Apparently Brian France didn’t get the memo, but most of the core and original NASCAR fans have moved on. For years they watched their favorite sport every Sunday, and then things began to change. NASCAR changed the point system, changed the series sponsor, changed the cars, and changed the way the sport is run. Notice the keyword here is “change”. Change is something that was not needed in the first place but NASCAR didn’t care. The core NASCAR fans have become outraged in recent years due to the decisions made by NASCAR.

So what has NASCAR done to try and win the fans back? They announced that Brooks and Dunn will be performing in the pre-race Daytona 500 concert. That is the only thing NASCAR has done so far to win the old fans back. Let’s face it, NASCAR left the original NASCAR fans in the dust in search of new fans, it is sad to see.

It is disappointing both as a journalist and NASCAR fan to see television ratings decline every week for the past three years. Race tracks have also been feeling the loss. Who could forget the amount of empty seats at Atlanta Motor Speedway back in the fall of 2007? The only way to fix this problem is to lower ticket prices back to a reasonable amount of money.

It was encouraging to hear that NASCAR is trying to return to its roots. But it is too little, too late. The core fans are long gone. They have lost trust in NASCAR and most likely will never return. It is now time for NASCAR to wake up and stop making changes. Let the fans heal their wounds before you go off and make another major change.

NASCAR deserves credit for attempting to gain a new type of fans. But the plan ultimately failed. It was encouraging to see some of the changes NASCAR made take a positive affect at Daytona last weekend. But NASCAR made too many changes too quickly and lost many fans because of it.