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The last time Alex Bowman was at Martinsville Speedway over a weekend when the NASCAR Cup Series was coming to town, he announced that he was returning from a concussion in time for last season’s finale.
His return announcement was certainly a big deal.
But Bowman was under no illusions on Saturday: the return of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott this weekend is attracting attention he never got.
“Obviously he’s the most popular driver,” Bowman told reporters at the Martinsville Speedway media center on Saturday. He then smiled demurely, “I mean, you didn’t see I got a TV advert when I came back.”
Elliott, NASCAR’s most popular driver for five consecutive years and one of the few codified stars in the sport, announced Thursday that he would be returning to Cup Series competition in Martinsville. He has spent the last six races outside of the Cup car, recovering from a fractured tibia in his left leg following a snowboarding accident that required immediate surgery.
And NASCAR got quite a stir with it. Promotional materials used ahead of Sunday’s race (3pm FS1, Sirius XM Radio) include targeted tweets, promotional emails – and, as Bowman mentioned, a television commercial that premiered Friday night and will certainly make its rounds this weekend.
It’s not just Elliott’s teammates and the sanctioning authority who are excited about Elliott’s return in the No. 9 Cup car.
It is also the largest part of the garage area.
“Well it’s affecting our TV ratings, I know that for sure,” Kevin Harvick replied to a question about Elliott’s return. “There are more people who want to see when Chase Elliott is here. And I think we’re all grateful that he’s back.
“Whether you like someone, dislike someone, get along with someone or not – everyone has a piece of the puzzle that they fall into. And Chase is our biggest star for us, and he’s the guy that has to be here every week to make everything make sense in the moment.”
TV ratings reigned supreme in the NASCAR world this season. According to a report by ShowBuzzDaily.com, last weekend’s Cup race on the dirt track at Bristol Motor Speedway garnered an average Nielsen rating of 1.88 and attracted 3.45 million viewers on FOX. That was down from a rating of 2.19 and 4.007 million viewers of the same race last year.
According to sportsnaut.com, attendance at every other race this season has fallen compared to last year. The worst drop was a 41.8% drop in viewership in Richmond (although this year’s race was on FS1 while the 2022 race was on FOX).
However, it’s worth noting that NASCAR had a stellar year in 2022, drawing 114.231 million viewers last season. It’s also worth noting that NASCAR isn’t alone in this decline in numbers.
Per a report by Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal, the three major motorsports of the March 5 race saw a decline in viewership: Fox earned 3.991 million viewers at NASCAR in Las Vegas (down from 4.544 million a year earlier); ESPN received 1.318 million for the Formula 1 opener (a slight decrease from 1.353 million last year); and NBC received 1.189 million for the IndyCar opener (up from 1.405 million last year).
“The TV ratings are so weird to watch, aren’t they?” Harvick continued. “Let’s just exclude the NFL, and if you look at everything else, it seems like people are watching less TV and consuming things in different ways.
“So they really want to focus on keeping things fresh and I think that’s exactly what we need to do: keep working on the product and trying to make sure we have stars.”
Denny Hamlin is one of the codified stars of the sport alongside his ownership responsibilities at 23XI Racing and his driving skills at Joe Gibbs Racing. He even has his own podcast with the goal of garnering a NASCAR audience that lifts all boats.
He shared his thoughts on the sport’s collapse in TV ratings on Saturday.
“I think there’s a lot of room we can improve on a lot of fronts,” Hamlin said. “I think the on-track product was pretty much what it was in other years. Can’t say it was better/worse, maybe a little bit better on the short track stuff. A lot of things that you can’t really see from the television point of view. We can get better at everything: fan education, production, all of that can get better.”
It’s possible Elliott’s return will be triumphant considering he previously won at Martinsville. And a good run for the 27-year-old star would be good for the sport: his popularity is attributed to his success rather than personality – and the 2020 Cup Series champion was briefly knocked out of the competition when he was near his peak Forces after a second place finish at Auto Club Speedway.
But that he’s been good in previous runs at Martinsville may not be a good indicator of Sunday’s results. The 0.526-mile course is undeniably a ‘tough’ circuit to come back from an injury: there’s a lot of braking (that his left leg has to endure), a lot of bumps.
“He picked a difficult one to come back to!” said Bubba Wallace with a chuckle. “The man was bored on the couch, I guess. I think it’s good for the sport to have him back.
“He’s everyone’s favorite for a reason.”