Photo – AP

If you can remember a televised race without a leaderboard when, after going to use the restroom coming back and just assuming the car being shown on television was the leader, maybe you can relate to this.

A lot of negativity, concern and speculation are very present for some NASCAR fans about the steadily diminishing ratings and numbers on all fronts of the sport year after year. An in-depth investigation into the continued trends of what is happening could lead one to believe there won’t much of a sport left in a few more seasons. What the statistics cannot show and express is an overwhelming rise in popularity for the sport and the slow decline and aftermath that has followed from that point.

At the height of Dale Earnhardt’s career and during Jeff Gordon’s early stardom there was a lot of growing interest for the sport of NASCAR which was continually gaining and spreading across the country. By the turn of the century, uproar of new fans and a myriad of businesses were ready to affiliate themselves and join the bandwagon of professional stock car racing. Continue reading →