TV: How is the new NASCAR season shaping up? Fox' David Hill is upbeat, ESPN's Rich Feinberg cautious

  ESPN will have Danica Patrick in Saturday's Nationwide 300 and the next few Nationwide races, to help boost ratings. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   (Updated)

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
   Fox' David Hill, the TV sports boss, says he's optimistic about ratings for NASCAR bouncing back this season.
   And Hill insists he's not worried about having to meet ratings expectations from the record Super Bowl or having to play against the Winter Olympics.
   NASCAR on television has been in a two-year slump, but Hill, whose network has paid a lot of money for NASCAR rights, says he's upbeat and positive.
   "With the record ratings we enjoyed with the National Football League this season, and the great numbers for the Super Bowl, I think this year the ratings for NASCAR will bounce back," Hill says. "And that, despite the fact we're moving the start back to 1 o'clock (ET).
   "I think there is a resurgence in NASCAR. The numbers for Saturday night's Shootout were very strong.
   "I've got a great vibe about what to expect this season." In part that may come from a much stronger showing by Fox' ad-sales staff, which will have more Detroit commercials this season, and which reports sales up nearly 10 percent over 2009.
   The overnight ratings for the Shootout, from the country's top markets, showed about 7.5 million viewers for the prime-time show, and that number will likely increase when the smaller markets weigh in.
    Those were the best numbers among the networks Saturday night, by a wide margin, and Fox had good numbers in the key 18-49 demographic.
    The Shootout the past two years had more than eight million viewers.
    Saturday's ARCA 200, featuring Danica Patrick, however, had a huge jump in ratings, more than 80 percent higher than the 2009 race. Nielsen reports that Danica's stock car racing debut was watched by 2.4 million viewers; last year's ARCA opener drew 1.3 million. Both events were televised by Speed-cable.
   That has to be good news for ABC-ESPN, NASCAR's other TV partner and the network carrying Patrick's dozen or so Nationwide events this season, beginning with Saturday's 300 (which has some wags dubbing the series Danicar).
   In fact ESPN decided to carry Wednesday's two-hour Nationwide practice session, of course now featuring Patrick.
   However ESPN's Rich Feinberg, the company's racing boss, doesn't want to get too far out in front on the ratings game, like Hill: "Before my life at ESPN, I spent three years in the research department at ABC...and I learned real quickly that predicting ratings was a career killer.
   "I can only hope that the changes the sport has made, and some of the tweaks we ourselves have made, will result in better ratings,  – but I'm not going to predict it."
    The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC/ESPN, is moving most of NASCAR's championship chase events from ABC network to ESPN cable this season; while ABC affiliates, particularly those in the NASCAR heartland, may be upset over losing that much NASCAR, ESPN may be able to negotiate new, higher contracts with various cable companies because of this NASCAR expansion.
   While stock car racing may be losing major league print media coverage as newspapers continue cutting, NASCAR is moving hard in other media areas to expand its marketing reach. HBO is doing four-part series of 30-minute specials on Jimmie Johnson. Now Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be featured in a special Disney show next month, on the Disney Channel's Handy Manny series.
    Meanwhile Feinberg disputes complaints that TV announcers have been too negative about NASCAR:
   "Our philosophy is that our job, and our obligation, is to serve our fans...and to do that we have to be honest....with ourselves and our viewers.
   "Like in all sports, sometimes it's a great game and sometimes it's a lackluster game. All we try to do is give them the freedom to offer their opinion, and offer that opinion with responsibility, with details behind what they're thinking...and offer diverse opinions. And then let the fans decide.
    "Like in anything, whether it's writing a book or doing a television show, there are people who will enjoy your work and people who are critical of your work."
    The most notable thing about ESPN so far this season – aside from Danica-mania – is putting newcomer Marty Reid in the booth to call the races, replacing Jerry Punch, in that slot since ESPN's return to NASCAR in 2007.
 
      

  

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      ESPN's Marty Reid, the new booth anchor in NASCAR coverage, must have a knack for good stories, because he's got NASCAR's Robin Pemberton in stitches here (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)