Dateline: 07/25/01

Personally, I miss D.W. and the rest of the Fox Sports NASCAR crew, but let's face it, the coverage provided by the NBC/TNT team has far exceeded anyone's expectations. After all, you can't argue with success.

It was recently announced that the coverage of the New Hampshire 300 was the second-most-watched NASCAR event in basic-cable history. According to Nielsen Media Research data released Thursday, more than 4.25 million households tuned in to the event. What caused this, a relatively unknown race, to reach such proportions?

In my mind, there are two reasons for an audience of this magnitude. First was the curiosity of viewers wanting to see the return of Kyle Petty to the track that claimed his son, Adam. After all, Kyle has made the #45 Sprint Dodge as virtual shrine to Adam's memory. The car was painted black, as a sign of mourning and the driver's seat is still Adam's. Kyle himself debated whether to even enter the event, his first at New Hampshire since the accident last year, and it was not known until actual qualifying if he would really enter or not.

The second reason is the tight race for the Winston Cup Championship. Three drivers, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, and Ricky Rudd entered the event separated by only 18 points. In my mind this was reminiscent of the 1961 battle between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris for the all-time single season home run record in baseball. It even has another parallel, since Jarrett and Rudd are team mates, just as Mantle and Maris were. And just as in baseball, the eventual winner wasn't decided until the last moment.

Did the fans who tuned in to the race get their money's worth? You bet they did! The three points leaders stayed at the front of the pack the entire day, and in the final few laps jockeyed for position. With Rudd in front and his team mate close behind, fans wondered if they'd see a repeat of Daytona, when in February Dale Earnhardt, Jr. protected the lead of Michael Waltrip and then in July, Michael returned the favor. That was one of the finest examples of teamwork I've ever witnessed in a sport that traditionally has depended on the rugged individualism of the drivers.

But it wasn't to be. Jarrett, the true champion that he is, wanted the lead and when Rudd made a seemingly minor slip, he seized the opportunity to pick up his fourth victory of the season. In the process, Gordon also moved by Rudd, totally changing the outcome of the race and insuring that the tie would remain in the points race. Even though Jarrett now leads in the tie-breaking formula, both drivers have 2695 points, and to me, that equals a dead heat.

Now the series returns to Pocono for the Pennsylvania 500. Will the fans return with them? My guess is they will. After all, Pocono is the site of Rudd's only victory of the season, and most experts pick him as the man to beat. You can be assured that Jarrett and Gordon will be in the hunt the whole way, and this means another three-way dash to the checkered flag in my mind. Whoever wins, the interest of viewers was peaked in New Hampshire and will continue into the Pocono's on Sunday. My guess is, there'll be another record setting audience tuned in to see the outcome.

The 1961 home run derby helped to bring baseball back to life in a changing era, and the three car trophy dash in Winston Cup should do the same for racing. Because of this, I predict that this will be the best television season on record for NASCAR, and will do a lot to help establish its image as a truly national sport.