Despite small crowds ABC delivering big TV ratings for NASCAR

The crowd for the recent NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was so thin you probably could have run buffalo through the stands and not have been in danger of hurting anyone.

Now that was the bad news. The good news is that TV ratings have been up for four of the first five Sprint Cup races run as part of the Chase.

At Charlotte, ratings were up 6 percent, and that is very good seeing that it took place on ABC during prime time. Of course, there is not much else to watch on TV on Saturday nights unless you have a Netflix deal. [Editor's Note: NASCAR is leaving ABC for NBC, opening the door open for ABC to be the exclusive TV partner for IndyCar. Will IndyCar continue to pocket NBC Sports Network's check and run the series into the ground, or will they take advantage of the door open at ABC and jump through it. It's the ratings stupid!]