Take 5: Five Thoughts Heading Into Phoenix

Take 5 – Texas ratings were up but it wasn’t because of the fights.

Yes, this past weekends race at Texas did its best numbers since 2011. Yes, this past weekends race at Texas was only the second time in the last eight races that NASCAR has seen a 2014 race beat the ratings of a 2013 race. Yes, the Texas race was a part of the chase so it’s plausible to say that the chase helped the ratings of the Texas race. All of that aside, please do not think that the brawl after the race had anything to do with the rating. First off, nobody knew that there was going to be a brawl after the race so how would anyone have tuned in for that reason? Secondly, the brawl was a very small percentage of the total air-time of the broadcast and even if a million people tuned in for the last few moments of coverage it would not have shifted the overall number all that much. When it comes to the new chase format and the ratings, it’s going to be a slow process. NASCAR won’t even be able to gauge the impact of the new chase until the 2015 chase comes around. With all the action and drama of the 2014 chase the hope for NASCAR is that 2015 numbers increase from those of 2014. If the numbers in 2015 are up it will be the first sign that the chase is having a positive impact and it might be reason to say that fans are tuning in to see more fights.