The oft-painted picture is that NASCAR is an outdated, expensive, sinking ship whose position among the elite American sports leagues is in jeopardy. But is that really the case?
There's no one better to ask than the people who have dedicated their lives to the sport.
The Charlotte Observer interviewed eight prominent NASCAR figures, all with different roles and perspectives, about the current state of the sport.
Our panel:
_ Richard Petty: Seven-time Cup Series champion and current team owner.
_ Rick Hendrick: Team owner and 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee.
_ Bill Elliott: Former Cup Series champion, the 16-time winner of NASCAR's Most Popular Driver award and father of current NASCAR driver Chase Elliott.
_ Humpy Wheeler: Former president of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
_ Jeff Gordon: Four-time Cup Series champion and television broadcaster.
_ Jimmy Bruns: Senior vice president of client services at GMR Marketing, with 14 years of NASCAR marketing experience.
_ Kevin Harvick: 2014 Cup Series champion and three-time Cup race winner in 2018.
_ Steve Phelps: NASCAR executive vice president, global sales and marketing officer.
Discussions mostly fell into five areas _ the quality of the racing, young drivers, the next generation of fans, television issues and NASCAR's schedule. Those are the areas they saw as the most encouraging and the most challenging for NASCAR's future.
We divided the five into the following 20 categories, to start a conversation about NASCAR's future.
And they begin with the most basic suggestion:
