Mark Martin has the best take on the decline in NASCAR attendance, ratings

Leave it to one of the coolest customers ever to sit behind the wheel in NASCAR to come up with an appropriately non-hysterical analysis on the decline in attendance and viewers.

Arguably the best driver never to win a NASCAR Cup Series championship, Mark Martin was an easy pick to the NASCAR Hall of Fame last year. These days, he still watches plenty of races, giving him a unique perspective as both legend and fan.

The combination of those two elements means that when he has something to say about the current product, it’s probably worth listening to what that might be. And since Martin was such a levelheaded sort as a driver, it only makes sense that his analysis of the seemingly neverending drop in NASCAR attendance and ratings isn’t shot through with “the sky is falling” hysteria.

For starters, Martin doesn’t think there’s anything all that wrong with the racing action circa 2018. He recently told the media (as captured by Racing News) that the sport is still great and the racing is “incredible.” It certainly has been at times this season, with several great finishes in recent weeks.

So how does that fit in with the sport’s declining fortunes? To Martin, it’s pretty simple: There are just many more choices for everyone’s entertainment time and money these days.

"I think we should continue to be true to what we are. Where we came from. I think the racing is really good now. But, I also recognize the fact that NASCAR is not the only sport that is struggling with their fan base. All sports are.There’s a reason for that. Because young people have different interests. There’s competition for their interests, 1000 times over what it was when we grew up."

Martin also noted that the youngest few generations simply aren’t into car culture in general like previous ones were, which is an opinion that’s hard to argue. But he reiterated that the “product is not the problem.”

"The problem is, the world’s changing. And our generations are changing. You can do your best to fight that but it’s definitely a tough battle to try to bring new people’s eyes to our sport and keep ’em there."

If that sounds like a glass half full view, it definitely is. But consider that even with numbers falling more or less annually all decade, NASCAR races are still often the most watched sporting events on many pre-football weekends. Attendance is undoubtedly well down as well, but it’s coming from incredible heights where many tracks had seats for far more spectators than at any other kind of sporting event.

Martin would probably be the first to tell you that he doesn’t have an answer except to not change too much (he is a fan of some recent rules changes, like stage racing) on the track and continue to do the best possible to market the sport. That’s probably not going to be a satisfying answer to some, but it is a sensible one, and we should expect nothing less than that from Martin.