NASCAR media tour reveals relevant plotlines of 2008

No one has emphasized NASCAR's pressing need to return to its roots more than Lowe's Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler. Chris Trotman/Getty Images

The Sprint NASCAR media tour felt like a class reunion: a chance to catch up on old storylines while getting familiar with some new ones. Here are five things we learned heading into the '08 campaign:

1. After years of record growth, Sprint Cup popularity has plateaued thanks to NASCAR's squeezing the color out of the sport.

Most people say the series and, more important, the drivers have gone vanilla. Consider this admission from Lowe's Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler: "I'll tell you something that no one else has, ticket sales are flat to down. (Television) ratings are down, and it's not because we've got 300 channels.

"It's because we need to get back to our roots," Wheeler continued, "and whatever NASCAR has got to do to make it work and get us back to racing and when we're putting black donuts (tire marks) on the side of the cars and not making felony offenses out of 'em."

Wheeler, the consummate showman, knows what fans want and he wants to make sure that's what they'll get. A not-so-thinly veiled threat got his point across.

"I'm going to stay on top of NASCAR until that's done," Wheeler said. "We're at a turning point in this sport. I'm glad that was admitted and talked about Tuesday. If anything came out of this media tour it was that: getting back to the roots."

2. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has "disappeared" -- like a Sopranos victim -- from his former team Dale Earnhardt Inc.

There was conspicuously little evidence of Junior's 11-year history with Dale Earnhardt Inc., when the media tour paid a visit to the race team founded by his late father Dale and stepmother Teresa.

Junior recorded 17 Cup and 21 Nationwide (formerly Busch) victories with DEI including the 2004 Daytona 500 win. While most teams would revel openly in past glories, you couldn't find a single photograph on the wall or item in the gift shop featuring Junior's likeness.

3. Ford Motor Company says it's not leaving NASCAR. In fact, the company is here for the long haul.

On the last day of the tour at the Roush Fenway shop in Concord, N.C., all of the big guns from the "blue oval" were in attendance to demonstrate their continued support of the sport: from Edsel Ford II (great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford) to Ford racing boss Dan Davis.

"[W]e believe our racing success, especially here in NASCAR, can fuel the Ford turnaround," Ford said. "We look at motor racing and NASCAR in particular, as the place we want to be primarily because our customers come, and, this is a more of a customer-driven program than it is a racing program. We're here ... to be with our customers.

"I think our commitment to racing is very firm. We're here because we want to be here because this is an important thing that has to do, we have to be in racing, and we have this presence in NASCAR."

4. Engineers are overtaking drivers in terms of performance, contradicting the pronounced desire to "get back to the basics."

Roush Fenway driver Gregg Biffle explained how a driver's information had become devalued in these days of engineers and data sensors on cars during tests.

"We're getting ready to go to Las Vegas and test on Monday and (next door in an engineer's shop) my car is going around the track in a simulation ... that's a mind-boggling development.

They're all in that room over there, wearing white coats, walking around and I don't know what they're doing. When I go to the track, after an hour-and-a-half they don't need me anymore," Biffle said. He went on to explain that that the engineers have "hit it" with the best shock and spring setup, reducing the human element and rendering Biffle to a fifth-wheel role.

Consider Biffle's recent test at Atlanta Motor Speedway: "After two hours I was bored."

So when you hear a driver say that his car was "good off the trailer," you'll know where that info came from. The only job security for the drivers is that NASCAR bans data acquisition on race weekends.

5. Bad news for Hendrick Motorsports rivals: they've got more engineers than anybody.

Consider Biffle's statement -- and the fact Hendrick has defending Sprint Cup champ Jimmie Johnson, along Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears and a reinvigorated Dale Earnhardt Jr. Worse, they've got 55 degreed engineers among their 550-person staff. If Biffle nailed the engineering situation correctly, HMS rivals ought to be very, very scared.