Denny Hamlin Suggests A Mid-Season Bracket Challenge In Order To Fix NASCAR's
Waning TV Ratings

John F. Trent

NASCAR Cup Series driver and owner Denny Hamlin recently shared his idea of a
mid-season bracket challenge, a suggestion he made to NASCAR over a year ago, to
fix the current waning TV ratings.

NASCAR's TV ratings had been on the downturn for much of the beginning of the
season compared to last year, but have slightly rebounded with the two most
recent races at Martinsville and Talladega.

Sportsnaut reports the Daytona 500 dropped nearly 8% in the ratings from last
year, only bringing in 8.181 million in February. The trend would continue with
the races at Auto Club Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix Raceway,
Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of the Americas, Richmond Raceway, and Bristol
Dirt all seeing their TV viewership decline compared to last year.

And it wasn't just small declines either. The races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
Phoenix Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of the Americas, Richmond
Raceway and Bristol Dirt all declined by over 12%.

While the beginning of the season saw significant declines, the two most recent
races at Martinsville and Talladega did see an uptick with Martinsville seeing
its viewership increase nearly 18%. However, it was still the least viewed race
of the season only bringing in 2.218 million viewers.

Talladega saw its viewership increase by 5%, but as Sportsnaut notes that's
primarily because the 2022 race's viewership numbers were adjusted down by over
300,000 viewers. It was originally reported the 2022 race brought in 4.682
million viewers. However, they adjusted that down to 4.336 million. Thus this
year's viewership of 4.554 million actually beat out last year's.

In order to fix the declining viewership, Denny Hamlin shared his suggestion of
a mid-season tournament in the summer months on a recent episode of his podcast
Actions Detrimental.

Hamlin explained, "We're gonna have a bracket challenge. We're gonna wait 'til
10 weeks into the year. . You have 10 weeks to get yourself in the top 32 in
points. So leading into that you can have the storyline of . who's going to get
in the top 32 to get in this bracket challenge, right?"

"Then for the next five weeks - and maybe you do it every other week, but I
think you need to do it every week - five weeks in a row where you have a
head-to-head competition and you're seeded based off of where you are in points
at week 10," he continued.

He then explained, "So the number one seed is whoever's first in points. They
will be going up against the 32nd place guy in points this week. So on so forth.
Second will go against 31. Third will go against 30. And so you have these 16
match ups for this week coming up at Dover."

"And, certainly, what that also does is create, now, you have some betting
lines. You'll probably have Vegas make odds on who the tournament winner will
be," the driver and owner detailed. "They'll probably have odds on the matchups
this week. So there will be 16 key match-ups that will go on this week in Dover.
Whoever wins between the two moves on to the next week and that moves you on to
the round of 16. Then you're going to have head to heads once again. 16 down to
8, down to 4, down to 2."

"I can tell you as the drivers are concerned we would be wildly competitive for
this," Hamlin relayed. "The reason is there is a big prize at the end, but not
only that, but our egos. This is an in-season tournament. We have them in
basketball. We have them in even, I think, NFL or football is talking about
doing something like this or having some sort of bracket challenge."

"This would create so many story lines and you would have no idea how much the
teams would change their strategies in the middle of the race to beat whoever
they're up against that given week to move on to the next round. So many
opportunities for storylines here," he reiterated.

Hamlin then offered his ideas on what the winner should receive, "And what I
think is that you could do it many ways, but I think that there should be a
monetary win of $3 million for the winner. I know that seems like a lot, but the
return on investment would be tenfold for NASCAR from the publicity they would
get."

He elaborated, "Content that would be created on two drivers head-to-head this
week. Who's going to win? Even Fox or NBC could have a ticker on the right side,
just put it on the far right or something of, 'Okay the five car is going
against the seven car this week, here's where they're running right underneath.'
So we always can see where these head-to-head matchups are during the race. And
you can see, 'Oh s**t! We got a head-to-head matchup and they're running seventh
and eighth.' I guarantee you those drivers are going to move each other out of
the way to move on to the next round because they know they're racing against
one car that week."

Later in the video, Hamlin also suggested the winner could receive playoff
points too, "I'm really adamant about this. This could be a game changer for us
that would come with very small investment. And maybe the winner gets five
playoff points."

"I think you certainly have to add a monetary element to this and it needs to be
significant. It can't just be $100,000," he added. "I love this idea. I really
think that NASCAR should explore it, or think about it. I think it's fantastic."

On Saturday, April 29, 2023 at 1:49:22 PM UTC-4, max headroom wrote:
> Denny Hamlin Suggests A Mid-Season Bracket Challenge In Order To Fix NASCAR's
> Waning TV Ratings
>
> John F. Trent
>
> NASCAR Cup Series driver and owner Denny Hamlin recently shared his idea of a
> mid-season bracket challenge, a suggestion he made to NASCAR over a year ago, to
> fix the current waning TV ratings.
>
> NASCAR's TV ratings had been on the downturn for much of the beginning of the
> season compared to last year, but have slightly rebounded with the two most
> recent races at Martinsville and Talladega.
>
> Sportsnaut reports the Daytona 500 dropped nearly 8% in the ratings from last
> year, only bringing in 8.181 million in February. The trend would continue with
> the races at Auto Club Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix Raceway,
> Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of the Americas, Richmond Raceway, and Bristol
> Dirt all seeing their TV viewership decline compared to last year.
>
> And it wasn't just small declines either. The races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
> Phoenix Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of the Americas, Richmond
> Raceway and Bristol Dirt all declined by over 12%.
>
> While the beginning of the season saw significant declines, the two most recent
> races at Martinsville and Talladega did see an uptick with Martinsville seeing
> its viewership increase nearly 18%. However, it was still the least viewed race
> of the season only bringing in 2.218 million viewers.
>
> Talladega saw its viewership increase by 5%, but as Sportsnaut notes that's
> primarily because the 2022 race's viewership numbers were adjusted down by over
> 300,000 viewers. It was originally reported the 2022 race brought in 4.682
> million viewers. However, they adjusted that down to 4.336 million. Thus this
> year's viewership of 4.554 million actually beat out last year's.
>
> In order to fix the declining viewership, Denny Hamlin shared his suggestion of
> a mid-season tournament in the summer months on a recent episode of his podcast
> Actions Detrimental.
>
> Hamlin explained, "We're gonna have a bracket challenge. We're gonna wait 'til
> 10 weeks into the year. . You have 10 weeks to get yourself in the top 32 in
> points. So leading into that you can have the storyline of . who's going to get
> in the top 32 to get in this bracket challenge, right?"
>
> "Then for the next five weeks - and maybe you do it every other week, but I
> think you need to do it every week - five weeks in a row where you have a
> head-to-head competition and you're seeded based off of where you are in points
> at week 10," he continued.
>
> He then explained, "So the number one seed is whoever's first in points. They
> will be going up against the 32nd place guy in points this week. So on so forth.
> Second will go against 31. Third will go against 30. And so you have these 16
> match ups for this week coming up at Dover."
>
> "And, certainly, what that also does is create, now, you have some betting
> lines. You'll probably have Vegas make odds on who the tournament winner will
> be," the driver and owner detailed. "They'll probably have odds on the matchups
> this week. So there will be 16 key match-ups that will go on this week in Dover.
> Whoever wins between the two moves on to the next week and that moves you on to
> the round of 16. Then you're going to have head to heads once again. 16 down to
> 8, down to 4, down to 2."
>
> "I can tell you as the drivers are concerned we would be wildly competitive for
> this," Hamlin relayed. "The reason is there is a big prize at the end, but not
> only that, but our egos. This is an in-season tournament. We have them in
> basketball. We have them in even, I think, NFL or football is talking about
> doing something like this or having some sort of bracket challenge."
>
> "This would create so many story lines and you would have no idea how much the
> teams would change their strategies in the middle of the race to beat whoever
> they're up against that given week to move on to the next round. So many
> opportunities for storylines here," he reiterated.
>
> Hamlin then offered his ideas on what the winner should receive, "And what I
> think is that you could do it many ways, but I think that there should be a
> monetary win of $3 million for the winner. I know that seems like a lot, but the
> return on investment would be tenfold for NASCAR from the publicity they would
> get."
>
> He elaborated, "Content that would be created on two drivers head-to-head this
> week. Who's going to win? Even Fox or NBC could have a ticker on the right side,
> just put it on the far right or something of, 'Okay the five car is going
> against the seven car this week, here's where they're running right underneath.'
> So we always can see where these head-to-head matchups are during the race. And
> you can see, 'Oh s**t! We got a head-to-head matchup and they're running seventh
> and eighth.' I guarantee you those drivers are going to move each other out of
> the way to move on to the next round because they know they're racing against
> one car that week."
>
> Later in the video, Hamlin also suggested the winner could receive playoff
> points too, "I'm really adamant about this. This could be a game changer for us
> that would come with very small investment. And maybe the winner gets five
> playoff points."
>
> "I think you certainly have to add a monetary element to this and it needs to be
> significant. It can't just be $100,000," he added. "I love this idea. I really
> think that NASCAR should explore it, or think about it. I think it's fantastic."
___________

What I'd suggest is a mid-season NASCAR-Hendrick-Cahoots change!

I keep saying it: WHY attend the race, or even tune/log in when you know
who will win, place, or show??

It's gotten so predictable, this HMS thing, and it doesn't even matter who
is in the 48, 24, 5, etc. cars.

In news:ded6a90c-643c-482d-971a-b9f8c6ffa70bn@googlegroups.com, Chris K-Man
(Zickcermacity) <thekmanrocks@gmail.com> typed:

> On Saturday, April 29, 2023 at 1:49:22?PM UTC-4, max headroom wrote:

>> Denny Hamlin Suggests A Mid-Season Bracket Challenge In Order To Fix NASCAR's
>> Waning TV Ratings

>> John F. Trent

>> NASCAR Cup Series driver and owner Denny Hamlin recently shared his idea of a
>> mid-season bracket challenge, a suggestion he made to NASCAR over a year
>> ago, to fix the current waning TV ratings.

>> NASCAR's TV ratings had been on the downturn for much of the beginning of the
>> season compared to last year, but have slightly rebounded with the two most
>> recent races at Martinsville and Talladega.

>> Sportsnaut reports the Daytona 500 dropped nearly 8% in the ratings from last
>> year, only bringing in 8.181 million in February. The trend would continue
>> with the races at Auto Club Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix
>> Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of the Americas, Richmond Raceway,
>> and Bristol Dirt all seeing their TV viewership decline compared to last
>> year.

>> And it wasn't just small declines either. The races at Las Vegas Motor
>> Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of the Americas,
>> Richmond Raceway and Bristol Dirt all declined by over 12%.

>> While the beginning of the season saw significant declines, the two most
>> recent races at Martinsville and Talladega did see an uptick with
>> Martinsville seeing its viewership increase nearly 18%. However, it was
>> still the least viewed race of the season only bringing in 2.218 million
>> viewers.

>> Talladega saw its viewership increase by 5%, but as Sportsnaut notes that's
>> primarily because the 2022 race's viewership numbers were adjusted down by
>> over 300,000 viewers. It was originally reported the 2022 race brought in
>> 4.682 million viewers. However, they adjusted that down to 4.336 million.
>> Thus this year's viewership of 4.554 million actually beat out last year's.

>> In order to fix the declining viewership, Denny Hamlin shared his suggestion
>> of a mid-season tournament in the summer months on a recent episode of his
>> podcast Actions Detrimental.

>> Hamlin explained, "We're gonna have a bracket challenge. We're gonna wait
>> 'til 10 weeks into the year. . You have 10 weeks to get yourself in the top
>> 32 in points. So leading into that you can have the storyline of . who's
>> going to get in the top 32 to get in this bracket challenge, right?"

>> "Then for the next five weeks - and maybe you do it every other week, but I
>> think you need to do it every week - five weeks in a row where you have a
>> head-to-head competition and you're seeded based off of where you are in
>> points at week 10," he continued.

>> He then explained, "So the number one seed is whoever's first in points. They
>> will be going up against the 32nd place guy in points this week. So on so
>> forth. Second will go against 31. Third will go against 30. And so you have
>> these 16 match ups for this week coming up at Dover."

>> "And, certainly, what that also does is create, now, you have some betting
>> lines. You'll probably have Vegas make odds on who the tournament winner will
>> be," the driver and owner detailed. "They'll probably have odds on the
>> matchups this week. So there will be 16 key match-ups that will go on this
>> week in Dover. Whoever wins between the two moves on to the next week and
>> that moves you on to the round of 16. Then you're going to have head to
>> heads once again. 16 down to 8, down to 4, down to 2."

>> "I can tell you as the drivers are concerned we would be wildly competitive
>> for this," Hamlin relayed. "The reason is there is a big prize at the end,
>> but not only that, but our egos. This is an in-season tournament. We have
>> them in basketball. We have them in even, I think, NFL or football is
>> talking about doing something like this or having some sort of bracket
>> challenge."

>> "This would create so many story lines and you would have no idea how much
>> the teams would change their strategies in the middle of the race to beat
>> whoever they're up against that given week to move on to the next round. So
>> many opportunities for storylines here," he reiterated.

>> Hamlin then offered his ideas on what the winner should receive, "And what I
>> think is that you could do it many ways, but I think that there should be a
>> monetary win of $3 million for the winner. I know that seems like a lot, but
>> the return on investment would be tenfold for NASCAR from the publicity they
>> would get."

>> He elaborated, "Content that would be created on two drivers head-to-head
>> this week. Who's going to win? Even Fox or NBC could have a ticker on the
>> right side, just put it on the far right or something of, 'Okay the five car
>> is going against the seven car this week, here's where they're running right
>> underneath.' So we always can see where these head-to-head matchups are
>> during the race. And you can see, 'Oh s**t! We got a head-to-head matchup
>> and they're running seventh and eighth.' I guarantee you those drivers are
>> going to move each other out of the way to move on to the next round because
>> they know they're racing against one car that week."

>> Later in the video, Hamlin also suggested the winner could receive playoff
>> points too, "I'm really adamant about this. This could be a game changer for
>> us that would come with very small investment. And maybe the winner gets five
>> playoff points."

>> "I think you certainly have to add a monetary element to this and it needs
>> to be significant. It can't just be $100,000," he added. "I love this idea.
>> I really think that NASCAR should explore it, or think about it. I think
>> it's fantastic." ___________

> What I'd suggest is a mid-season NASCAR-Hendrick-Cahoots change!

> I keep saying it: WHY attend the race, or even tune/log in when you know
> who will win, place, or show??

> It's gotten so predictable, this HMS thing, and it doesn't even matter who
> is in the 48, 24, 5, etc. cars.

You must be watching a different Cup series than I am. Hendrick is doing well,
but not dominant.

On Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at 1:40:01 AM UTC-4, max headroom wrote:
> In news:ded6a90c-643c-482d...@googlegroups.com, Chris K-Man
> (Zickcermacity) <thekma...@gmail.com> typed:
> > On Saturday, April 29, 2023 at 1:49:22?PM UTC-4, max headroom wrote:
>
> >> Denny Hamlin Suggests A Mid-Season Bracket Challenge In Order To Fix NASCAR's
> >> Waning TV Ratings
>
> >> John F. Trent
>
> >> NASCAR Cup Series driver and owner Denny Hamlin recently shared his idea of a
> >> mid-season bracket challenge, a suggestion he made to NASCAR over a year
> >> ago, to fix the current waning TV ratings.
>
> >> NASCAR's TV ratings had been on the downturn for much of the beginning of the
> >> season compared to last year, but have slightly rebounded with the two most
> >> recent races at Martinsville and Talladega.
>
> >> Sportsnaut reports the Daytona 500 dropped nearly 8% in the ratings from last
> >> year, only bringing in 8.181 million in February. The trend would continue
> >> with the races at Auto Club Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix
> >> Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of the Americas, Richmond Raceway,
> >> and Bristol Dirt all seeing their TV viewership decline compared to last
> >> year.
>
> >> And it wasn't just small declines either. The races at Las Vegas Motor
> >> Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of the Americas,
> >> Richmond Raceway and Bristol Dirt all declined by over 12%.
>
> >> While the beginning of the season saw significant declines, the two most
> >> recent races at Martinsville and Talladega did see an uptick with
> >> Martinsville seeing its viewership increase nearly 18%. However, it was
> >> still the least viewed race of the season only bringing in 2.218 million
> >> viewers.
>
> >> Talladega saw its viewership increase by 5%, but as Sportsnaut notes that's
> >> primarily because the 2022 race's viewership numbers were adjusted down by
> >> over 300,000 viewers. It was originally reported the 2022 race brought in
> >> 4.682 million viewers. However, they adjusted that down to 4.336 million.
> >> Thus this year's viewership of 4.554 million actually beat out last year's.
>
> >> In order to fix the declining viewership, Denny Hamlin shared his suggestion
> >> of a mid-season tournament in the summer months on a recent episode of his
> >> podcast Actions Detrimental.
>
> >> Hamlin explained, "We're gonna have a bracket challenge. We're gonna wait
> >> 'til 10 weeks into the year. . You have 10 weeks to get yourself in the top
> >> 32 in points. So leading into that you can have the storyline of . who's
> >> going to get in the top 32 to get in this bracket challenge, right?"
>
> >> "Then for the next five weeks - and maybe you do it every other week, but I
> >> think you need to do it every week - five weeks in a row where you have a
> >> head-to-head competition and you're seeded based off of where you are in
> >> points at week 10," he continued.
>
> >> He then explained, "So the number one seed is whoever's first in points. They
> >> will be going up against the 32nd place guy in points this week. So on so
> >> forth. Second will go against 31. Third will go against 30. And so you have
> >> these 16 match ups for this week coming up at Dover."
>
> >> "And, certainly, what that also does is create, now, you have some betting
> >> lines. You'll probably have Vegas make odds on who the tournament winner will
> >> be," the driver and owner detailed. "They'll probably have odds on the
> >> matchups this week. So there will be 16 key match-ups that will go on this
> >> week in Dover. Whoever wins between the two moves on to the next week and
> >> that moves you on to the round of 16. Then you're going to have head to
> >> heads once again. 16 down to 8, down to 4, down to 2."
>
> >> "I can tell you as the drivers are concerned we would be wildly competitive
> >> for this," Hamlin relayed. "The reason is there is a big prize at the end,
> >> but not only that, but our egos. This is an in-season tournament. We have
> >> them in basketball. We have them in even, I think, NFL or football is
> >> talking about doing something like this or having some sort of bracket
> >> challenge."
>
> >> "This would create so many story lines and you would have no idea how much
> >> the teams would change their strategies in the middle of the race to beat
> >> whoever they're up against that given week to move on to the next round. So
> >> many opportunities for storylines here," he reiterated.
>
> >> Hamlin then offered his ideas on what the winner should receive, "And what I
> >> think is that you could do it many ways, but I think that there should be a
> >> monetary win of $3 million for the winner. I know that seems like a lot, but
> >> the return on investment would be tenfold for NASCAR from the publicity they
> >> would get."
>
> >> He elaborated, "Content that would be created on two drivers head-to-head
> >> this week. Who's going to win? Even Fox or NBC could have a ticker on the
> >> right side, just put it on the far right or something of, 'Okay the five car
> >> is going against the seven car this week, here's where they're running right
> >> underneath.' So we always can see where these head-to-head matchups are
> >> during the race. And you can see, 'Oh s**t! We got a head-to-head matchup
> >> and they're running seventh and eighth.' I guarantee you those drivers are
> >> going to move each other out of the way to move on to the next round because
> >> they know they're racing against one car that week."
>
> >> Later in the video, Hamlin also suggested the winner could receive playoff
> >> points too, "I'm really adamant about this. This could be a game changer for
> >> us that would come with very small investment. And maybe the winner gets five
> >> playoff points."
>
> >> "I think you certainly have to add a monetary element to this and it needs
> >> to be significant. It can't just be $100,000," he added. "I love this idea.
> >> I really think that NASCAR should explore it, or think about it. I think
> >> it's fantastic." ___________
>
> > What I'd suggest is a mid-season NASCAR-Hendrick-Cahoots change!
>
> > I keep saying it: WHY attend the race, or even tune/log in when you know
> > who will win, place, or show??
>
> > It's gotten so predictable, this HMS thing, and it doesn't even matter who
> > is in the 48, 24, 5, etc. cars.
> You must be watching a different Cup series
>than I am. Hendrick is doing well,
> but not dominant.
________

A little too "well" from my perspective.