Brad Keselowski Exposes “the Scariest Part” About Number One Problem With NASCAR

RFK Racing owner driver Brad Keselowski has revealed that biggest issue with the business model of NASCAR tracks that is hurting everyone.

Brad Keselowski Exposes “the Scariest Part” About Number One Problem With NASCAR

Brad Keselowski (Via @Brad_Keselowski/X)

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NASCAR is going through one of it’s worse time regarding fan turnaround and TV ratings. Though there is an historical $1.1 billion TV contract, the viewership stats show compared to its peak years the sports have lost around 90% of it’s fans. 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski recently revealed one of the biggest reasons behind the sport’s drop in popularity.

On his latest appearance is the Stacking Pennies podcast hosted by Corey LaJoie, RFK Racing owner driver Brad Keselowski was asked about the issues the sport is facing. Being one of the brightest business minds in the sport, the veteran racer highlighted how the racetracks being run as the number one problem the sport is facing.

He pointed out that the business model of the NASCAR tracks is broken and they need immediate attention. They have no other revenue generating sources than NASCAR and are overly reliant on the broadcasting revenue share. The scariest part about the situation is that the tracks are comfortable with the situation.

The number one problem with the sport right now is the model with the tracks — that’s the number one issue, hands down, in my opinion. The tracks aren’t able to generate enough revenue on their own; they’re wholly reliant on the TV money. And they’re comfortable with that, which is the scariest part of all.

Brad Keselowski said via Stacking Pennies podcast.

This breeds more problem for NASCAR and the teams to slow, with some of them negatively affecting the roots of the sport. There isn’t enough promotions being done for the race weekends, which is affecting the ticket sales, which is an issue for the teams as their incentives for racing is getting reduced.

This creates a subset of problems that flow down through the ecosystem, where we don’t promote enough to the fans at the track to sell tickets. We cascade into other issues for the teams, because they’re not necessarily incentivized. The costs are mostly covered before the day ever starts.

Brad Keselowski added.

Brad Keselowski explains why NASCAR teams are losing their authenticity

Further talking about the point, Brad Keselowski explained the limited revenue sources due to broken business model makes it hard for teams as the become overly reliant on sponsorship. Evry decision the team now makes is correlated to their sponsorship situation.

Brad Keselowski (via Imago)
Brad Keselowski (via Imago)

This factor kills the authenticity of the team as well as their drivers, limiting their opportunity to build a brand beyond being just the ambassador for Fortune 500 companies. The drivers no longer can freely express themselves and show their true personality.

That flows down into revenue problems for the teams, which makes them wholly reliant on sponsorship. This creates another subset of issues where the authenticity of the drivers and people in the sport is decreased, because they’re beholden to representing Fortune 500 companies, or else they don’t have a job.

Brad Keselowski said.

The lack of personality has been one of the biggest reasons behind the sport no longer having a superstar driver whose influence goes beyond the sport. NASCAR and the racing community needs to address the situation, as well as find ways to solve it before the model become too broken to fix.

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