The young drivers of NASCAR have unfairly shouldered the blame for the sport’s decline in popularity.
And yet hours after Chase Elliott won his first Cup race at Watkins Glen on Sunday, the sport took a blow that totally undermined the 22-year-old star’s feat.
Brian France, the auto racing body’s 56-year-old CEO and chairman who took over for his father 15 years ago, was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated and possession of five oxycodone pills.
France took an indefinite leave of absence from NASCAR, handing the reins over to his uncle, Jim France, who has assumed the role of interim chairman and CEO and is assisted by Lesa France Kennedy, Brian’s sister.
This isn’t the first time France has had trouble with the law, and it is far more serious than the usual awkward and off-putting stunts by the third-generation NASCAR boss.
So where is the real problem with NASCAR? It’s not because of young drivers aren’t winning enough, and it certainly isn’t because three drivers – Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. – are dominating the season.
NASCAR’s biggest problem is that it has no clear direction, at least not one it has shared with the rest of us, and no front-facing leader who will answer questions and share their vision for the future.
A Brian France press conference is beyond a rarity. Aside from random and hollow appearances on NASCAR’s Sirius XM station, the top dog at NASCAR stays in the shadows. He is not a presence in the garage on race weekends, a far cry from his father, former CEO Bill France Jr., who was known to attend races and interact with fans and race teams.
Brian, on the other hand, was in the same state as the rest of NASCAR last weekend but was apparently divulging in different activities some 350 miles away in the posh Hamptons.
Hopefully Jim France is willing to pull the curtain back and be more transparent.
There was a beautiful moment at the end of Sunday’s race at The Glen. Elliott ran out of gas shortly after crossing the finish, preventing him from spinning a burnout in front of the fans cheering his name. They got to see something better instead, a personified passing of the torch from Jimmie Johnson to Elliott as the seven-time NASCAR champion pushed his Hendrick teammate back to the front stretch so the celebration could begin.
NASCAR’s future and its past were celebrated last weekend at The Glen with Elliott’s first Cup win and the announcement that his father, hall of famer Bill Elliott, will pilot an Xfinity car at Road America on Aug. 25.
The elder Elliott, at age 62, was elected 16 times as NASCAR’s most popular driver through the 1980s and ’90s. Fans voted Dale Earnhardt Jr. the most popular driver 15 times, and Junior’s move out of the car and into the broadcast booth paves the way for a new fan favorite. The younger Elliott could be the next, and his win Sunday was a step in that direction.
But the troubles with the present state of NASCAR and its lack of leadership reared its ugly head just hours after the conclusion of the race and set the sport more than a few steps back.
There are only four races left until the playoff field is set, starting this weekend at Michigan followed by Bristol, Darlington and Indianapolis.
Elliott became the eighth race winner this season, leaving eight spots for drivers to make the playoffs on points. The other drivers already locked into the playoffs are Kyle Busch (six wins), Kevin Harvick (six), Martin Truex Jr. (four), Clint Bowyer (two), Joey Logano (one), Erik Jones (one) and Austin Dillon (one).
Everyone else is trying to win one of these next four races to join the group chasing the championship, but with the dominance of Busch, Harvick and Truex, we may not see another driver get their first win before playoffs begin. Elliott had to hold off Truex to win at The Glen where both drivers were running to the finish line on fumes. Truex ran out of gas coming into the final turn.
Currently, the final eight playoff spots would go to Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman based on points.
The first driver on the bubble is Ricky Stenhouse Jr., but he is a long way from catching Bowman on points with 62 points separating them. Behind Stenhouse is Paul Menard, who is 72 points behind the cutoff.
If a winless driver takes the checkered flag this weekend, that would move the cutoff line up to Jimmie Johnson, who is 40 points ahead of his Hendrick teammate Bowman.
(Nick Stoico can be reached at nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)