2009 NASCAR Preview, Pt. 1: The Economy and the Trickle-Down Effect

As we prepare for Daytona and the 35 races that follow, here is the first part to my preseason thoughts about 2009 and the effect of the economy on NASCAR.

2009 will be about the mega teams (Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Richard Childress Racing).They have the funding and the sponsors to run all their teams full time.

We will see the future of this sport in how teams like Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing perform. While these teams have some of the better equipment, it remains to be seen how that can equate to the track.

Many of the smaller teams are running part-time schedules. They don't have the sponsorship and some don't have the equipment to compete with the likes of HMS or JGR. We will see this trend continue in 2009 as smaller teams are forced to cut jobs and trim back their racing programs just to stay afloat.

We will see guys like Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick out there each week, but it's not known if teams like MWR will be able to keep up in 2009 with both the large teams and the economy.

It is possible that the Sprint Cup series will see some races where they won't have 43 cars at the green flag. If things don't change, we will see less entries come Thursday of a race weekend as teams quickly close shop because of the economy. 

I hope this is not the case. I hope that we never have to discuss the fact that less than 43 cars started a race. But it's not an unlikely scenario.

What we need to watch is not how many teams are at Daytona but how many teams show up to California. For many sponsors, they signed up for one-race deals just to have their product on one of the biggest sporting events in the U.S., but not for the other 35 races.

We will see many teams scrambling the Monday following Daytona to line up sponsorship, and we may even see the white race car. It could be more than one race team out there racing without sponsors. But you can only run for so long without a sponsor in NASCAR, so don't expect the trend to last.

On the other side of the track, the economy has already affected testing, as some teams are eliminating it and choosing whether to close shop or merge just to have cars entered each week.

And up in the stands, fans are choosing whether to feed their families or attend a race, and are choosing the former. Attendance at tracks has been affected as fans cut back to survive the recession.

Some drivers are trying to help the fans out. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin is purchasing tickets for races and giving them away to his fans who register on his Web site.

How will NASCAR react, though? What will they do to accommodate the fans who are struggling to make ends meet? 

It won't take long to see; Daytona International Speedway cut ticket prices to the lowest they have been in over a decade. Tracks are offering ticket package and incentives for the hotel industry to accommodate the fans.

Even the well-paid drivers are cutting back, like the rest of us. Jeff Gordon has been flying commercially this offseason. He and his family live in New York, so traveling on private jets back and forth can become expensive. Other drivers are cutting back their use of airplanes and flying back and forth on race weekends.

Some have gone so far as to offer up a salary cutback. Gordon said he was willing to take the cutback if it meant not letting go of mechanics and crew members.

Finally, changes at the tracks could be in store. "Experts" said NASCAR built too big, but as NASCAR attendance is well over 100,000 people a race, more than many NFL, NBA and MLB games, building big was the way to go.

The difference between NASCAR and those sports is that NASCAR has done little to adjust to the economy. No parking or ticket reduction fees have been announced yet. While some tracks have begun to help fans out, it has to be across the board, not just one or two tracks.

Many tracks offer ticket packages for weekend races that can cost well over $200 for just one ticket. NASCAR needs to come to an agreement with the tracks to set a ticket price that is affordable for its fans. 

NASCAR fans are loyal. They will attend races. But when they are barely scraping by, they can't afford to shell out $200 a ticket for a family of four.

NASCAR can't afford to just talk about what it wants to do to help the sport survive. It's time to see them really take steps to accommodate the fans. If that doesn't happen, then 2009 will be the beginning of a new economic era in NASCAR.

Survival of the richest.