The race at Talladega Superspeedway certainly had a lot to offer on Sunday. With Ryan Blaney clinching a narrow win, beating Kevin Harvick by 0.012 seconds, it just couldn’t get any better. While it was an enthralling win, there were concerning signs for NASCAR, giving them a lot to ponder upon.

Throughout the 2023 Cup Series season, NASCAR has done a decent job of keeping its fans engaged. With the sport’s 75th anniversary bringing a lot of creativity, the results haven’t quite helped.

The Yellawood 500 race leaves NASCAR in a fix

Safe to say, the sport has struggled to maintain the popularity it once had. Despite NASCAR trying different promotional tactics and variations at their disposal, getting the viewership back has been a tough task. The race at Talladega Superspeedway was the perfect example of that.

While there have been 14 different winners this season so far, the next-gen cars have certainly justified their need. It has not only made it tougher but brought a lot of unpredictability to the sport. Having said that, there have been times when the races haven’t been quite as exciting and thrilling as they used to be.

Of course, a number of factors contribute to that but in the end, it is what glued the fans to the sport. With Ryan Blaney winning by a slim margin and the multiple wrecks, the Talladega race had it all. However, the viewership stats don’t quite resonate the same.

Interestingly, last year the race had 2.827 million viewers. However, this time around the Yellawood 500 witnessed 2.505 million viewers. This resulted in an 11.4% loss of viewership to NASCAR, which is quite significant given the stakes and costs involved.

Given how intense and competitive the playoffs have turned into, the sport should definitely have been attracting more viewers. The fact that it is not, does give NASCAR a lot to think about. Even during the spring race at Talladega, the viewership took a 2.7% dip as compared to last year.

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So what really is going wrong here? Some of the fans spoke in unison with their reasoning.

NASCAR fandom sing the same song as they pinpoint the core reason for viewership loss

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Having a drop as big as 11.4% is a massive figure given the commercials involved. It only became more surprising as playoffs are considered to be more tempting in comparison to the regular season races. Well, maybe it is the Chase Elliott effect causing it.

Jokes aside, the fans had a reasonable and logical root cause for the recent loss in viewership. Some of them explained quite expressively on social media.

“Like @SpotterBrett said a couple weeks ago. Why are we the only sport that gets less and less viewers as the playoffs go on. Football is obviously a big reason, but maybe it’s time to revisit how we do the playoffs.”
“Starting an hour after 1:00 NFL games isn’t great, I honestly started the race around 3:30 because I was watching a game.Football is more popular than ever tbh”

“Love my NASCAR, but I love the Dallas Cowboys way more.”
“Races should start around 3 or 7 when NFL season starts imo.”
“NFL probably murked a lot of viewers.”

There are bright chances that the NFL might be playing a role in the loss. Having said that, NASCAR has always been a sport big enough to attract its loyal fanbase time and again. Surely, the concerned authorities will have to come up with something unique.

WATCH THIS STORY: Explosive Confrontation at Talladega: Nick Sanchez and Matt Crafton Clash