By: Kelly Crandall | September 26, 2018 2:42 PM NASCAR will continue to push forward without Brian France, at least for the foreseeable future.“I can’t look into the future and see what that’s going to look like,” soon-to-be NASCAR president Steve Phelps said Wednesday when asked if France would be returning. “Brian is doing what he needs to do at this particular point. We’re focused on what we need to do at this point.”

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France is on an indefinite leave of absence from the sport to “focus on my personal affairs” after his Aug. 7 arrest in Sag Harbor Village, New York for aggravated driving while intoxicated and criminal possession of a controlled substance (oxycodone). It was reported last week that France has pleaded not guilty and his next scheduled court date is Oct. 5. In the meantime, his uncle Jim France has been named NASCAR chairman and CEO.The sanctioning body has been quiet about France and his future. However, the “interim” title for Jim France was conspicuously absent from a recent press release from NASCAR, and Phelps did not use the word when referencing Jim France during a gathering with the media on Wednesday.And when it comes to another part of NASCAR’s future following reports earlier this year a stake in the sport was for sale, Phelps said he didn’t have anything new to add.“What I will say is that, if you’ve been at a racetrack you’ve seen Jim France there,” said Phelps. “From the moment that he was announced as the Chairman and CEO of NASCAR replacing Brian, he has been at the racetrack, and he’s at the racetrack three and four days every single week.“Jim France, Lesa France Kennedy are committed to this sport, and they will continue to have their hand on this sport for a long, long time.”

By: Kelly Crandall September 26, 2018 2:32 PM Before Steve Phelps officially becomes the fourth president of NASCAR next week, he held his first extended media availability Wednesday afternoon.At the NASCAR offices in Charlotte, North Carolina, Phelps (pictured) entertained a group of reporters for an on-the-record conversation that lasted over an hour. Among the questions that Phelps answered were those on team ownership, competition and business, schedule changes, Brian France’s future and that stake in NASCAR that was rumored to be up for sale earlier this year.Here are a few of Phelps’ more noteworthy responses:Anything you can tell us about the 2019 package?
“Nothing to report on the 2019 package; we are obviously getting a lot of input from teams, broadcast partners, tracks, drivers, and we’re not going to have 100 percent alignment. And when you have something that is a significant competition issue, you’re going to have differences of opinion but when we’re ready to announce that, which will be relatively shortly, I think the industry will come together and say, yes, this is what’s in the best interest of the industry, and that’s the package we’re going to run.

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“What we’re trying to [do] is whatever that 2019 rules package is going to be is pretty simple: We want to have the best racing we can and what is going to deliver against that promise we make to our race fans which is close competitive side-by-side racing. That’s a goal we’re always focused on.”On trying to grow team ownership and Furniture Row Racing closing
“We’re sorry to see Barney [Visser] go, frankly. Barney is a gentle giant, kind of a quiet force. We don’t want to see ownership leave or owners switch like that, and particularly when you have someone who is your reigning owner of your champion. With that said, there are circumstances that happened as part of his deal from an expense standpoint and from a sponsorship standpoint that he didn’t feel he could make work. Some family things, whatever he wants to share with you all.“Do I think it’s systemic? I don’t. Do we need to have and would we welcome new owners to come into the sport? We would. We welcome new OEMs to come into the sport, and we’re on that journey as well. It’s an important thing. Our owners who love this sport, and many who have been in it for decades, we want to make sure there is a transition to new ownership as well and in a way that benefits the sport.”Any progress on the new sponsorship model NASCAR mentioned?
“We’re meeting with teams and tracks, with our broadcast partners to try to fine-tune what that looks like. We are continuing on that. We want to make, like ownership, the sport as easy as it can be for sponsorship to come in and say yes. Reward those sponsors that are currently in the sport so they want to stay. So, we’re continuing on that. It’s something we are interested in implementing in the 2020 season but it won’t be a full rollout. We have sponsors who are in place at the track level, we have sponsors who are in place at the sanctioning body level that we have to honor those contracts and see where they go from there.”What is a suitable attendance number for a track like Richmond, and should a track that’s lost roughly seven percent of its crowd twice a year be allowed to keep two races?
“I won’t try to be Pollyannaish about this at all – I don’t know what the optimal crowd is for a Richmond or for any other facility, frankly. What I do know is we need to make sure the race product that we put on the track is as good as it can be, which is what we’re going to do.“We do know that the race-day experience or the race-day weekend is really important, so we’re working with our tracks to have them understand that, and we need to reinvent what I would call the event promotion and what that looks like. And that gets back to a collaboration effort which we are going to see to between our racetracks, NASCAR, our broadcast partners and our teams and drivers in order to promote this sport in a way we haven’t in the past.

By: Kelly Crandall September 26, 2018 2:32 PM “That is really coming together, and then creating unique opportunities that reach fans and ask them to come out and see what’s going on with NASCAR — come see the racing, we’re putting out a good product, you’re going to have a great race-day experience. Whatever that may be. Other sports are attendance challenges as well. The consumption patterns, same with ratings, are changing and we need to make sure that we’re changing with those things. What we do to promote this sport in advance of getting people to go I think we need to take a hard look at, and we’re doing that. It’s part of our 2019 business plans, and we’re working with the racetracks to have them understand that we need to make a change and we have to work more collaboratively.”What do you see that allows you to believe this is still a good job to have and light at the end of the tunnel when there is a lot of doom and gloom projected toward the sport?
“Let me start with this: There has been a notion that I don’t understand at the team level that there’s headwinds that they have from a sponsorship standpoint. There are headwinds that they have from a sponsorship standpoint, and when you rely so much on that percentage, that’s very real. With that said, not trying to be Pollyannaish about it or put rose-colored glasses on it, we have more sponsorship than anyone, any sport. Which is just a fact. As it relates to my taking this job, I’m incredibly positive for what the future of this sport will be, not just can be, but will be because there’s a lot more things that I believe are going to happen to the sport that takes advantage of what we already have working for us.“Do I think the racing is really good right now? I do. Do I think we’re going to make it better? I believe we can. Do I think the business model for the teams is going to improve? I absolutely do. Do I think that we’ve had a confluence of different things happen to the sport with retiring of drivers? Yeah, we’ve had five of our most popular drivers, six maybe, that have retired in the last three years. Is that a headwind? Of course, it is.“With that said, no disrespect to the Big 3 and if you want to add Brad [Keselowski] and call it the Big Four, and the average age of those guys, we have an incredible group of young drivers that are in what is now the Monster Energy Cup Series, what is now the Xfinity Series and what will be the Gander Outdoor Truck Series, as well as folks that are coming up. Hailie Deegan. The JR Motorsports announcement yesterday with Noah Gragson. These young people are the future of our sport.“Two decades ago when you had a dozen drivers come into this sport and we rode that wave, that’s fantastic and now we’ve had retired drivers going about their lives and doing different things and it’s now the opportunity for younger drivers to come onto the scene. And they’re doing it with the backdrop of future Hall of Famers. These guys are at the top of their game winning races. They’re all Hall of Famers, the four guys I mentioned and many others. You think about who they’re racing against, I think it’s phenomenal. I’m incredibly encouraged by what the future looks like for our sport, and I’m ready to do my part and roll up the sleeves and make sure it happens.”How does ARCA fit into the future?
“Obviously we’ve had a lot of discussions and we’re in constant discussion with Ron (Drager, president) and his team on the ARCA side. Not exactly sure what it’s going to look like, specifically from a structure standpoint. But what I think makes a lot of sense for us is that you will have what is K&N East and K&N West and ARCA, and figure out how those three series work best together to create racing for the fans that they have of those three individual series, as well as what that model looks like, and an opportunity for us to use that as we do today for driver development.”

By: Kelly Crandall September 26, 2018 5:57 PM There is good news for those hoping the 2021 season might bring a freshness to the NASCAR schedule.

“We’re looking at everything,” said incoming NASCAR president Steve Phelps.New venues, mid-week racing and even doubleheaders have been among the ideas tossed around for NASCAR officials to consider. Conversation has ramped up in recent years that the sport needs a boost by shaking up its look.

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However, due to the five-year sanctioning agreements NASCAR signed with its racetracks in late 2015, the schedules are locked in until 2021 at the earliest, with shuffling mostly revolving around date changes, subtracting from one track (New Hampshire) and adding to another (Las Vegas) or Charlotte Motor Speedway going from an oval to road course. Of course, before making any change Phelps acknowledges discussions will be had within the industry.“And at the end of the day, we will take all that and cull it down and make a decision we believe is in the best interest of NASCAR,” he said.Indianapolis held a racing doubleheader with the Xfinity and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Monday afternoon because of rain. The Eldora race for the Camping World Truck Series is run in the middle of the week, always to high praise.Recently, eyebrows were raised because of ongoing plans by the Metro government in Nashville to revitalize the Fairgrounds and expressing interesting in bringing NASCAR racing back in town. Rockingham Speedway is also under new ownership. And there continue to be calls to explore other venues around the country, specifically short tracks and road courses.“I would say that everything is at play,” said Phelps. “So, whether that’s doubleheaders, pulling the schedule forward, back, this, that, it’s all in play, because there are stakeholders that think that’s the right direction to go in.”Phelps was also asked if the schedule and season need to end earlier than it does. NASCAR begins its season in mid-February and goes until Thanksgiving, with its playoffs positioned head-to-head with football.“I think there is a lot of discussion about that among the industry and hey, avoid the NFL as much as you can,” Phelps admitted. “Listen, there are a lot of things in play and we would rule out nothing at this particular point.“But again, we need to make sure we have all the input, have all the information necessary to make an informed decision that will allow us to get to what that [future] schedule would look like.”