DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – The sky isn’t falling – or at least it doesn’t feel that way – as NASCAR heads into the first of two seasons full of change.
In the three months since Kyle Busch won his second championship, NASCAR took its awards ceremony to Nashville and was eagerly embraced. The Hall of Fame ceremony last month focused on Joe Gibbs and his elite organization, which won a record 19 of 36 races last season as Busch earned Joe Gibbs Racing its fifth Cup Series title.
Drivers will return to the track at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, and the season-opening Daytona 500 is Feb. 16.
“We’re coming off of a very good year, I felt like last year, where we’re really getting some momentum back,” NASCAR chairman Jim France said. “It’s exciting now, going into this coming year.”
Since replacing his nephew as head of the family business in August 2018, Jim France has been a steady guide for a series trying to stop a slide in every important metric. Attendance and television ratings may have finally bottomed out, but sponsorship dollars are as hard to find as ever and cost-cutting is a major priority across the entire industry.