Keselowski Calls For Fourth Manufacturer To Enter NASCAR, Wants More TV Programming

'Bad Brad' Keselowski

Seemingly always ready to share a frank opinion on the state of his sport, Brad Keselowski was true to form during a one-on-one interview at the ’14 NASCAR Motorsports Marketing Forum, where the driver voiced both cautious optimism about the new Chase format and concern about challenges ahead. Keselowski said he views NASCAR today as being "in a good position."

Keselowski: "We've kind of hit a spot where we feel somewhat steady, but we certainly have challenges ahead of us. … The NASCAR sponsorship market has leveled off. We’re seeing a lot of sponsors re-up, a few new ones come in and a few exit. It seems to be at a fairly steady rate. We have NASCAR fans kind of in a box. Everybody looks at NASCAR fans as baby boomers, and I saw that the average NASCAR fan is about seven years older than the average fan of sports. That's a challenge, but also one thing that comes to mind is, How do we transfer to winning over Millennials?"

He added, "This Chase — people ask me how it went, and the first thing I would say is, it was a great finish to the year, but I would say give it some more time and let it play out as there's a lot of scenarios that will continue to unfold. I think, as with anything, you need time and patience to really measure." As a direct example of the issues that remain, Keselowski pointed out that his Camping World Truck Series team is losing about $1M annually, but he added that he is taking that on the chin for now because he feels compelled to reinvest in the sport. When asked whether NASCAR should focus on courting new fans or placating old ones, he responded, "That's the thing — when people say things like that, it really draws some things to my mind, like traffic after our race, which is a huge challenge for our fan experience. That doesn't matter if you're a Millennial, baby boomer or what age you are. No one likes to sit in traffic for three hours after a race."

MORE TV PROGRAMMING NEEDED: Keselowski appealed to media-rights holders to devote more shoulder programming to the sport. He said, "We talk about our rights holders. I'd love to see more programming. I look back to 2004-05, when we had a lot of growth and saw a lot of NASCAR programming that really transcended just the race itself. Shows like ‘NASCAR 24/7,' where you had access to a driver and it ran on FX and Speed Channel. We really need that programming back. It would be a huge win for our sport." He also wants to see a fourth manufacturer enter the sport. Keselowski, who has raced for four different manufacturers, said, "When Toyota entered the sport, they really upped the ante for all the other manufacturers and increased the spend from Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge. Looking forward … I think one of the keys is bringing in a fourth manufacturer. Because what you see happen is when we increase revenue, we put out those fires." He added, "We can't go broke in this sport. Everybody has to make a profit. … Our opportunity over the next 10 years to really capture this Millennial fan base is so extreme and is going to take such a reinvestment that we have to have a big-picture mentality to get it done."

FISTS OF FURY: Keselowski also touched on some of his off-track exploits, from Twitter to this season's highly publicized brawl. Does he think it is OK to promote the sport via off-track brawls? "The pure racer in me hates fighting," he said. “I think it's awful for the sport. I think it brings down the intensity level and credibility. But the sport is so much bigger than that and our fans' interest are so much broader than that that it's really unfair to say." Adam Stern/SportsBusinessDaily.com