Two Things.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. 

Now that the 2014 NASCAR season is mercifully coming to its inevitable end, I've been contemplating the meaning of it all, even though I'm so tired of thinking about the tedious, season-long slog that comprises NASCAR's death march of a schedule I could scream. But, I press on.

First of all, let's take a step back and consider the season we're in right this very moment. This is football season, folks, there's just no getting around that fact. And it's interesting to observe that, other than the coverage of the "brawls" that crept into the mainstream media over the last few weeks, the coverage of NASCAR's vaunted "Chase" merits little to nothing on the coverage meter.

Yes, of course, ESPN is beating the NASCAR drum, but they're playing out the string of a contract, so they have to do everything in their power to make sure that someone out there cares to justify the ad buys, promotions and other monetizing events that network is so adept at. (Some inside baseball? NASCAR made it sound like ESPN was out-bid by NBC for the other major part of the NASCAR contract going forward. Not true. ESPN declined to bid on the contract from the get-go. What does that suggest? That ESPN overpaid for the NASCAR TV package during the previous go-around and they learned the hard way that they couldn't make enough money on the deal, and they weren't going to let that happen again.)

But beyond that, it's a sad commentary on the state of racing's popularity in this country that NASCAR merits so little coverage in the general media, even though to the stick-and-ball mainstream media, it's the only racing game in town.

Just one example? Two of the three participating manufacturers (GM and Ford) are headquartered right here in the Motor City. Where did the coverage of the NASCAR race in Phoenix fall in this football-mad town? How about buried on page six of the Detroit Free Press sports section?

Pathetic is the only word for it. But then again, Formula 1 was barely mentioned, so what does that tell you? The reality for the powers that be down in Daytona Beach and at their corporate outpost in Charlotte is that NASCAR's declining fortunes when it comes to media coverage have not been swayed one iota by this convoluted "knockout" format for the Sprint Cup.

Within the NASCAR bubble, all is well, there have been brawls, controversy, contentiousness and grand drama. Outside of the NASCAR bubble? It's an afterthought story on page six. Not Good doesn't even begin to cover it.

The second thing? Two of the four finalists for the Sprint Cup championship are eminently qualified. Kevin Harvick has four wins this year and Joey Logano has five. But the other two finalists who qualified for the Chase finale seem to be, to put it charitably, underqualified to be going for the Sprint Cup championship. Denny Hamlin has one win, and Ryan Newman hasn't won at all this year. Meanwhile Brad Keselowski (six wins), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (four), Jeff Gordon (four) and Jimmie Johnson (four) won't be running for the 2014 NASCAR championship.

Is this what the powers that be in NASCAR wanted? They will tell you that it is as it should be and those who qualified deserve to be there. But the reality, even though they'd never admit it outside of their conference rooms, is that it's about as far away from what they wanted. But then again, they made a bargain with the devil that this format was going to propel them back to the forefront of media coverage and all would be well. The result? They're moving the needle about the same as they have been for the last few years. In other words, they're still racing in a vacuum of their own making, and the noise outside of their manufactured bubble is waning.

I'm thrilled that the NASCAR season is, as I said up top, mercifully coming to a close. Too many races, too many repeat visits to the same venues, too much of the same old, same old, week in and week out doesn't make for compelling racing or a compelling sport.

But, as I've stated many times before, expecting more from the NASCAR brain trust is expecting way too much. They find comfort in predictability, and solace in sameness. It is the quintessential definition - in their eyes at least - of "if it ain't broke then why fix it?"

Why indeed. As long as NASCAR is enabled by manufacturers who seem comfortable with the go-along-to-get-along of it all, and television entities so obsessed with corralling content that they've lost all semblance of rational thinking, then NASCAR will continue chugging along in a diminishing spiral.

And the interest in the whole shebang will continue to dwindle too.

(Photo courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)

New Smyrna Beach, Florida, 1957. A 1957 Thunderbird "Battlebird" in the pits  at the New Smyrna Beach Airport Races in February. Drivers selected by Ford for those road races included Troy Ruttman, Danny Eames, Chuck Daigh, Marvin Panch and Curtis Turner. Overall winner that weekend? Carroll Shelby in a Ferrari 410 Sport, followed by Marvin Panch (Ford Thunderbird "Battlebird") and Lance Reventlow (Maserati 200SI).