Editor’s Note: Your Frontstretch favorite is back! The Top 10 returns in 2008, with its often satirical look at NASCAR life past, present and future. This year, Voices From the Heartland columnist Jeff Meyer takes over the beat full-time – and as you can see, he pulls no punches with his first edition of ’08. The following quotes are all from Brian France’s Media Tour Press Conference in late January.
10. “We certainly are proud we’ve been able to attract new fans virtually every year NASCAR has been in existence. But we’re also proud of those fans who have been with us for many decades.”
9. “I think what I hope you’ll take out of today is we’re getting back to the basics, we’re going to try to minimize the change going forward as best we can and focus on what we’ve always focused on, which is the best product in the world.”
8. “And while ratings are always going to fluctuate, we’re proud of the upward trend over the last decade.”
7. “Hendrick Motorsports, well, they’re on their way of being the New England Patriots on wheels.”
6. “We’re determined to make it stronger and maintain the intense commitment of our generations of loyal fans. We’ll continue to grow and evolve. We’ll always be mindful of our past.”
5. “We’re getting back to the basics, we’re going to try to minimize the change going forward.”
4. “Well, somebody once told me that you’re good at whatever you talk about being good at and you focus on. It starts with me. It starts at the top.”
3. “But on your way to making sure things don’t escalate, you want to be pretty stern with your penalties. There’s no question it can put a cloud or restrict, rather, the drivers expressing themselves. We want to see more of that.”
2. “What we want to focus on, what we want to talk about, most of our race fans, most of them could care less about any of the management moves or moves that we made. They may care in the end when we manage things correctly.”
1. “We’re also proud the very first NASCAR superspeedway, Darlington Raceway, is still on the schedule. Several years ago we took what was perceived as a gamble. We moved the Darlington spring race to Mother’s Day weekend. As it turned out, it wasn’t a gamble at all. It was a sure thing, thanks to the power of the Darlington tradition and the loyalty of our race fans.”
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