attendance numbers and the announcement \u2013 only an hour before their press conference \u2013 that seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson had bought ownership stake in Petty GMS and would compete himself in a handful of NASCAR Cup Series races starting with the 2023 season-opening DAYTONA 500.<\/p>\n

Phelps and O\u2019Donnell openly addressed questions about safety, the way NASCAR polices on-track behavior, the charter system, the television contract and the youth movement the sport is enjoying right now. And Phelps reminded with a smile, there have been 19 different winners in 2022; nearly half the starting field has won a race.<\/p>\n

Several tracks boasted sellouts this season and that\u2019s certainly the case for this Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

No subject was off the table in what felt like a resoundingly positive view of where the sport has come since the 2020 COVID-19 days and where it is headed \u2013 including modifications to the race cars to improve driver safety and a renewed emphasis on good communication between NASCAR and the drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the communication between the sanctioning body and the drivers over this past five or six weeks has completely shifted the narrative on how the drivers are feeling about the area of safety or \u2018race ability,\u2019 whatever it is the concerns are, the conversations we’re having with the drivers, you can tell there’s a difference, right, in how the drivers are speaking even to all of you,\u201d Phelps said.<\/p>\n

As for the car itself, O\u2019Donnell said, \u201cI think one of the myths that was out there was around all the testing and what went into the Next Gen car. If you take a step back, there was more testing done for this car than at any time in our history, on track, simulation, you name it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you fast forward for this year, as with anything that is new, you’re going to learn, collect data, which we’ve done,” O\u2019Donnell continued. \u201cAdjustments have been made to the rear clip that’s already gone out to the race teams for next year.<\/p>\n

And, he added, \u201cIt’s not just the car. I think the dialogue we’ve had with the teams now involves how are you fitting in your seat, helmets, foam head surround. All those things are part of this dialogue, which is really, really good. We’re seeing some improvements on a daily basis as we look towards 2023.”<\/p>\n

As for off-track, Phelps reported incredible strength in both attendance and media numbers. Television viewership figures, he said, were some of the best in years as well as social media interaction.<\/p>\n

He reported that there has been a lot of interest in bringing the NASCAR product to a foreign venue and while that\u2019s not in the cards for 2023, he did not rule it out for the future. And he promised, the 2024 schedule will have a new look from the 2023 version.<\/p>\n

And as far as advancements in diversity and youth; Phelps pointed to Mexican driver Daniel Suarez\u2019s maiden NASCAR Cup victory this season and that the last two NASCAR Cup Series champions were 24 (Elliott) and 29 years old (Larson) at the time they hoisted their trophies \u2013 both important boosts for a younger and more diverse NASCAR audience.<\/p>\n

Overall, the sport\u2019s leadership recognized the challenges and advances of the season with a strong confidence in what the future holds; acknowledging both strengths and aspirations \u2013 the willingness to change and improve when necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are going to have an historic weekend,” Phelps said in conclusion. \u201cReally excited to see the racing this evening, tomorrow and Sunday. The grandstands are going to be packed. \u2026 There’s going to be an energy there that we haven’t seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service PHOENIX, Ariz. – In a wide-ranging hour-long question and answer session Friday morning at Phoenix Raceway, NASCAR President Steve Phelps and Chief Operating Officer Steve O\u2019Donnell addressed the media, delivering an upbeat update on the state of the sport and addressing issues from scheduling, leadership, diversity and the status […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":40955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-40953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1438997139-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1718&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-aEx","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40958,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40953\/revisions\/40958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}