Austin F1 promoter on Wind Tunnel
NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France appeared Tuesday night via satellite from Texas to discuss the upcoming changes to the 2011 schedule, as well as the overall landscape of the sport this year.
On his primary focus heading into the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup:
“We think the racing action is the best in many years," France said. “I don’t think there’s even a dispute about that. Everywhere we go, there are some interesting storylines changing around that we’re watching. The Hendrick cars have been so dominant, and especially into the Chase, are not on their best game right now, so there might be some opportunities for someone else to knock the door down. There’s a number of good candidates, so just making the Chase is going to be a feat with the way it’s shaping up."
On whether returning the sport to the drivers’ hands has played out the way he had envisioned:
“Well I think it has," France said. “Obviously when we said that, it goes without saying there are limits to that. But generally speaking, we can sometimes over-regulate the sport as we enforce the races week in and week out. We wanted to make sure we weren’t doing that. And we wanted to make sure the drivers really can mix it up and express themselves and felt good about that. That’s why we said what we did and they have. Sometimes a little too much, in the Carl Edwards situation and some others, and when it’s that case, we’ll rein them back in. We’re happy (with) the direction and they’re mixing it up, there’s no question about that."