NASHVILLE, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Television analyst and longtime driver Darrell Waltrip says NASCAR needs to do something about its falling TV ratings.
"Declining TV ratings in any sport is not a good sign," Waltrip said in a report Saturday in The (Nashville) Tennessean. "It's not a good sign for the sport or the sponsor of the team. That is something, if I were in charge of NASCAR, I'd be saying, 'What do we got to do to stop this and fix this?'"
Ratings for Sunday cup races fell 18 percent in 2007 from their record year of 2005, the report said.
Fox, ABC/ESPN and TNT share the 10-month NASCAR broadcast season.
"It is in a lull, and clearly the sexiness of the sport from a marketer's standpoint is not as great as it has been," said Brian Evans, an official of a company that matches corporate sponsors with racing teams.
Waltrip, a Fox analyst, said he thinks "it might be in a little more than a lull."
NASCAR officials say the races are still among the most popular TV sports attractions.
"While ratings have softened, remember that in our fragmented media world, they are down for most sports," NASCAR official Andrew Giangola said.
