NASCAR has given Monster Energy an extension to determine if it wants to remain the Cup series sponsor.
NASCAR President Brent Dewar revealed that Tuesday night in an appearance on Motor Racing Network’s “NASCAR Live” show.
Among the other topics Dewar, who is entering his fifth season at NASCAR, discussed was the effort to bring new manufacturers and how soon one could arrive, any tweaks to stage racing and the new pit stop rules.
Last year marked Monster Energy’s first season as series sponsor. The two sides agreed to a deal about two months before the 2017 Daytona 500. The company reportedly has a two-year deal with a two-year option. Monster Energy has not stated if it will return after this season.
Asked about Monster Energy’s status, Dewar told the MRN radio show:
“They signed late in the season (Dec. 2016). I worked with them very closely in bringing them to the sport. They were just looking to have a full season. They had to Dec. 31 (to determine if to agree to the renewal). We’ve given them an extension to go through the evaluation.
“There’s no question it was a great season with them and any kind of metric that we run we hit the ball out the park with them. They’re different. We’re excited. … It was the right thing to do to give them a little more time to evaluate. We’re letting them do that. We’d love for them to stay for many years, but if they choose not to, we’ve got a great product, we’ll continue on in that regards. There are meetings coming up. For the fans that have had a chance to go to the Monster activities prior to the race, they are a lot of fun. I’ve taken my guests that come to the race and we’ve had a great time experiencing how they demonstrate their brand in a very thoughtful, unique way. We love having them around.’’
Among the other topics Dewar discussed:
Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota are the only manufacturers in the Cup Series. The last time NASCAR had four manufacturers in Cup was 2012 when Dodge was a part of the series.
Dewar was asked by host Mike Bagley about the interest of other manufacturers and when any might come to NASCAR:
“Nothing to announce right now on the manufacturer front,’’ Dewar said. “We have a cadence to come in. The earliest one would be able to join would be 2020. We have entry ramps that come in. We have been in conversations with a number of manufacturers. … The platform is strong and it shows a strong (return of investment) potential for manufacturers to bring their products and come race with us.’’
Asked if NASCAR had a magic number of how many manufacturers it would like in Cup, Dewar said:
“I think optimally four or five is the right number for what we’re looking at. We’ve got a great series in sports car that focuses primary on the luxury brands. That is the IMSA Series. The NASCAR series is the mass brands, the Toyotas the Chevrolets,and the Fords and their competitors. We think there are a couple of more brands in America that would be perfectly suited to come join us and race against their competitors. We work very hard at keeping the sport in front of them. We had a number of them at the track last year, joining us, seeing the events and the direction where we’re taking the sport. It’s a work in progress and it’s one of the ones that I personally lead.’’
Dewar on any tweaks to stage racing in 2018:
“We’re really happy with stage racing. I think it was a good example of the collaboration where the industry came together with the idea of stage racing, so we’re very happy with that.’’
On if NASCAR is trying to address the number of caution laps after a stage ends and before the next stage begins, Dewar said:
“I think we’ll continue to modify it. We’ve done a lot research on this. When you have 80 million fans we’re going to have people with an opinion on everything, but I don’t think it’s as concerning as maybe some of the conversation at this point. We continue to fine tune and look at how to refine and make those adjustments. We bring the councils (driver council, owner council, etc) togetherand that’s one of the things that we have on our list to continue to discuss.’’
On the objective of cutting pit crews from six to five in 2018, Dewar said:
“We’ve focused very strongly on our star power of the drivers, but it’s really evolved over the time period we’ve gone to low downforce on the cars and a lot of the strategy that has gone into it. We really want to emphasize it’s the team. It’s the crew chief and the driver, but it’s the team that brings it together. … What we love about NASCAR is the pit stops and so this effort of five over the wall and the crew and identifying the pit crew with their numbers at the track, you’ll start to see and understand the names of the people that make a championship team, a high quality team, that’s the method behind it, that’s the logic behind what we’re trying to achieve. I think what you’ll see with five over the wall and the rules we have is we’ll really to start to focus on the athleticism, these great athletes that are really unlike any other motorsports that will be coming over the wall.’’
On the how eliminating one pit crew position will change pit stops, Dewar said:
“Pit stops are still going to be very fast, but they’re going to be a little bit slower so we can accentuate really what is happening. It’s almost too fast in some respects to capture it. We’re excited about this and what the athletes are going to be able to demonstrate because it makes a difference. A driver absolutely makes a difference. A crew chief makes a difference and so does everyone that participates at the track. Then you couple that back with the folks at the shop. It’s part of the storylines we think have been missing in the sport, particularly for the casual fan. The hardcore fans understand this, but for the sport to grow we need to start demonstrating the team not just the quarterback.’’
On the Cup Series having qualifying on the same day before a race, Dewar said:
“We like the tighter schedule, and I think there was a little bit of miscommunication as we went into it last year about two-day weekends. They’re not two-day weekends. We were just trying to be more thoughtful of the schedule at the Cup level and to allow more time and space for the Xfinity and Camping World (Truck) series when we might have three (in a weekend).
“I think the challenge this year was really on same-day qualifying with the race. We were actually pretty fortunate. We thought it through. There’s really not enough turnaround time in many cases. I think you’ll see less of that (this year). Also what we learned and we hadn’t really thought about it was the track goes hot all day and one of the most exciting things for the fans is the cold pass opportunity to get down on the track and to get that experience if you’re only coming for one day on Sunday, so I think you’ll see more of the Saturday qualifying for the Sunday (race) for the Cup and we’ll try to manage that. There’s still a lot of efficiencies we can work on. We’re just trying to find the right balance to give the best fan experience.’’
