Earnhardt said. <\/a><\/p>\nHe emphasized that NASCAR\u2019s struggles didn\u2019t happen suddenly, and neither will its recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve made decisions that clearly haven\u2019t worked,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe\u2019re moving in the wrong direction in some areas, and correcting course isn\u2019t something you can do in a season or two. If we\u2019re serious about rebuilding this sport\u2019s popularity, we\u2019re talking about a 10- to 20-year process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former driver and current NBC Sports analyst also urged fans and industry leaders to manage expectations as the sport experiments with potential reforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if next year brings some smart changes, you\u2019re not going to see huge gains right away. It\u2019s going to take time for fans to buy in again, for the culture and excitement around NASCAR to rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n
He made it clear that fans and the industry should brace for the long haul. \u201cIf you\u2019re trying to get this sport back to where it was in its peak or anywhere close, that\u2019s going to take your a*s a decade or two,\u201d Earnhardt said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a long time, for sure.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest areas he believes NASCAR should address is the current playoff format. Earnhardt has long been critical of the elimination-style system, saying it rewards short-term streaks rather than season-long excellence. He suggested two possible fixes: either eliminating the playoff altogether and crowning the driver with the most points over the full 36-race season, or shrinking the playoff from 10 races to a tighter four-race format.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I believe going to a 36-race format is better? Absolutely,\u201d Earnhardt said. \u201cIf they did change it to 36 or whatever they go to \u2014 if it\u2019s a four-race, six-race final round, some middle ground \u2014 whatever they change it to next year, the numbers, the viewership\u2026 if anything, it\u2019ll be just a bump better.\u201d<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that even a good change might only move the needle \u201cfive to ten percent better\u201d in the short term.<\/p>\n
For Earnhardt, the real challenge lies in rebuilding NASCAR\u2019s foundation, restoring the cultural connection that once made it one of the most-watched sports in America.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis getting back to where we want to go is a long game,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t build something that big and that great in a 12-month period.\u201d<\/p>\n
He believes that the sport\u2019s decline didn\u2019t come from a single decision but a series of gradual shifts over the past 10 to 15 years \u2014 from scheduling and rule changes to the loss of some of its most iconic personalities. Those cumulative effects, he said, eroded the sport\u2019s momentum, and rebuilding that fan trust will take time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can destroy this thing quickly,\u201d Earnhardt warned. \u201cBut to build it back is going to take a long period of time. If we don\u2019t change it, if we don\u2019t go away from what we\u2019re doing today, we\u2019re going to continue on this route that none of us like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the sobering message, Earnhardt remains hopeful that meaningful changes \u2014 even small ones \u2014 can begin the process of rebuilding NASCAR\u2019s identity. But he urged everyone involved, from fans to executives, to stay patient. \u201cWhatever changes come, you have to buckle in and own it for a while because it\u2019s not going to start to produce results immediately,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take a while to build it back. It\u2019s kind of like you\u2019ve got to start from scratch in terms of rebuilding the reputation and popularity of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dale Earnhardt Jr. readily admits NASCAR is struggling to attract fans \u2013 both for at-track attendance and also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,14056,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-220320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-dale-earnhardt-jr","11":"tag-nascar","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}