‘Playoff’ format doesn’t stir interest

A couple of weeks ago, Tony Stewart criticized the motor sports media for writing too negatively about the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Stewart also shared the blame -- the closest he's ever come to being part of the Fourth Estate -- for at times being too critical of the racing organization.

I respect and like Tony so much that I have vowed to buy Old Spice once it's sold at Office Depot.

Tony didn't convince me to start flying a NASCAR flag, but I was willing to chug a little NASCAR Kool-Aid and be ready to spray some around our newsroom once NASCAR revealed what was supposed to be a radically changed Cup schedule for 2011. I had a second bottle ready for when NASCAR detailed how much greater it was going to make its 10-race Chase for the championship.

Although next year's schedule has not been released in its entirety, enough announcements were made by tracks this week to show it will be much of the same. My first celebration went flat.

NASCAR is allowing its symbiotic partner International Speedway Corp. to move one race from its speedway in Fontana, Calif., to Kansas Speedway because a promise of two annual races was made to the state of Kansas to help the track land support for an on-site casino-resort. Great, two races on another 1.5-mile track. In the middle of nowhere.

NASCAR allowed Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns Las Vegas Motor Speedway, to move one of two races from its Atlanta track to give SMI's Kentucky Speedway its first. At least NASCAR can venture into a new, large market.

The ISC track near Chicago will open next year's Chase instead of the track in Loudon, N.H., which is owned by SMI.

With not much changing in the schedule, my positive focus shifted to pending announcements about a new and improved Chase, which will start at ISC-owned Chicagoland on a mid-September Sunday afternoon. That's when most of the area's media and potential ticket buyers will be more interested in a Chicago Bears game and possibly the White Sox and Cubs in pennant races. Well, maybe just the Pale Hose.

That's when it came to me: The Chase is partly to blame for fan interest and attendance waning. It began well before the economy crashed like Elliott Sadler at Pocono.

When the Chase was introduced for the 2004 season, it sent the wrong message -- and still does.

That move implied the races, especially the last 10, are so weak that unless a "playoff" system is fabricated to spur interest, there aren't enough good reasons to show up or watch.

People don't buy tickets to follow NASCAR's title march. They buy tickets to watch races. Las Vegas Motor Speedway draws about 150,000 fans to its Cup race, and it's the third one of the year, when thoughts of championships are too remote to consider.

Interest in racing has always dropped in the fall when racing begins competing with pro and college football. A pseudo-playoff hasn't helped and won't. No matter how much pablum NASCAR spews, there isn't much difference between the action at the March race in Martinsville and the Chase version in October at the Virginia track.

NASCAR should drop the pretense that using 10 races to a crown champion is a cure-all.

Focus on 36 races and how to broaden the base. That's what really matters.

I'm positive about that.

Jeff Wolf's motor sports column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247. Visit Wolf's motor sports blog at lvrj.com/blogs/heavypedal/ throughout the week.