The 2022 season has been more interesting than ever, with more and more different winners emerging to the scene. The unpredictability has made this season better than ever. Unfortunately, right after Kyle Larson was eliminated from competing, a very sad statistic came to light which proves the season isn’t as great as we thought.
Now NASCAR has more things to worry about other than the endless penalties and highly unsafe cars.
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Sportsnaut reporter, Austin Konesnki recently tweeted a very sad statistic about the 2022 season. But the sad part is, it’s linked to another, even sadder stat.
He Tweeted, “The NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte ROVAL averaged 2.39 million average viewers on NBC last weekend. The event was down 6.3% compared to last year at 2.55 million average viewers on NBC.”
A race as iconic as ROVAL is already down by 6.3%. But that’s not all. In fact, the stat is in-line with all of NASCAR’s playoff viewership this year, which has dropped by 4.85.
Konenski Tweeted, “Every single race in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs has been down at least 4.8% in viewership.” It’s a pretty sad result for the sport, and the fans are quite enraged too.
Season needs to end earlier. Chase Elliott was right. NASCAR has no business going head to head with the NFL.
— Brian (@BJones23199) October 11, 2022
NASCAR has changed the postseason format like 12 times, and this mess of a system is the hill they've decided to die on.
— Dakota Camper (@DakotaCamper) October 11, 2022
Some of them gave Larson being kicked out to save Byron as one of the reasons.
Maybe when driver who has 14.4 Avg finish get knocks out of chance of championship by driver with 17.8 Avg finish, people stop watching
— Timecard100 (@Nascarcatholic) October 11, 2022
Time for a new format change, and also add 4 more drivers
— Carl Roidwards (@roidwards) October 12, 2022
Lose the playoffs
— Fantasy Bosco (@FantasyBosco) October 12, 2022
It’s almost like it’s football season and this cup season has been ongoing for 7 months. Not to mention NASCAR fans do nothing but complain so why would anyone tune in
— Eric98 (@EricD9898) October 11, 2022
"Playoffs are entertaining" "Playoffs are good for the sport"
— Jaylou ㋡ (@Jaylou_29) October 11, 2022
Because NASCAR is a former shell of what it used to be. They want to compete with the NFL and that’s why it’s failing.
— Pappa Vol Bear (@PappaVolBear87) October 11, 2022
So, what’s your take on the fallen viewership? What caused it? Let us know in the comments.
How are the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs going so far?
So far, the season is fairly confusing. There is only one playoff driver that has won a race, and that is Chase Elliott. Besides the #9 car, no playoff contender has won a race in the playoffs itself. Of course, being the only race winner, he remains the leader after winning the regular season.
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Funny enough, Hendrick Motorsports managed to get a much more experienced driver, Kyle Larson, kicked out of the playoffs because they wanted to save Byron. A driver with much less experience in Phoenix. So it’s especially confusing for Mr H.
Aside from playoffs and points, NASCAR itself has also faced a lot of heat because of the growing concern about drivers in the Next-Gen car. Everything somehow circles back to Hendrick, because Bowman has also fallen a victim to the car.
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WATCH THIS STORY: “This Car Will Kill Someone” Fears Grow as Chase Elliott Slams “Backwards” NASCAR After Justin Marks Tussle
So, predicting the result is more and more difficult. But how do you think this season will play out? Let us know in the comments.