Kevin Harvick: “Don’t Watch NASCAR”

Well okay, that's not quite how he worded it. But his solution for those fans who don't like restrictor plate "racing" isn't drastically different:

Tell them to watch something else. If they don't like it, they don't have to turn the TV on. That is the way I look at it. I thought [Saturday's Budweiser Shootout] was pretty exciting. I think [such fans] are going to complain just to complain sometimes. It was an exciting race from start to finish. I have a hard time with people like that.

Okay, I'll give it up for the Shootout: there were a handful of pretty sweet passes including Harvick's move that earned him the win, but on the other hand, the thing was a crash-fest. And, yet again, we had a crash that ended the race under caution.

This is rather symptomatic of restrictor plate racing. The field is bunched up in huge packs lap after lap and the "passing" is dictated by who happens to be in the right lane and gets the necessary aerodynamic push to make a pass happen. The excitement doesn't come from one driver overtaking another, since they're all running side-by-side and often three-wide for several rows. The excitement is generated merely by the tension of knowing that they're inches away from having a big wreck. A big wreck that inevitably happens.

The end of the race tends to be the most difficult to watch. As a fan, you're eager for the race to get into a rhythm for a run down to the finish. Instead, you end up seeing impatient drivers causing one caution after another after another until the race is finally completed. And oftentimes the winner was the guy who just happened to be out in front when the final yellow came out (see: 2009 Daytona 500 and Budweiser Shootout).

Of course it's hard to know the full context of Harvick's comments from such a short blurb. However, in fairness to fans, the majority of complaining that NASCAR has responded to in the past 5-10 years has been that raised by the drivers, car owners, sponsors and media types. The fans have been largely ignored.

When fans have legitimate gripes, I'm not sure that the best response is, "If you don't like it, don't watch." I have been hearing that retort for many years now. And based on recent attendance and television rating trends, it appears that advice is being taken. I don't think that having a disgruntled fan base is a good move for the sport. The fans are the customers and ultimately they're more important to Harvick's success as a race car driver than the patches on his uniform.