HOMESTEAD, Fla. – NASCAR president Steve Phelps delivered a “State of the Sport” address Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Phelps touched on a variety of topics during the session before the 2018 season comes to a close at the conclusion of Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400:
On the impact of the 2019 Cup Series rules package…
Phelps: You know, I think the rule package was put in place because we want to have the most competitive racing we can. We believe the 2019 rules package is just exactly that. What effect it has on ratings or what effects it has on other things that are outside of our control, I can’t say. I can say that we do believe that this racing, which today arguably is the best we’ve ever had, is going to get better. We have a promise to our fans, and that promise is about close, competitive, side by side racing, and we believe that this 2019 rules package will give us exactly that.
Potential changes to streamline and expedite the inspection process…
Phelps: I think, listen, we’re going to look at the inspection process. Will there be changes to it? There might be. That will be up to Steve and his team to figure out the best way to do that and figure out what is going to be in the best interest of the sport. You know, and we’ll look at that. Obviously, we’ll have discussions with our race teams and make sure that folks are comfortable in the direction that we’re going in, but at the end of the day, we will make that decision.
Encouraging new team ownership…
Phelps: Yeah, I think it comes back to looking at what making sure that owning a race team is something that’s just not a hobby. You know, it is a business. You need to have people who love it, so Roger Penske loves racing, and we need to make sure that we find that next Roger Penske, we find that next Jack Roush, we find that next Rick Hendrick. If they’re not going to have folks in their family that will carry on that tradition, we need to go outside. I do believe that making sure that teams are healthy will help us in all three series. So, we have made some changes from a structural standpoint, a cost standpoint in the Truck Series that has made that series more viable. You take a look at the NT1 engine, and it makes it more viable to own a race team. Do we see that as a positive step in the health of that series? We do. We’ll see some of the same things in Xfinity, and then I believe ultimately, we’ll see the same thing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
On shortening the season or changing the schedule…
Phelps: In short answer, I think everything is in play. So, we’ve heard from our fan base that they would like to see more short track racing. They want to see more road courses. They want to see less cookie cutter tracks, whatever that means. I think that we are looking with our broadcast partners and with our tracks and with our teams and drivers to get input on what each of them believes would be an ideal schedule, and then we’re obviously doing fan research as part of it. So, do I believe that everything is on the table? I do. Will we see a lot of the things that have been talked about, so more short tracks, more road courses, double headers, mid week racing, pulling the season forward? All those things would be in play. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we are working diligently on what a 2020 schedule would be. As soon as we have something to talk about, we will get to you.
Potential doubleheaders with the IndyCar Series…
Phelps: Again, I’ll go back, the 2020 schedule is something that we’re looking at right now. Whether it would include IndyCar and NASCAR, I know there are people that would like to see that. I think it would be a good show. We have to figure out how that works and kind of the broader plans of what our schedule looks like for 2020 and beyond. Do we have conversations with Mark and Jay? We do. There are many people that do. And I think that we share a common broadcast partner in NBC. NBC would I’m sure would enjoy something like that, as well. So, it’s a possibility.
Regarding more “enhanced weekend” schedules and shortening race lengths…
Phelps: Yeah, I think, not to give you a middle of the road answer, which I’m going to give to you, I think there’s we have shortened some races, as you know. Is that something we’ll continue to look at? It will. Obviously our 2019 schedule is set, so again, not to be repetitive, but I think all those things are on the table. To answer your first question on enhanced weekends, I don’t see enhanced weekends growing in 2019. I think for the most part what you saw this year you will see again. We’ll try to get that schedule out as soon as we can. I know that there are folks here that need to make travel plans and want to be as soon as we can get those things out, we will.
