iNSIDE SCOOP: 2013 Was a Good Year for NASCAR

As we close the book on 2013, we pause a moment to reflect on what a year it was.

NASCAR began the season with the new Gen-6 car, hopeful that it would create some positive buzz and continue to improve the product on the track. It did and it did, and that’s one of the things to be thankful for as we turn the page to 2014.

The car just looked like a race car, and it was brand-conscious too. That’s important, and a major step in the right direction. Brand is a very big thing to NASCAR fans. Always has been, and getting away from it caused a few years of wandering in the wilderness.

When Dodge returned to the sport, there was a major lift among all the Mopar fans who had been howling in the wilderness themselves, with no brand to back and no heroes to howl for, and it was good for the sport and the brand.

The Gen-6 at least harkened back to those feelings of skin in the game, and that also was good.

The racing got better, faster and more intense, at least from here, and that’s also a good thing.

The race to the Chase was a good one, though the shenanigans at Richmond put kind of a damper on the good feelings. You all know what happened, so we won’t rehash here, but it did put a kind of stain on the Chase field with the additions and deletions. I will say, however, that more people were talking about NASCAR than had been in the few years previously, even if it was for the wrong reasons.

We saw some inspired driving from Kurt Busch, a monster debut season for Matt Kenseth in the Joe Gibbs flagship Toyota and some lame-duck drama with Kevin Harvick in the venerable No. 29 at RCR. All that was a good thing, too.

Ratings were up across the board, which is a good thing as well. People were tuning in to the sport after a few years of flat numbers. Good thing.

Jimmie Johnson won again, which is good or bad depending on the driver/team you cheer for, and has really set himself up as the heir apparent to Petty and Earnhardt.

Jeff Gordon had some stout performances, and one wonders how long he will stay in the cockpit. One shouldn’t wonder if he has the chops to be competitive: he does.

Tony Stewart was injured in a sprint-car crash and lost the final 14 weeks of the season, but intends to return as strong as ever in 2014. As he said at the NASCAR Awards Banquet in Las Vegas, he “gave you 14 weeks without me, and I’m going to be back at Daytona kicking your butts again.” Let us hope.

For the ONMC, it was a great year at the track with our VIP program, we saved you money on the things you want and need as NASCAR fans and we enter our 10^th season with a lot of momentum and spirit.

Enjoy your holidays, have a great time and we’ll see you on the other side….when it will be 2014 and time to get ready to go racing again!