Prime time not always the right time: there are three kinds of NASCAR lies: lies, damned lies and TV ratings

The push to move NASCAR's races from their traditional Sunday afternoon time slot--with a few exceptions--and more toward prime time has raised the ire of race fans who no longer can count on knowing when races start.

The first race at Phoenix two weeks ago is an example. It was a night race--on Saturday. The start was scheduled for 7:30 ET, the latest of the season, and then a rain delay pushed it back until nearly 8. Is it a wonder the TV ratings were the lowest of the season? FOX still had the best ratings of the night, but how many fans on the East Coast were still awake sometime after 11 when the checkers flew in Phoenix?

"Live sports events scheduled in prime time in the Eastern and Central time zones are done so in order to make them available to the biggest possible audience," says Lou D'Ermilio, FOX's senior vice president, communications. "An effort is made to balance interest on both coasts based on viewership levels--not too late in the East, not too early in the West."

Since NASCAR signed the $2.8 billion broadcast rights deal with NBC, FOX and TNT that started in 2001, the push has been to move races later in the day and to Saturday nights, traditionally TV's worst night for ratings. NASCAR COO George Pyne's explanation for the later starts: "With more people at their homes, there's going to be more people watching the races, and that creates more value for the sponsors, teams, everyone."

But are Saturday night races or the later races on Sundays really more beneficial than the traditional 1 p.m. Sunday starts? Anyone who has been in sales or marketing knows it doesn't take a magician's wand to make numbers favorable.

The 2005 TV ratings for the first seven races (excluding Daytona, an animal unto itself) were up 3 percent over last season. In fact, with a 10.9 rating, the Daytona 500 tied the previous high set by the 2002 Daytona 500 on NBC.

The essential question: Is NASCAR ready for prime time? On a weekly basis, the product--the fender-banging competition that has fueled racing's surge in popularity--must be compelling enough to draw numbers that will continue to please the networks and, more important, the sponsors underwriting the series. Not every race will have tantalizing finishes, such as Carl Edwards' victory by .028 seconds over Jimmie Johnson at Atlanta, but there needs to be enough of those cliffhangers to keep fans coming back.

One veteran driver says competitors were asked to make audition tapes for the networks so focus groups could judge each driver's Q factor.

NASCAR has long been the most progressive sport when it comes to making its athletes accessible to fans and the media. But when the day comes that entertainment overrides competition, it will be time for me to go write for People magazine.

speed reads

A top tire specialist is a team's best investment right now. Many drivers are struggling to find the feel, so having a former Goodyear engineer--as Sterling Marlin has in crew chief Steve Boyer--is a definite advantage.

Instead of Talladega's tedious qualifying, NASCAR should run qualifying races at both restrictor-plate tracks. It would take less time, and the entertainment factor would be exponentially greater.

The No. 01 Chevrolet has tons of potential--Joe Nemechek just needs a little luck. He's fortunate to have a talented and upbeat crew chief in Ryan Pemberton, who has gotten him through what have been rough times.

INSIDE DISH

Don't expect any major changes in next year's Cup schedule, which likely won't be released until September. The Busch and Craftsman Truck series will have to wait until 2006 for a date in Canada. * Window nets were confiscated from five Cup teams at Talladega for not having the required 1-inch minimum holes in the webbing. Smaller holes allow less air into the car. The less air that goes into the car, the faster the car goes. * Under pressure from race teams, NASCAR might delay the debut of the "car of the future" until the end of 2007 and the "common" engine until 2008. Many engine builders fear teams could be crushed financially if they're left with large inventories of obsolete engines. But to even the playing field and prepare for Toyota's expected arrival in the Cup series, NASCAR is looking at controlling cars from the tires up. * When NASCAR lifted the hard liquor sponsorship embargo, did it open a Pandora's box? The next wave of sponsors pushing to get into the garage are Internet gambling sites, which have approached several teams with big checks but have not yet gotten the green flag from NASCAR. * One racing fan, who is battling cancer, requested to meet her favorite men: Rusty Wallace and Dr. Phil McGraw. Wallace couldn't make the taping of McGraw's show last Thursday, but he taped a spot for the episode, which was to be broadcast this Friday. Wallace also sent his race shoes from Las Vegas and will be host to the fan at the Nextel All-Star Challenge May 21 at Charlotte. * Although teams were warned in the drivers meeting at Talledega to limit bump drafting to the backstretch, racers showed no signs of backing off. "If they want us to stop bump drafting, then take the plates off," says Tony Stewart, who finished second Sunday. Policing a bump-drafting ban would take an army, and determining whether a driver did it on purpose or the car in front of him slowed would be impossible. * The most important testing this week will be at Charlotte, where 25 Cup teams are expected to try out the newly repaved track. Bobby Labonte, who has tested a truck there for Stewart, says the track has grip from top to bottom. "It's a little smoother than it was," Laborite says. "It's not as smooth as glass, but that's OK, too, because it needs character. It's fast, but I don't know if that will produce side-by-side racing." The tests also will show which teams have made the greatest aerodynamic gains since Texas. * The No. 14 PPC Cup team is being dismantled, and it's not surprising that crew chief Dave Charpentier has returned to Dale Earnhardt Inc. The No. 14 team was in existence for just a few months, so don't expect Charpentier to take any of Ford's secrets to Chevrolet.