“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.

Image by Jarrett/LAT

“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.”

Image by Harrelson/LAT

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.”