NASCAR still is evaluating its first dirt race in more than 40 years, but senior vice president Steve ODonnell strongly indicated Thursday the Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway will return.”We felt it overdelivered on everything’ Senior VP Steve ODonnell said of Wednesday nights Camping World Truck Series race won by Austin Dillon. ‘It was a terrific turnout, and we were really happy with how the competitors performed, so all in all a great night for NASCAR and the sport. We still want to go through the garage area and meet with team owners and competitors and get their feedback, and we want to see the ratings. So far everything weve seen, its something wed certainly entertain doing again for 2014.” Speed said the race received a household rating of 1.2, making it the 10th most-watched trucks race ever on the network. With a total of 1.4 million viewers, it was the most watched sports program of the day on cable. Its NCWTS Setup show had 1 million viewers, the most-watched prerace show in Speed history. The first national series run on dirt since Sept. 30, 1970 drew a sellout crowd of more than 17,000 to Tony Stewarts half-mile oval in rural Rossburg, Ohio. Ratings were due Thursday afternoon, but ODonnell said Eldora drew a record social media response for a truck race, according to NASCARs Fan Engagement Center. Both ‘Eldora” and ‘Norm Benning’ a 61-year-old who earned the final slot in the main event via the last-chance heat race, were trending nationally on Twitter during the race. Fans in the Eldora grandstands were chanting at NASCAR officials Wednesday night race to bring a Sprint Cup event to the track. ODonnell said there was no imminent plan to put the Nationwide or Cup series on dirt, but that it might be feasible for stock cars to slide around Eldora as the heavy trucks were Wednesday night. ‘Weve been trying to get to shorter tracks with the trucks in general, and you look at trucks and the dirt, and it felt more of a natural fit’ he said. ‘Certainly I think a Nationwide car could do that, but the focus has been trucks and will continue to be for the near future and keep that as a unique opportunity for the truck series.” ODonnell compared Eldoras place in NASCAR with the NHLs Winter Classic and said thered been no discussions with other dirt tracks about hosting a NASCAR national series. ‘I think its probably a little premature’ he said. ‘Its something thats certainly unique and special, and we want to keep that element of it with whatever we do.”( USA Today )(7-25-2013) News from July 24, 2013
