Chase Elliott and Dale Jr. Disagree on NASCAR Competing Against Football; Who's Right?

welcome to the newest episode of beating and banging I'm your host Kyle Dalton today's video is a little bit different than past videos for one reason we're going to tackle a single story emphasis on the tackle part as the headline reads Chase Elliot and D erard Jr don't agree on the topic of NASCAR competing against football we learned that this week when Elliott shared his thoughts on the subject with Jeff Gluck during an interview in the athletic while Dell Jr talked about the topic on the Dell download interestingly the pair arrived at the issue from very different angles but after hearing both of their cases especially Juniors I have to say it opened by eyes and revealed that it's not just the way the two drivers see the sport competing against football it's actually much bigger than that so let's start with Chase Elliott's remarks first in case you aren't familiar during glugs 12 questions article he always asked each driver at the end of the interview if they have a specific spe question they want to ask the driver scheduled for the next interview the previous interview was Denny Hamlin so he presented the following question to Elliott if you were NASCAR president what one major thing would you change to which Elliot replied the schedule I look at a lot of other sports and I'm a big believer in less is more a great example of that is the college football season it's pretty short they play 12 games and then if your team makes it to the playoffs they might play for another couple of months but they're really only playing a couple of games in those couple of months as they go through the playoff system being a fan of that man when the end of August and beginning of September rolls around I'm really really excited about the season it really doesn't even matter what the narrative is that season I'm just happy to have college football back when I look at our schedule we could really take some of that and put it in our Corner as an extremely positive thing for a lot of reasons one you're giving the people who really make the show go on which are the teams a chance to have a life at home which is going to make them a happier person when they come to the racetrack it's going to make the fans want us to be back on the track with more excitement and more joy and if you didn't right you could eliminate having to compete against football because that's just not one you're ever going to win I'm not saying run less races either I'm just saying from a calendar year standpoint we have a good starting point and I would do something to end a little sooner just so you're not competing against football and you drive a little bit more of that man I'm excited this is back or I hate that it's gone if you hate that it's gone in September or October you're really going to be pumped for it to be back in February so if you saw my Wednesday video I said with Elliot suggesting that they run a more compressed schedule but with the same number of races the only way to achieve that would be through adding midweek races I think that's an option but another one that also came to mind is they could do double headers similar to what they did in the co year remember when Pocono had two races in one weekend that's another way that they could shorten the schedule listening to Elliot I took away two key things first he suggesting that the schedule be more compressed because it would allow the drivers and teams more off time translation he's focusing on work life balance go check out the full interview and you can really sense how Elliot as he's matured has really put a priority on things that matter to him spending time with those close to him being near the top but the other thing that HMS pilot clearly states as a reason for shortening the schedule is quote you could eliminate having to compete against football because that's just not one you're ever going to win end quote which takes me to Dell Junior's comments on the matter this week on the Dell Junior download the Nascar Hall of Famer and his crew were talking about how weather affected the race this past weekend in Michigan something NASCAR fans know has happened all too often in 2024 and naturally when that happens and the race gets pushed back or postponed to the next day the subject of race start times always comes up take a listen to what nhart had to say about who decides the start times the start times are predicted by and chosen by networks and they they they influence that mostly and they know what the hell they're doing they want to put this race where they feel like it'll get the best number that's as simple as it is it's not a NASCAR Choice NASCAR senior vice president of broadcasting and Innovation Brian Herpst appeared on the Dell Jr download reloaded segment this week and address the topic providing specific numbers discussions like this happen there tend to be no perfect answers we do the best can with imperfect scenarios balancing all the different stakeholders that are in the sport it's the fans at the track it's the fans that are watching at home it's the teams it's the drivers it's the sponsors it's the TV Partners um so in any scheduling discussion that we have Market by market or start times itself you're talking about six seven eight different sets of stakeholders oems sponsor partners that we take into consideration whenever we make a a call um like that if we have 50,000 people at Michigan that are there that are watching the race on site we have 3 million people that are watching a a typical NASCAR race at home the rule of them that we use for every hour that we start later that's an extra 5% in terms of viewership so if we start at 3 p.m. versus 1 p.m. that's about 10% so 5% per hour 10% for those two hours um so for a race that we're running at 3 P.M that draws an average of 3 million viewers we would expect that race to draw 2.7 million viewers if we ran it at uh 1 p.m. Blended across different kind of averages so you're looking at giving up about 300,000 viewers or so so according to herps there are a variety of stakeholders but the most important thing he said was how 300,000 viewers are lost if you move up the start time from 300 p.m. to 1 p.m. now let's return to what nhart said on his podcast and he mentioned how NASCAR wants to avoid going up against any show that might have a large audience so competing against the NFL isn't viewed as a good idea but then he said this and took a completely opposing Viewpoint from Elliot I also o think why not go up against the NFL I mean it ain't it ain't about us against them it's just like why avoid why are we avoiding the big guy because you lose viewers don't you think there's going to be some casual NASCAR fans who oh if I have to choose we can't we can't ever gain those viewers if we don't go battle what if they could watch both though no they can I mean they can this day and age but I've always I've always felt like why are we running why we running away from that why don't I I NASCAR to me is number one NASCAR to me is the best thing going NASCAR to me can start at one freaking o'clock if it wants to NASCAR don't have to settle for three because that's a better time slot when we all know one o'clock is the best time slot the NFL is sitting on 1:00 because it's great NFL ain't starting at three because it's better they start at one cuz that's better right and so I just don't I just don't like the idea that we're we're settling I feel it feels like we settle uh or it feels like we're we're having to maneuver uh because of the bigger bigger thing in the room right like we're like the undercard we're on the weight yeah we're the under yes I that's the vibe I get so I think if you're going to act like and portray and be the underdog you'll always be the underdog and people are going to see you as the underdog in my mind and and listen I don't do this is probably why I don't need to be running this is because I'd be so hard-headed and like no man I ain't moving I ain't moving over I this is my space and this is where I want to be and I'm going to put my race on at this time and I don't care what the number say I don't care what the status say I don't care I don't care and my viewership number would likely L but I feel like over the long gain I would be better off as herbs indicated viewership would decline by 5% per hour but nhart didn't stop there and the download conversation took an interesting turn when the crew started talking about consistent start time how how long have we had these these you know three-ish o'clock starts a long time they've been around a while right and I still and not programmed I mean if I'm not programmed I'm plugged into this this is my life and I'm not freaking programmed like I'm not like oh yeah man I know when the race starts I don't got a freaking clue I've got to always go look on my phone or look on the NASCAR app to see what time the race is going to start because I don't know and so maybe um maybe this is not true but I felt like that when I was growing up 1:00 was when the race started now let's break down everything that nhart had to say and let's start with his mindset about NASCAR and how it is no doubt number one in his mind it's the top dog not the underdog I respect and can relate to that and I have to say in my years of covering NASCAR I have not followed the NFL closely at all that's because my priority is NASCAR so I get it now when you think about what erard said and compare it with what Elliot said in his interview they're the complete opposite Elliot doesn't think there's a chance to win when going up against football nhart acknowledges that that's the Viewpoint of many fans but he wants to change it or at least try to change it the million-dollar question is can it be done personally I think it can and a consistent 1 p.m starting time would do it emphasis on the consistent I know I know NASCAR said that 300 p.m. is when the most viewers are watching moving it up to 1: p.m. loses 10% of the viewers those are the facts according to NASCAR so let me explain my logic and I first want to take a look at the 300 p.m. time slot we all know the positive of starting at 3: and it's a big one and that's more viewers which bottom line is more dollars hard to argue with that however on the flip side those later starts as we saw this past weekend in Michigan can be adversely affected by weather it affected the viewing audience at home which dropped from 2.11 million viewers on you USA Network Sunday to 1.11 million on Monday half the number the crowd at the track was also dramatically smaller for those fans at the track for many of them this is their one chance to see a race all year and in many cases they had driven hours and hundreds of miles to do so with the postponement they didn't get to see the full race had a bad experience and left with a bad taste in their mouth who knows maybe that's a reason they don't come back next year will they tune in maybe but that's not what you want you want fans who are willing and able to attend races in person it's an experience that watching on television doesn't even compare and more importantly at the track is where firsttime fans become lifelong fans as for the fans watching on TV ask yourself this how many times in the last few years have you tuned into a race started watching it but then the Reigns came you switched to something else or went and did something else and never return to the race because you knew the track didn't have lights like Michigan and there was a good chance they wouldn't finish the race on Sunday I'm sure there are more than a few of you who can relate to that again another bad experience so to me at least a couple of times each year NASCAR fans both at the track and at home are soured on the sport by the weather and it's connected to that 300 p.m. time slot which takes me back to the point Dell was making a about NASCAR competing against football football has two advantages over NASCAR all stadiums have lights and it's a sport they can play when it's raining so weather and darkness are not a factor for the NFL or college football they can start whenever they want not true for NASCAR so the Network's pushing the NASCAR starts to the 3pm slot puts the sport at a disadvantage at least in those instances again I know rain doesn't affect every race but when it does does and if it turns away one fan isn't that one too many however if you move it to 1 p.m. I think it achieves multiple things first weather becomes much less of a factor that doesn't mean it won't affect it at all but that 2 hours extra is a lot more wiggle room from Nascar to get in a complete race fans at the track and those watching at home know when they tune into a race even with weather potentially involved there's a greater likelihood it finishes on that day a good experience all around but I really believe the key to moving it to 1 p.m. and making it work which I also think it would bring on board even more fans than what are currently tuning in at 3 pm is this consistency think about it nhart who is one of NASCAR's biggest ambassadors talked about how he's not programmed to know what time the RAC has come on and has to look it up on the NASCAR app I'm not going to lie I'm in the same boat I do the same thing every weekend here's why go take a look at the current NASCAR schedule for the final dozen races and there are five different start times yeah five so if you move the start time up to one weather is much less of an issue and fans will be more willing to tune in because they know they'll likely see a full race and if you start all races at one like it was done in the past and keep it there every Sunday fans will develop a routine and tune in every Sunday at the same time over time there's no reason that consistency doesn't convert into increased viewership at a minimum it won't result in losing viewers it just makes sense now before we wrap up I want to mention this for those of you who have followed NASCAR for a few decades this might feel like Groundhog Day why take a look at a couple of Articles from 2009 first in the sports Media Watch article the opening of the article reads in an attempt to combat declining ratings NASCAR races will have consistent earlier start times next season and the article concludes with fans had previously complained about the trend of NASCAR races beginning later in the day in a conference call discussing the scheduling changes Fox Sports chairman David Hill acknowledged that quote traditional early Sunday afternoon start times are favored by NASCAR fans who both attend races and watch on television end quote additionally research has shown NASCAR fans are entrenched in their tradition of noon to 10000 p.m. starts and listen to what Brian France had to say about that same topic in an ESPN article NASCAR fans have been asking for earlier and more consistent start times and we are making this change for our fans beginning with the Daytona 500 next February we are revisiting our Sports tradition of earlier green flags and the attic consistency will make it easier for fans to know exactly when the races are being televised it's been done before why can it be done again all right guys that's a wrap on this episode I'm curious to hear what you think about it do you agree with Chase Eliot or Dell nhart can NASCAR be viewed as a top dog versus football and if you think so what will it take to make it happen will the 1 p.m start times work or do you still prefer the 300 p.m. time slot thanks as always for supporting the channel and have a great rest of your day