The Top Five NASCAR Stories Of 2018

Joey Logano, 28, won his first NASCAR Monster Energy Cup championship in 2018, and fan favorite Chase Elliott, 23, won three Cup races on his way to make a serious run for a Cup title. Other than that, it was not one of NASCAR’s better years. Maybe 2019 will be better. Don’t count on it, but maybe it will.

Brian France, NASCAR’s unpopular CEO and chairman, disappeared after he was arrested for driving under the influence. Barney Visser, the owner of the car that Martin Truex Jr. drove to the 2017 championship, closed shop. Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time Cup champ, lost his long-time sponsor, Lowe’s, although he did pick up a new sponsor.

The five most popular NASCAR stories on Forbes.com in 2018 had something to do with how fans became more impatient with the product, the schedule and the way championships are determined. Bubba Wallace, 25, drew a lot of positive attention for finishing second in the season-opening Daytona 500, but he failed to finish in the top five after that. The addition of Dale Earnhardt Jr. to NBC Sports’ NASCAR telecasts was generally warmly received.

Here are the top five. Tweets and comments are always welcome. NASCAR might not be as popular as it used to be, but fans love the sport and have lots of interesting and constructive things to say.

5. What If The Wrong Guy Won The 2018 NASCAR Championship? (Dec. 11, 30,657 views): Since 2014, when the current “playoff” system was adopted, there would have been a different Cup champion without the playoff bonus points in four of five seasons, including the most recent one.

4. Uh, NASCAR: We Don’t Have All Dang Day (March 20, 37,666 views): NASCAR fans don’t seem to like daytime races that start in the late afternoon, even though some of them start in the early afternoon on the West Coast. It might be time to start all daytime Cup races at 1 p.m. Eastern again.

3. How One Guy Can Wreck 30 Cars, And NASCAR’s Entire Playoff System (July 9, 37,882 views): Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the 30-year-old ex-boyfriend of Danica Patrick, won the first two stages of the race, but he was entangled in two wrecks that involved an astonishing 31 different cars, including his and another car twice. Stenhouse was in a third wreck later, then spun out.

2. Who At NASCAR Came Up With This Idea? (Sept. 4, 47,489 views): The Brickyard 400 — which is now called the Big Machine Vodka at the Brickyard — will be run for the 25th time Sunday, and it is breathtaking to see how interest in the race has declined. Last year’s race, held July 23, drew an estimated 35,000 people.

1. NASCAR Fans Are Racing Away From The Sport Even Faster (May 2, 190,375 views): The television ratings from Talladega — one of NASCAR’s most famous tracks — were eye-opening. The race delivered a 2.85 national rating on Fox, with 4.7 million viewers. The same race in 2017, a week later but also on Fox, had a 3.5 rating and 5.9 million viewers.