The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, and that certainly seems to be the case when it comes to NASCAR’s leadership.
Brian France served as the CEO and chairman of NASCAR from 2003-18, and during his tenure, he was not very popular, to put it kindly. But in the six years since France’s uncle Jim took over the post, the leadership has gotten far worse than it ever was during the Brian days.
I’m not going to sit here and say Brian France was the perfect head of NASCAR. He was a far cry from his grandfather Bill Sr. and father Bill Jr. The hate for Brian among the fanbase started almost immediately, when he started a playoff format in the NASCAR Cup Series just a few months into the job. And in a roundabout way, you can link the controversies from the end of the Sunday’s (Nov. 3) Xfinity 500 back to him even creating the playoffs.
Brian France was also absent a lot. He locked tracks into long-term agreements that made the schedule stale, and he clearly had some sort of substance abuse problem. That last part is ultimately what led to his stepping down as CEO and chairman, as he was arrested on Aug. 5, 2018, after driving through a stop sign. He was charged with a DWI and possession of oxycodone, later pleading guilty to the DUI in a deal with the prosecutors.
But there was a lot of good early on in France’s tenure. I get that he shouldn’t be credited alone for all the good, but he at least surrounded himself with great people who knew what they were doing.
The cars got a lot safer, with no driver deaths on the racetrack. Four drivers had been killed in a two-year span just a few years before he took over. Since Jim France took over, NASCAR has gone to a car (the Next Gen) that wasn’t as safe when it first rolled out. That car gave Kurt Busch a career-ending concussion (he had had priors) and gave concussions and other injuries to a few other drivers its first few years.
NASCAR ratings skyrocketed his first three years on the job, despite the introduction of the playoffs, or the Chase, as it was known then. He got the series its biggest TV contract ever at the time, and his signing of Sprint as the Cup Series title sponsor remains the largest to date.
Both the ratings went on to hit rock bottom, and the Monster Energy title sponsor deal that was significantly lower than what Sprint paid was negotiated while France was still in charge. So those two things can’t be blamed on the Jim France era. But the ratings remain somewhat stagnant (they actually are up these playoffs), and the purses still aren’t big enough for the teams to rely on those alone.
France even did a lot of good for the series prior to becoming CEO and chairman. He is credited with creating what became the Craftsman Truck Series, and when he worked in Los Angeles, he helped link NASCAR and Hollywood.
As a result, tons of movies and TV shows sponsored racecars, and drivers appeared in quite a few movies and shows. NASCAR even got featured in the film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and the Cars franchise. NASCAR became engrained in pop culture, and the drivers became huge icons. Both things have sadly been lost in the years since then. NASCAR did get a Netflix show that has a second season coming next year, so maybe that will start the trend back the other way.
But most importantly, for all the faults France had, the competition on track was excellent for large stretches of his tenure. And there was hardly a controversy. The races played out fairly for the most part, and they rarely devolved into the clown shows we’ve seen several times this season.
Think about it. NASCAR VP of Competition Elton Sawyer, or someone else from NASCAR, has had to speak in front of the media after nearly a double-digit amount of the races in 2024. I want to say there was a stretch in the summer where it happened six consecutive races. And a majority of those times were because of something controversial that happened in the race. It feels like there were more goof-ups, bad calls and confusing things that happened this season alone than in Brian France’s entire tenure.
Sure, France had Spingate as one of his worst moments. His adding of Jeff Gordon to the 2013 playoffs is still one of the worst things NASCAR has ever done. But something had to be done after teammates had manipulated points more and more in the years leading up to Clint Bowyer‘s itchy arm.
At Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, it took 27 minutes for NASCAR to decide that Christopher Bell performed a wall-ride and penalize him for it. When other professional sports leagues, like the NFL, NBA and MLB, do a review, it usually lasts a commercial break at most. The ACC referees took flack in the Virginia Tech-Miami game because their review lasted seven minutes. 27 minutes is an eternity.
NASCAR didn’t even make a call on Austin Dillon‘s, Ross Chastain‘s and Bubba Wallace‘s race manipulation until Tuesday (Nov. 5). For the former two, it was super obvious they were making a Chevrolet blockade to help Byron. People in the media center were pointing at it and laughing in the moment. I thought for sure the 27 minutes were spent looking at that because Bell’s wall-ride review should’ve last just a few minutes, but nope.
I’m sure taking that long pissed NBC off. The race ended well within in the broadcast window, and instead the broadcast was drug out to past 6 p.m. ET. That’s when the news come on, and it’s the week of the election, which is when some of the most-watched news broadcasts take place.
And when the penalties were finally announced, they were underwhelming — definitely not enough to dissuade race manipulation in the future.
It’s the latest example in a long line of slow or bad officiating taking place this year in NASCAR. Heck, earlier in the same race, the field took the green flag while the NBC Sports commentators were calling out that Kyle Busch‘s tire was rolling around the track. The immediate caution that flew after shook up the running order and could’ve potentially kept Ryan Blaney and William Byron out of the Championship 4.
How do you not see a tire rolling around a short track? How do you not see Leland Honeyman buried in the tire barrier for 30 seconds at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL? How do you not immediately penalize Carson Hocevar for intentionally wrecking Harrison Burton under caution at Nashville Superspeedway? Why does the DVP seem to change on a weekly basis?
It’s like there is no one in the NASCAR tower with the absolute authority to make a call at a moment’s notice. No one at Richmond Raceway this summer was willing to penalize Dillon the night he wrecked his way to the win. He didn’t get kicked out the playoffs until a few days later.
NASCAR’s leadership these days almost seems to be absent at times. I mentioned Brian France wasn’t around a lot, but he was around more than Jim France has been. Jim France was at the first hearing of NASCAR vs. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports on Monday (Nov. 4) and the presentation of the 85th win to Bobby Allison recently (which was the best thing NASCAR did all year), but no one ever sees him at the racetrack. I’ve been told he’s at nearly every race and far more than Brian ever was, but he doesn’t do a lot publicly. He never does the State of the Sport address at Phoenix Raceway at the end of the season. Which reminds me, the Phoenix schedule currently does not have the State of the Sport even listed. Is it not happening this year?
The first few years of the Jim France era were pretty good, similar to Brian. His team handled racing during the COVID-19 pandemic about as good as they could have, and the schedule has become much more diverse. But outside of that, what exactly has he done that has grown the sport? He made IMSA a thing, but it’s far from the most popular form of American motorsports. He oversaw the Garage 56 entry into the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was cool, but not groundbreaking in this country.
On the flip side, as time has gone on, the integrity of NASCAR has taken hit after hit. There’s been an even bigger shift in it going from a sport to entertainment. And the leadership appears to be on autopilot.
Oh, and if anyone criticizes the playoffs, they’re apparently referred to as a “bot,” per Denny Hamlin, but that could just be him taking a comment out of context. No criticisms of anything are listened to or taken seriously. But hey, that was a problem during the Brian France era as well.
Speaking of Hamlin, did I mention his team and FRM are suing NASCAR? The sanctioning body allegedly twisted all of the owners’ arms into signing the new charter agreement. Rick Hendrick signed because he was “tired” after two and a half years of negotiating. Tony Stewart, who is leaving NASCAR at the end of the year, pointed out that Hendrick is a great businessman and has had many negotiations, so what does that tell you about how these negotiations went?
So, it sounds like NASCAR’s leadership now is either absent at the racetrack or overaggressive behind closed doors, with no middle ground. Regardless, NASCAR has a huge perception problem on its hand at the moment. Even if attendance and ratings are up this year from last (I’m not sure if that is the case or not), some of the things happening will cause long-term damage.
Luckily, Jim France and company did just sign the biggest TV deal ever, so they’ve got seven years to turn it all around. They should start by being more present publicly and more transparent. Then, they should try to bring integrity back by having a string of fair races, being quicker in officiating and improving the on-track product and championship format in the ways that it currently lacks. Once all of those items are better, get better at marketing and make these drivers stars again.
But if Jim France can’t make those things happen, then maybe he isn’t the guy for the job.
About the author
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020. Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.
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How old is Jim France !!! Do you really think he is making these decisions. Id take a close look at Be Kennedy, these have all the markings of his stupidity. 7 more years of money pouring into Nascar. You think they really care what’s happening.
BZF alienated core fans. BZF killed traditional tracks to chase unicorn markets. BZF’s folly makes the championship meaningless. BZF’s “stock cars” bear no resemblance to real cars.
And all of the above are the reason nascar attendance is miniscule compared to the late 90’s and prior to 2001.
This is not going to be popular. The problem Brian had is his father was not his grandfather and Brian had to clean up some of the bad ideas his dad created, like moving the Southern 500 to California, aiding in closing Wilkesboro, Rockingham, adding Kansas, Chicago when those markets were not ready.
Clean-up rested with Brian. And yes, now his sister Lesa is assisting her Uncle Jim in running things. They are still in clean-up from the second Bill France.
They will get it straight. It will take time.
So basically you are saying NA$CAR got greedier? They don’t have people capable of running an actual “race”.
Are you kidding? Brian France created most of the problems in NASCAR. He alienated the fans, gave us an awful car, screwed up the championship That wasn’t leadership it was disaster.
Emperor Brian was in the vault counting his money while NA$CAR burned and his toadies poured gas to put out the fire!!
I am just guessing, but I would say it took 27 minutes to make a call because it was “leadership by committee” and it wasn’t a unanimous vote.
Or the conspiracy theory of waiting to see whether Hendrick or Gibbs wrote the bigger check to get their driver in the Champ 4.
That article was an early APRIL FOOL’S JOKE for all of us.
I’m sure taking that long pissed NBC off. The race ended well within in the broadcast window, and instead the broadcast was drug out to past 6 p.m. ET.
Also, the broadcast did NOT run past its allotted time. When it was apparent that the ending was being investigated, I looked at the TV schedule to see if we might see a resolution before coverage would end. Coverage ended at exactly when it was scheduled at 6:00 PM Eastern Time.
Jim and Jim Jr. were in control and ruled with an iron fist. Brian was weak and the latest bunch are horrible. Elton has lost control
Do you mean Bill and Bill Jr? Bill used a gun too!
Brian France ? BS
Brian The Drunk is the reason that Jim is now in charge of NA$CAR
since the frequently slushed Nephew made a lot of bad decisions that
ended not so well results wise.