Can NASCAR's Restart Help It Turn a Corner?

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2020

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As live sports tiptoe their way back, there's one revving up this weekend that could uniquely benefit: NASCAR. This Sunday, Darlington, South Carolina plays host to NASCAR's first actual-cars race since the shutdown began. Could this 11-race experiment be a cure for NASCAR's declining audience and ratings? It'll be sans fans, with stripped-down crews, and broadcast live. ESPN's Ryan McGee breaks down the challenges in this mid-pandemic return, and why NASCAR needs to race back into live events more than just about anyone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The lady in black is coming back and she will usher in NASCAR's return as well.
0:05.5	Darlington Raceway, May 17th, go ahead, put it in permanent marker on that paper calendar that you're still holding on to.
0:11.9	There will be no fans in the stands.
0:13.6	There will be no practice, no qualifying.
0:16.1	Just jump in and go and then get ready for like a crazy 11 days in the Cup series because Darlington is really just the beginning.
0:22.6	As the major leagues consider plans to restart their seasons, some sports are racing literally to come back.
0:33.6	This Sunday, NASCAR returns in Darlington, South Carolina. If everything goes smoothly,
0:41.2	it'll be a victory for a sport that has struggled for relevance in recent years. But even with a
0:47.1	captive audience, can NASCAR really turn a corner? I'm in times. It's Wednesday, May 13th. This is ESPN Daily, presented by Marathon.
1:06.4	Is there a right way to say NASCAR where you sound like you've been a NASCAR fan your whole life?
1:11.9	The worst is when people refer to the car as a NASCAR.
1:15.8	Oh.
1:16.6	They're like, man, when he's behind the wheel of that NASCAR, no, that is not, it is not a NASCAR.
1:21.9	NASCAR is the sanctioning body.
1:23.6	Yes.
1:24.1	They'd be like saying, man, that guy swings a great MLB.
1:28.8	Brian McGee is a senior writer for ESPN and has covered NASCAR for more than 25 years.
1:35.4	So, Ryan, I am no NASCAR expert.
1:38.6	Shocking.
1:39.4	I know.
1:39.8	I'm more of a Mario Kart fan.
1:42.9	But I find what is happening in NASCAR and motorsports right now very interesting because
	...

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