Sport

Nascar has been in a skid thanks to falling TV viewership, bottomed-out race attendance and retreating sponsorship investments. The latest solution? A radical format change intended to bring new excitement – and new fans – to the race series. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images) A dozen years ago, few leagues could match the popularity of Nascar, which boasted record-high viewership and was going toe-to-toe with the NFL. But then few leagues suffered…

If you think the National Football League has a viewership problem, just look at what’s happening with another iconic US sport—Nascar. The sport of stock-car auto-racing, which will hold one of its biggest races of the year on Feb. 26, has been hemorrhaging TV viewers over the past decade. And efforts to revamp the sport for new audiences have alienated its core fans. Since its peak in 2005, Nascar’s TV…

2:08 PM ET Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print comment No changes will be made to the risqué outfits worn by Monster Energy models at NASCAR races this year despite some criticism voiced on social media by fans after Sunday’s Clash at Daytona. Mitch Covington, Monster’s vice president of sports marketing, told ESPN on Wednesday that the outfits are a fabric of what the company does at events it…

When NASCAR released the lengths of stages for all of its Cup Series races last week, it was clear the lengths of the first two segments were designed to avoid fuel mileage racing within the segments. It’s not the most thrilling of visuals to see a driver pragmatically save fuel to make it to the end of a stage and collect bonus points while other faster cars have to pit…

Dan Le Batard comments on Wayne Shaw’s pie-eating during Sutton’s FA Cup match against Arsenal. Wayne Shaw steals the show in the FA Cup, Conan O’Brien joins Gio dos Santos and more in The Sweeper. Former sports minister Richard Caborn labelled gambling within sport a “serious problem” after Wayne Shaw’s pie-eating stunt in Sutton’s FA Cup clash with Arsenal. The 46-year-old reserve goalkeeper handed in his resignation on Tuesday as…

Dale Earnhardt Jr. might be hitching up for his last ride. A walk-off NASCAR championship and go off into the sunset? Perfect. “To come back this year, win a championship, it would be hard not to hang it up,” he said during NASCAR Media Day at Daytona International Speedway Wednesday morning. “This is the last year of my deal. I would like to race more. But if I win the championship, I’d…

Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print comment sports + biz + culture + lifeGet REDEF delivered to your inbox rantnrave:// The NFL’s ratings problem — down 9 percent this past season — has drawn endless scrutiny. NASCAR is in trouble. The NBA’s regional sports networks have seen theirs fall by 15 percent this season and 20 of 30 teams have flat or lower numbers. Ratings have been used as…

Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip has maintained that Sunday’s Daytona 500 would be the final race of his 32-year NASCAR career. The brother of Hall of Fame driver Darrell Waltrip, Michael began racing at the Cup level in 1985 and is also a Fox Sports NASCAR analyst like his brother. He’s been around NASCAR for a long time but now that he’s walking away from driving, Michael Waltrip wants NASCAR to make some…

DAYTONA BEACH — The 2017 NASCAR season is one of Hope and Change. Please don’t misconstrue this as a political reference. It is strictly business:  Important business for everyone in NASCAR from suits in the office buildings to firesuits inside the cars. NASCAR dramatically altered its playoff format in the off-season, and the big reveal comes this week at Daytona International Speedway. It’s the Big One, in so many ways. Biggest…

Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) are two of the young stars that are energizing French cycling. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com It was a scathing and prescient headline in its day. “Un peloton à deux vitesse.” A peloton at two speeds. In 1999, the midst of the darkest days of the EPO era, that catchphrase encapsulated everything that France faced in its battle for relevance….

Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) are two of the young stars that are energizing French cycling. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com It was a scathing and prescient headline in its day. “Un peloton à deux vitesse.” A peloton at two speeds. In 1999, the midst of the darkest days of the EPO era, that catchphrase encapsulated everything that France faced in its battle for relevance….

With the Daytona 500 just days away, it’s time to make some predictions about what’s to come in the 2017 NASCAR Cup season: Daytona 500 winner: The season-opening race takes so much offseason preparation for teams that it’s not often a very good predictor of how the season will play out. It has also been won by drivers from seemingly out of nowhere – Trevor Bayne (2011), Jamie McMurray (2010),…

Do you like or dislike the new format changes and the damaged car policy? – Judy Well, there’s a lot that goes into that. First off, I do like the stages. Short tracks all over the country run heat races. I think it’s going to add a lot of excitement to the first half of the races, which is needed.  As far as the points go, I want…

When a team unexpectedly needs to replace a driver, it can create a lot of uncertainty. Who it will line up as a replacement is often a mad scramble to ensure a capable proxy is selected to fill the vacated seat. Last year, such a situation unfolded when Hendrick Motorsports needed to find a substitute for the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. With NASCAR’s most popular driver sidelined indefinitely, Hendrick initially…

Wayne Shaw, pie enthusiast. (Andrew Couldridge/Action Images via Reuters) A gambling scandal has struck English soccer, and, like most good scandals, it involves pie. On Monday, Arsenal scored a 2-0 win over Sutton United in the fifth round of the FA Cup, the annual competition between teams from all levels of English soccer. It was an expected result: Arsenal is a traditional power, currently tied for third in the Premier…

With the Daytona 500 just days away, it’s time to make some predictions about what’s to come in the 2017 NASCAR Cup season: Daytona 500 winner: The season-opening race takes so much offseason preparation for teams that it’s not often a very good predictor of how the season will play out. It has also been won by drivers from seemingly out of nowhere – Trevor Bayne (2011), Jamie McMurray (2010),…

When a team unexpectedly needs to replace a driver, it can create a lot of uncertainty. Who it will line up as a replacement is often a mad scramble to ensure a capable proxy is selected to fill the vacated seat. Last year, such a situation unfolded when Hendrick Motorsports needed to find a substitute for the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. With NASCAR’s most popular driver sidelined indefinitely, Hendrick initially…

Sutton United’s backup goalkeeper Wayne Shaw has taken in the soccer world by storm. But it’s not because of his ability, it’s because he’s an average guy who happens to be living out a dream, and because of what he does off the pitch.  On Monday, the non-league English side played giants Arsenal in the FA Cup fifth round in a historic match for the club, which the Gunners won…

Getty Images NASCAR‘s getting a little edgier in 2017. After years with Sprint as the sponsor of its primary racing series, NASCAR has handed the naming rights over to Monster Energy in 2017. In addition to slapping its name on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the beverage megabrand is supplying some serious eye candy on the track. Getty Images They’re called the Monster Energy girls and they made their debut in Daytona…

Chris Myers shares a collective heartbreak with Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Losses. Unimaginable ones. Myers and Hendrick buried their sons. Earnhardt buried his father. Everyone has pushed on as best they can over the years, despite the occasional tug of the heart, the tears, the emptiness, and the confusion. “It’s good to be around people who understand what you’re going through,” Myers said. “Sometimes you need the space….