Is it time to change NASCAR's traditional race day?

   Is it time to change NASCAR’s traditional race day?

   For the second Chase for the Sprint Cup in the past three seasons, NASCAR is seeing a significant ratings decline during the 10-race playoff.

   In the 2010 season, every Chase race except for the season finale at Homestead, Fla., saw a ratings decline over the previous season.

   So far in 2012, in the six races run on the same day as the year before – one was rained out in 2011 – TV ratings have been equal or in most cases significantly down from 2011. The worst was this past Sunday’s race at Martinsville, Va., which was off 22 percent from a year ago.

   Small ratings increases and decreases happen all the time for a variety of reasons, but anytime a sport loses one-fifth of its audience, it should be a cause for concern.

   In the last several years, NASCAR has tried a variety of methods to recapture some of the TV audience lost in the past five to eight years.

   There have been numerous “tweaks” to the Chase format and its rules.

   Common race start times were tried, and then abandoned.

   NASCAR even loosened its authoritative grip by allowing drivers to settle more of their issues between themselves on the track.

   While certainly the economy has seen significant problems in the past four years, the NFL – NASCAR’s competition on Sunday – has seen no similar significant declines.

   So, the question arises, is it time to yield to the NFL juggernaut rather than continue to compete against it side-by-side?

   The NFL isn’t going anywhere, folks. In fact, even during the time NASCAR grew dramatically in appeal and ratings, it wasn’t because the NFL went south. The NFL grew, too, just not as much.

   And there are no signs America’s fascination with the gridiron will change.

   Hence an idea: Why not make Saturday afternoon the traditional race day for the Cup series?

   Yes, there are lots of college football games in the fall, but only the biggest games – a relatively small number – even come close to bringing in the number of national viewers that NASCAR Cup races do.

   While this change may be inconvenient for ESPN/ABC as they broadcast dozens of college games on Saturdays, the network would still benefit if, in fact, the audience for NASCAR grows because some fans are no longer torn away by the NFL.

   One other thing to consider: Fans and particularly those who work in NASCAR generally enjoy Saturday day or night races because it frees up a weekend day. It would be difficult to imagine at least those in the industry not enjoying many Sundays off.

   It would be a bold step. It would also step on tradition.

   But if the long-term success and vitality of NASCAR itself would be better off, would it really be so bad?

Crew chief change at Richard Petty Motorsports

    Richard Petty Motorsports announced Tuesday Drew Blickensderfer has been assigned as the crew chief of the No. 9 Sprint Cup Series team and driver Marcos Ambrose. Blickensderfer replaces Mike Ford who has left the organization.

   The Mount Zion, Ill., native comes to RPM most recently from Richard Childress Racing where he was the crew chief for Jeff Burton. Prior to his time there, Blickensderfer spent the majority of his career with teams associated with Ford Racing and Roush-Fenway Racing. He is a former Daytona 500 champion and has multiple Cup and Nationwide Series wins with drivers Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth.

   "Drew has a lot of experience with Ford Racing and also how our current operation works," said team owner Richard Petty. "His knowledge can immediately improve the performance of the No. 9 race team. Marcos has proved to win races and compete in the top-five. The addition of Drew will hopefully provide those results on a more consistent basis."

   Ambrose has one win, eight top-10 and three top-five finishes this season. In addition, Ambrose has won two poles this year.

   "We have had success this season and now we're just looking for more consistency as we prepare for next season," said Ambrose. "Drew brings a strong resume to our team and can help us find the results that we want each week. I'm looking forward to working with him."
 

Keselowski: 'We like our role in this Chase'

   The points race may be tight in the Sprint Cup Series and the pressure may be building for Brad Keselowski, who will go two-to-toe with five-time champion Jimmie Johnson to earn his first series championship.

   That doesn't appear to change Keselowski's approach heading into this weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway.

   Keselowski's thoughts going into this weekend:

   “When you have a team like we have on the Miller Lite Dodge, it’s easy to stay calm in the face of adversity. We all have each other’s back. We like our role is in this Chase. While we aren’t being overlooked by any means, there are many who think that we are still too young of a team to seriously challenge the 48 team. We like it that way," he said.

   "In reality, we are a very good race team that is primed to take this fight right down to the last lap at Homestead-Miami Speedway next month. I’m very confident in our abilities at Texas this weekend. The mile-and-a-half tracks have been really good to us this year. We had an awesome car in April at Texas – probably the best car I’ve ever had there – but fuel issues kept us from challenging for the win. This weekend, I’m expecting to challenge for the win.”

Jeff Burton gets new crew chief

   Richard Childress Racing announced Monday that Shane Wilson will take over as crew chief for its No. 31 Chevrolet team and driver Jeff Burton for the remainder of the 2012 season. Wilson replaces Drew Blickensderfer, who is expected to join another organization.

 

   Luke Lambert, who has served as crew chief for Elliott Sadler in the Nationwide Series this season, will take over as Burton's permanent crew chief for the 2013 season.

 

   "I want to thank Drew for all of his effort with the No. 31 Caterpillar team this season," said Richard Childress, president and CEO of RCR. "He's a great crew chief and I can't say enough about his dedication to RCR. Making the move now, before the season is over, gives Drew some additional time to pursue other opportunities.

 

   "Shane is a proven winner and I appreciate his willingness to step into this role for the balance of the 2012 season."

 

   Lambert has previously worked with Burton, serving as an interim crew chief during the 2011 season.

 

   "Luke is proving this season that he's a strong, young crew chief who can win races and compete for a championship," added Childress. "Announcing his move to the No. 31 team in 2013 will not take anything away from his focus on the No. 2 team winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship. That's his No. 1 priority. We merely wanted to show that we have both an interim plan for the rest of this season and a long-term plan for the future."

Guess who thinks Brad Keselowski will be hard to beat?

   While most of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s media availability on Friday at Martinsville Speedway was taken up by questions concerning his recent two-week absence from racing due to a pair of concussions, he did get a few non-medical questions.

   One was regarding Sprint Cup Series points leader Brad Keselowski, who kicked started his career running up front and winning races for JR Motorsports' Nationwide Series team. Earnhardt is co-owner of the team.

   Earnhardt was asked how he thought Keselowski would hold up in his current situation considering some people claim he might crack under the pressure.

   Here is Earnhardt's response: "I don’t think he’s going to crack. I think he’s going to be hard to beat. I think he will be a tough competitor all the way through. Brad has been waiting on this opportunity all his life so I don’t expect him to crack under the pressure. I think he will be tough.”

What do you do when the competition is good, too?

   Jimmie Johnson, with six career Sprint Cup wins at Martinsville Speedway, was certainly looking forward to this weekend's race to help in the hunt for his sixth series championship.

 

   But Denny Hamlin, who owns four wins of his own at the half-mile flat track, sees Sunday's race as a chance to pick up points as well.

 

   And Brad Keselowski, the series points leader, is no slouch at the track. He only has five career starts but has a solid record, including a ninth-place finish in the spring.

 

   So, what do you do when you're in the title hunt, you're headed to one of your best tracks but your closest competition is good there, too? According to Johnson, you battle for every single point.

 

   “I try to stay focused on my record and my team. But there is a part of my mind that thinks of strengths and weaknesses of the other drivers. In general, I feel like the way everybody is running, you might get a point or two; if you’re fortunate enough to win, you’ll get three (points) on a guy and that’s what we’ve seen," he said. "And that’s where my disappointment of last week (Kansas Speedway) comes into play because I feel like I could have gotten a good chunk on the No. 2 (Keselowski) and the No. 11 (Hamlin).

 

   "But coming here, the way we’re sitting in points, I would hope to get a handful of points on the No. 2 car. And at the same time, Denny, I got a few points on him last week so if I gave up a few it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. And I really think going down the stretch, it’s going to be a game of a few points at a time. That’s just the way my mindset is.

 

   "I’m focused on it this week a little bit and if I lose a little to the No. 11, it’s not what I want but I got a few last week; and if I’m able to get some on the No. 2, then we did what we should here.”

 

Where Carl Edwards buried last season's disappointment

   Somewhere on Miami Beach is buried the disappointment and the frustration of Carl Edwards' runner-up finish to Tony Stewart for the 2011 Sprint Cup Series championship.

   Stewart won the season finale at Homestead, Fla., with Edwards finishing second. The two finished tied in points but Stewart won the championship by having more wins than Edwards over the course of the season (5-1).

   The next day Edwards and his wife, Kate, went for a walk on the beach - he was staying over for the Nationwide Series banquet - and they made a pact.

   "We made a deal right then that it was done and over and it was a fun time and we wished it would have gone different but we pretty much buried it in the sand on the beach," Edwards said. "When people ask me how long it took to get over that, it took about 10 or 11 hours and that is it."

   Edwards, however, did not come up totally empty from Homestead. He said he left with a very important life lesson.

   "I learned that you can’t place all the value on your result. You have to place some on performance," he said. "When you drive the perfect race and if your car is not fast enough, or you have some bad luck, you might finish fifth. Some of those races you finish fifth are better than ones you win.

   "I have won a number of races where I knew my car was faster and somebody else had bad luck. What I am getting at is that at the end of that race at Homestead, as devastated as I was that we didn’t win, and trust me I was really frustrated that we didn’t win, I can still hold my head up and say that we went into that race with all the pressure in the world, Tony doing all his trash-talking, everything on our shoulders, and we qualified on the pole, led the most laps, and we were leading when it started raining. We just got out gambled in the pits and it didn’t go our way.

   "I am telling you, if I went back and ran that race again, I don’t know if I personally could do a better job managing that race."

   Sometimes all you can do has to be enough.