- In many ways, NASCAR is an organization of contradictions.
Tradition is a main ingredient
but they want the recipe for the future.
They're an iconic American institution
that's everyone's heard of,
but struggling to hold onto their relevance.
Now more than ever, NASCAR needs to succeed
they wanna survive the next decade.
In some aspects I think they're succeeding
and in others they really need to get it together.
How can golf of all sports help NASCAR?
Turns out they can learn a lot.
(gentle music)
- Hello, my name is Riley and I'm a friend of the channel
and I'm also the artist that made the Donut Media Mural.
It's finally done after so many sleepless nights,
snacks, Red Bulls, ups and down, highs and lows.
Now it's finally here,
and I'm so excited you guys get to see it,
and have your own version of it as a sticker.
- It's not gonna be available for very long,
So if you want it,
I suggest you go to donutmedia.com right now
and get you one.
(gentle music) (paper rustling)
(paper rustling)
- I'll get straight to the point.
NASCAR's biggest problem right now
is finding the right balance
between the organization's Southern roots
and achieving mainstream success.
We'll talk about that first part later
but right now let's focus on getting back in the mainstream.
NASCAR enjoyed strong cultural influence
from the late sixties to the mid two thousands
but it can't be denied that there or cultural cache
has waned another years since then,
but something very fortuitous has fallen into NASCAR's lap.
The kids think NASCAR is cool again
or that their shirts are at least,
how many influencers and real celebrities
have you seen rocking a vintage NASCAR T in the last year?
Probably a lot, NASCAR is in a good position
to capitalize on this nostalgia.
They need to turn the person who is a fan
of wearing Vintage Dale shirts with designer jeans
into fans of the sport that made that shirt possible.
So how do they do that?
NASCAR's primary product for the fans is racing.
It's simple, the better the racing, the better the product.
The better the product, the more people want it.
From 2013 to 2021 the stock car's driven on track
were known as Gen-6 cars.
The machines were far from the stock cars of the '50s,
barely recognizable and nowhere near street legal.
These Gen-6 cars had the most advanced aerodynamics
in NASCAR's history.
A great achievement for the sport, but terrible for racing.
The cars may have been more capable
but they were harder to race.
All the turbulent air caused by the better aerodynamics
made it a whole lot harder to follow behind.
When you can't follow the car in front,
you can't race the car in front.
This meant that for a few years
after the Gen-6 car was introduced,
racing was a little flat.
Fast drivers would regularly build huge leads
over the field, effectively, running away with the win.
That's not very fun to watch.
So to solve the problem,
NASCAR introduced an effective and controversial fix.
Stage racing is exactly what it sounds like,
instead of doing a 300 lap race all in one go,
the race is broken up into sections.
For example, if a race is 300 laps,
NASCAR might break it up into two 75 lap stages
and a 150 lap finale.
In between the stages are competition cautions,
which give the teams time to do a pit stop.
The thinking is that since the aerodynamics
and other car factors
can cause the field to spread out
over the course of the race,
these cautions bring the pact back together
making for closer racing.
Stage racing was a bit of a bandaid
for the bigger problem,
NASCAR that something had to change.
The new Gen-7 car debuted this year
at the clash of the Coliseum,
if you're a regular Donut viewer
you probably already know a lot about this car.
And if you aren't a regular viewer, go ahead
and consider hitting that like and subscribe button.
NASCAR's goal with the Gen-7 car
is to solve the problems of Gen-6,
while making stock car racing relevant
to modern manufacturers.
This car has modern suspension,
large single lug wheels with lower profile tires.
And dare I say, it actually looks like
the cars they're supposed to be.
The car also relies more on what's called ground effect,
prioritizing a low pressure zone
under the car to create aerodynamic grip
that doesn't produce as much turbulence
making it easier to follow.
But this is just one aspect
of NASCAR facilitating successful racing.
There are more factors, let's define them.
For a race to be good there needs to be racing.
And that means lead changes.
If one driver is out in front the whole time,
that's not interesting.
So the higher the number of leaders in the race, the better.
There also needs to be minimal mechanical failures
on the part of the cars.
Nobody wants to see a leader
or challenger drop out of the race
for something they had no control over,
it's extremely anticlimactic.
Since every team in NASCAR uses the same chassis and tires,
performance parody needs to be a priority as well,
so smaller teams have a decent chance against the big teams.
Now, I'm not saying that every car
needs to be completely equal.
Teams that are better at setting up their cars
should be rewarded for their efforts,
but money should not be an outright shortcut to success.
And along with parity,
the racing needs to result
in a healthy variety of race winners.
As it's a lot less fun to watch something,
if you have a good idea of who's gonna win, just look at F1.
And overall, the series needs a logical championship
that still remains dramatic.
We'll talk about that last part a little later.
But so far the Gen-7 car seems to deliver.
It's hard to scientifically quantify
if the racing really is better this year,
but there's at least one source we can turn to.
Jeff Gluck is a motor sports journalist,
and every week he asked his Twitter followers
if that weekend's NASCAR race was good.
And if we compare the races
that have happened so far this year to last year's,
we can see that yes, the fans think the racing is better,
a lot better, in fact.
Atlanta was the worst race so far
at the time of this recording,
but it still polled 18% better
than the first Atlanta race of 2021.
Now, it's worth mentioning that NASCAR
will sometimes hit the same track later in the season.
And in two of these 2021 return trips
Phoenix two and Atlanta two,
those did score better on Jeff's poll
than the first races of this season.
But I would guess that these events were considered better
because they took place later in the season,
they were playoff races,
and more was at stake than the earlier season races.
So the racing is getting better,
the Gen-7 car looks like it paid off.
But does successful racing mean a successful business?
Not entirely, how the heck does NASCAR make money anyway?
Well, the money comes from the TV.
While getting butts in seats is a big goal for NASCAR,
with in-person attendance set to improve this year,
their most important revenue stream
are their broadcasting contracts.
Back in 2012, NASCAR made an eight-year deal
with Fox for $2.4 billion,
which was eventually extended
for another 1.4 billion on top of that.
In 2013, NASCAR made another deal with NBC for 4.4 billion.
These deals will keep NASCAR in the air until 2024
at a price of $8.2 billion.
According to this great article on The Drive by Jerry Perez,
NASCAR also earns money through sanction fees
and title sponsors for the series itself.
For example, it costs Monster Energy $60 million
to be the title sponsor of the cup series
between 2016 and 2019.
NASCAR earns even more money
from title sponsorships of each of the races.
Companies pay millions of dollars to sponsor an event
like the Kwik Trip 250 presented by Jockey Made in America
at Road of America.
All of this money keeps the NASCAR machine going,
but the organization doesn't keep all of it.
Of that broadcasting revenue,
about 65% goes to the tracks, 25% to the teams,
and just 10% for NASCAR itself.
NASCAR's financial motivation
to make racing more entertaining is obvious.
The more people watch NASCAR, the more leverage they have
when is time to negotiate the TV contracts.
And a more expensive contract,
isn't necessarily a bad thing
for the broadcasters either.
Higher ratings means they can charge more money,
if you want to air a commercial during the race.
And the more people watching a broadcast
the more people will see your ad.
Better racing is a win, win, win for everybody,
including the teams.
According to Jimmie Johnson,
TV viewers are everything to the sport,
as it stands right now.
Tune in numbers drive the sponsorship numbers
that obviously drives the purse,
and certainly the money on a given car
that the driver shares.
Even though it feels like less and less
the media we consume comes through broadcast TV,
it's still a huge part of how NASCAR operates.
This could be seen as a bad thing
for the future of company
as so many young people consume media
through streaming services rather than cable.
But again, we'll talk about that in a little bit.
A surprising aspect of NASCAR's operation
is that in-person attendance
is not as big a deal as I previously thought
because the tracks take such a large share
of the TV revenue.
They can afford to have years below attendance like 2020
where no one was allowed in the stands, but keep in mind
NASCAR does have a vested interest in getting people
to the track and that's because they now own a bunch
of the places they race at.
Back in 2019, NASCAR merged
with the International Speedway Corporation buying them out
of a cool $2 billion.
These are all the tracks that ISC owned and operated.
There's a lot of them,
just because NASCAR might benefiting
from TV money going to some tracks they own,
they still wanna sell out
every race on the calendar that they can.
The fewer people that show up the, less facilities
like Concessions and other attractions are necessary
and less people who work on the track get paid
which can have a cascading effect
through the community surrounding a racetrack.
Nobody wants to see a racetrack close
so to improve in-person attendance and boost TV ratings,
NASCAR must make itself
not only America's biggest motor sport,
but one of the biggest sports overall.
So how do they do that?
What does mainstream success look like?
Well, I'll be honest, that's a little harder to answer.
Drive to Survive is one of the biggest accomplishments
in both documentary filmmaking
and motor sports marketing and recent memory.
Not only were they able to shoot, layout,
and edit a season's worth of racing in the 10 episodes
in just three months, but successfully convinced millions
of people who had never watched F1
to become fans pretty much overnight.
It's safe to say that this windfall of cultural relevance
is the envy of the motorsports world.
Every team owner out there saw Zach Brown playing hockey,
and thought to themselves,
"That should be me, dang it, I'm cool."
With the Gen-7 car looking good
and producing enthralling racing,
this sort of media coverage is the next step
NASCAR needs to take if it wants to reintroduce itself
as America's Motorsport.
But a Netflix series won't fix everything overnight,
NASCAR needs to make a concerted effort
to pepper drivers all over pop culture.
You might have seen this article
in photo shoot from Vanity Fair.
While it makes sense that drivers
from a historically glamorous sport like F1
would participate in a fashion shoot,
there's absolutely no reason
NASCAR drivers couldn't do something like this either.
I'm telling you, call up Vogue magazine,
dress Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney in some Saint Laurent
and get it done, okay.
I know that wouldn't really fit the grizzled image
normally associated with stock car racing,
but that's kind of the point.
The Vanity F1 P sent shock waves through the F1 fandom
in the week leading up to the Bahrain Grand Prix
because it was so out of left field,
that's called earned media, baby.
And it doesn't have to be photo shoots, okay.
Just get the drivers in front of people,
it's a astounded to me that a NASCAR driver
has never been on "Hot Ones," that's a layup.
Like I mentioned at the top,
the public is primed and ready to like NASCAR again.
People are dropping hundreds of dollars
on vintage NASCAR gear,
the aesthetic is cool, and the racing is good.
This is totally possible
but there's some speed bumps in the way,
and a lot of them come from NASCAR itself.
(dramatic music)
First, let's talk about the issues I have with the racing,
I understand why NASCAR adopted stage racing.
But I think it's time to start thinking
about getting rid of it.
If the season continues,
and the drivers are all having an easier time
following each other and racing hard,
there's little reason
to bunch of cars up to manufacture drama.
The tension will come naturally.
Now, that's pretty easy for me to say,
but I don't think getting rid of stage racing will be quick
since it's an easy way for NASCAR
to guarantee a dramatic finish at every event,
and that's what they want.
NASCAR will have to find the right balance
between organic competition and storybook final laughs.
I would actually argue that not every single race
needs to be made into an epic nail biter
because then legit and epic nail biters become less special,
especially when there are 36 races scheduled for the year.
My next gripe with the racing
is NASCAR's championship system.
In most racing series, like formula 1 and IndyCar,
drivers and teams earn points based on their performance.
And at the end of the season, the points are tabulated
with an overall winner determined.
With this system, it's possible
for drivers to have slow starts but gain momentum.
Or for a team to come out the gate,
guns blazing only to fall apart.
Dominate drivers have a good chance of winning the title
even if they have a few off days.
NASCAR works a little differently,
they have a regular season and playoffs
like sticking ball sports.
If you win a race during the regular season,
you qualify for the playoffs automatically.
Then over the course of four rounds,
consisting of 10 races,
you need to outperform the other playoff drivers
and stay above the cutoff line for each round.
Each playoff driver starts the playoffs
with 2000 playoff points plus bonus points
awarded for regular season performance.
Then the playoff points are reset in the next playoff round,
plus playoff bonus points are added, this happens twice.
If it sounds confusing that's because it is.
This is a recent development.
Like stage racing, NASCAR adopted the playoffs
to manufacture drama towards the end of the season.
Let's take a look at 2020.
Driver, Kevin Harvick had the most wins,
tied for the most top five finishes,
and had seven top tens out of 36 races.
He also finished fifth in the championship
because of this playoff format.
Eventual champ Chase Elliot only won five events that year.
Tell me how this makes sense!
Proponents of the playoff system will say it's good
because once the playoffs begin,
contending drivers need to be on top of their game
for every race, which I'll admit is true.
But I'll also say it's needlessly confusing because it is.
Now that the Gen-7 car produces good racing,
I think NASCAR can start thinking about
doing away with this weird playoff system.
F1's epic battle between Lewis Hamilton
and Max Verstappen last year
prove that a traditional point system
can still make for extremely tense championships.
All right, I think it's time to talk about golf.
The PGA Tour, probably isn't the first sport
you'd think NASCAR could learn a thing or two from.
But stick with me.
The first thing I think they can borrow
is golf's approach to athlete personas.
The PGA doesn't play down rivalries,
or stifle the personalities of players.
I hate to say it, but NASCAR kinda does.
How many times have you watched a race
and seen the winner climb outta their car,
the first thing outta their mouth is a monotone sentence,
thanking the sponsors?
Come on guys, it's boring.
Let's show some emotion here.
Sure, the teams do get about 75%
of their income from sponsors.
I know, but I want some personality here.
Golfers on the other hand, are a little more animated.
And I think I know why this is,
golf historically, is a more gentlemanly game.
Whereas racers are mostly talented degenerates.
Historically golfers never had to be wrangled in
or given media training
because they're mostly posh rich guys.
Racers on the other hand, did need media training.
But I think over the years, NASCAR overcorrected
and muzzled really interesting personalities.
If NASCAR wants people to become fans,
they need to let the drivers be themselves
and express themselves.
That's how you get heroes and hills
and everything in between.
And if you're someone
who complains about Noah Grayson's personality,
get a clue, dude
he's exactly the kind of driver sport needs right now.
This next part is a smaller issue,
but I really think NASCAR could do a better job
on the YouTube side of things.
Now, I will give them props
for posting highlights on race day,
and more extended highlights after the race.
But these videos are in blurry 720p at 30 frames per second,
which comes off as frankly outta touch,
and doesn't cut it in 2022.
Not when F1 is posting super crisp,
1080p at 50 frames per second, and it's sick, looks awesome.
When the fans you want to get are on YouTube
and other video platforms,
you need to make it a good experience.
Which brings me to streaming,
with NASCAR making so much doe off the broadcasting rights,
I don't think a streaming service like F1 TV
is in the cards, at least not right now.
According to NASCAR's senior VP
of media and productions quote,
"We couldn't do an agreement, at least in 2021,
"simply because of one, our fan base isn't there today.
"And two the team sponsorship model
"is so dependent on sponsors of revenue.
"Those spots sell off of TV eyeballs,
"and if you're not selling off the TV eyeballs
"then it compromises the economic model
"of our our entire industry."
This is a tough one because I know younger fans
aren't gonna sign up for cable just to watch NASCAR,
but NASCAR also really, really needs that broadcast money.
I don't have a solution for this one, it's complicated.
So the only question left now is,
how does NASCAR balance their desire for new fans
while still serving their base,
the Southern fans that were there when the sport was born?
I think it's easy really,
you serve the core audience by making racing
that's really good and authentic
because that's what the core wants
to remember the sport as being.
There might be detractors that don't like road courses
or races at the Coliseum,
but when it comes down to it,
racing is simple, it's a battle.
And if the battle is close, the the battle is good,
and people will want to watch it.
Thank you for watching, whoa!
Al right, like and subscribe, all that stuff.
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Be kind, see you next time.