AVONDALE, Ariz. — The arrival of NASCAR Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway brings about the annual State of the Sport address from NASCAR President Steve Phelps and NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Steve O’Donnell.
Here is a rundown of what was said and asked as NASCAR prepares to close out its 2023 season and move ahead to 2024 and beyond.
The Playoff Format
- Phelps defended the drivers that qualified for the Championship 4 in all three series, saying that every driver knew the format and that these drivers competed at the highest level to make it in.
- “You have a former champion (Ryan Blaney) who won to get in, just as he did last year. You have our regular season champion (Tyler Reddick) who won to get in here and you have a two-time Cup champion (Joey Logano) who won to get there. And then the young man who pointed his way through, William Byron, is an incredible talent. So all four of these drivers deserve to be here, full stop.”
- O’Donnell immediately shut down any controversy and uncertainty regarding the playoff system’s future, stating that “we’re absolutely going to stick with it.”
- That said, he remarked that NASCAR is always listening to fans, and he did not rule out any changes to the system for next year: “We’ll absolutely look at what form the playoffs take in the offseason.”
- Phelps argued that NASCAR isn’t the only sport where the winningest or the best statistical teams have failed to reach the final round of the playoffs and that the format itself has produced excellent racing in the past nine weeks.
Martinsville Race Manipulation Controversy
- NASCAR had a sit down with the OEMs and said that it was “very clear in what our intentions are going forward.”
- There was nothing in the rulebook to penalize OEMs in situations like last weekend, but that will be changed starting next year.
- The drivers themselves were given the “benefit of the doubt” as they were holding the wheel and told the instructions from the teams.
- NASCAR has a meeting with the drivers Nov. 9, saying that last weekend at Martinsville is a warning and that they will be penalized if this situation arises again.
- O’Donnell: “What I saw in Martinsville pissed me off, and it pissed everyone off at NASCAR because we all know better, and we know what happens.”
- “We’re not going to let people, drivers, teams, anyone, OEMs challenge the integrity of the sport.”
The Current Charter Situation
- Phelps: “We don’t believe the media is a place to have discussions about our negotiation with our race teams and our charter extensions. That was by design. I know people are frustrated about that.”
- Happy that 32 of the 36 chartered teams decided to extend their agreement.
- Phelps: “I won’t go into what that money split looks like, but what I will say is that amount of money now puts the race team starting in 2025 as the single largest beneficiary of our media deal. We did that because the race teams were upside down financially.”
- Phelps said that the address would not be open to any questions about charters afterward, as NASCAR is in current litigation.
- The preliminary injunction for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports was denied by a judge in the middle of the address. Phelps declined to comment on the matter.
Race Control & Officiating
- The Damaged Vehicle Policy will be investigated, as O’Donnell remarked that, “Through really no fault of trying to save the industry money, we created a challenge in terms of how we officiate.”
- “I think one of the biggest things you want to do is how do we continue to use technology in real time to notice what may or may not be occurring on the track, address that as soon as possible, but I don’t believe we have an officiating issue at all. I think we have the best and the brightest in the business. Yes, we make mistakes; they’re humans. Hopefully we’ll never get to just AI making calls, but we will make adjustments.”
The Next Gen Car & the Racing Product
- O’Donnell: “[The Next Gen’s] been a gamechanger in terms of who can come into the sport, who can compete at a high level, and who has access to different parts and pieces. So we continue to look at that as a huge positive for the sport.”
- He also cited parity (18 winners from 10 different organizations this year) and the racing (three of the seven closest finishes since electronic scoring in 1993) as positives.
- O’Donnell remarked that there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes with the car, and that they see the fan comments and look for ways to make improvements.
- NASCAR was happy with the tire brought by Goodyear to Martinsville and that the sport will keep building on those results for the future.
Attendance, TV, Broadcasting, Marketing & Sponsors
- Phelps reveals that NASCAR had “double-digit sellouts” in 2024 and that the sport has made small, single-digit gains in attendance over the last three years but hopes for more. He believes that the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, the inaugural Cup race in Mexico City and the Richmond Raceway date in August will all sell out next year.
- NASCAR got crushed in ratings to start the year, with a Clash that was moved a day early, a rain-delayed Daytona 500, a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 and a darkness-shortened Chicago Street Race. Despite those early struggles, NASCAR ended the Cup season with an overall ratings increase from 2023.
- Phelps: “What does that say? To me, it says the sport is resilient and the sport is growing.”
- NASCAR’s current broadcast partners (FOX and NBC) will play a major role in promotion along with the incoming partnerships with Nexstar (The CW), Amazon, Warner Bros. Discovery (MAX and TNT). Phelps said that the five media partners would all promote the Daytona 500.
- Phelps confirmed that Xfinity will return as the title sponsor for NASCAR’s second series in 2025.
The Schedule
- Phelps anticipates further expansion of NASCAR’s footprint, and that the diversity and variation of the schedule “works” by driving up attendance and ratings.
- O’Donnell remarked that there will be little change in terms of the diversity of tracks that make up the schedule.
- “I think we really like the balance we have right now. You could see maybe a tweak here or there, but for the most part it’s a good balance of all different types of racetracks.
- The fan atmosphere is important in choosing a track for Championship Weekend, and O’Donnell said that it would be difficult for a track to emulate the atmosphere that Phoenix has this weekend.
- O’Donnell revealed that Darlington Raceway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway are among the tracks that have been in consideration. For Homestead, its race attendance in March will be of the upmost importance.
- He also explained that NASCAR’s goal is to “get well ahead in the future” to where the location of the championship race can be announced years in advance, using the years 2031 and 2032 as hypothetical examples.
Closing Remarks
“We are going to continue to be bold and innovative in everything that we do. Not just the race schedule, but everything that we do to drive this sport forward. The only way you will grow is to be bold and innovative in the decisions that are made, and we’re going to do that.
“I’ve said this at every single one of these States of the Sport. This is my seventh year saying this, and I will say it this year, next year and the following years, which is, ‘The best days at NASCAR are not behind us. They are ahead of us.’ And I believe that to be true.” — Steve Phelps
About the author
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly columns include “Stat Sheet” and “4 Burning Questions.” He also writes commentary, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Can find on Twitter @stephen_stumpf.
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Would you buy a used car from either Steve’s Used Car Lot?
Thanks for the recap, Stephen.