Wooing Newcomers to 'NASCAR Nation'
New York TimesBut to attract that young, diverse audience, NASCAR must reckon with its past. It’s an open question how much a car can do to assuage a troubling history of discrimination. “NASCAR is doing some things, but they need to do more,” said Bill Lester, who in 1999 became one of the few African-American drivers in NASCAR, and said he was still uncomfortable at some tracks: “At Talladega? Shoot. At Martinsville, Virginia? I was sweating.”
The league is in a difficult position. Its economic clout grew out of its appeal to white working-class fans. For decades, it fostered an outlaw image true to its roots of good ol’ boy moonshiners outrunning the law in hopped-up coupes. By the 1990s, the largely white, right-leaning audience became an economic and political force known as “NASCAR Nation,” valued as the most brand-loyal consumers in sports. But fans warmly nostalgic for Old Dixie are aging out. The young, diverse spectators whom sponsors now want don’t get misty-eyed at the raising of the Confederate flag, which the league banned last year.
NASCAR’s challenge is to appeal to a new audience without alienating an old one, even as it seeks to distance itself from some of what that old audience held dear. The league’s strategy is all rolled up into Next Gen — to pay homage to the past and outrun it at the same time. Honoring the past, it looks like a stock vehicle to “put the ‘stock’ back in stockcar,” as NASCAR likes to say. Anticipating for the future, it can be converted to electric power.
Billions ride on the plan. NASCAR is due to enter negotiations for its broadcast rights, which previously brought an estimated $8 billion over 10 years. Delivering diverse viewers becomes a multibillion-dollar marketing imperative.
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supported "W". I just started watching some again after I got me a Bubba Wallace shirt! He's my new favorite driver. It doesn't really have anything to do with some redneck fans I know that hate him. 
If you arent cheating, you arent doing your job, which is true about all auto racing.
But how could you gain an advantage if they were electric, I would like to find out...it is what is needed.
I saw an event where both Barack and Bill Clinton were appearing, and in the crowd taking pics and smiling the bigest smile ever was Jeff Gordon, not sure if his wife was with him or not.
Dale Earnhardt Jr is liberalish, by the way. One of the first to tweet support for Colin Kaepernick when he was fired.
And there is now a generation coming up of liberalish drivers, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick and others.
That must mean I have the same talent as NBA players.
You have zero comprehension about what it takes to compete in professional motorsports
being altered, though, so unseemly background noise can be cut out of the media feeds. That spoiler should also put an end to the worst of it.
I noticed that, after confederate flags were banned last year, organizers of a race this year apologized after a driver snuck in a flag decal and finished one race with it mounted inside the car. Track officials were responsible for catching it, though.
about car stuff, while I pay somewhat less attention than if it were paint drying. 
