The filly defied 33 years of history to win the Gloaming Stakes last start, so a true staying test at Randwick will suit her down to the ground.

The filly defied 33 years of history to win the Gloaming Stakes last start, so a true staying test at Randwick will suit her down to the ground.

The numbers are in, and they paint a disturbing picture for NASCAR as the series barrels toward its championship race in three short weeks.

Bottom line? Fans are leaving the sport ... in droves.

Nobody is watching. And those who are watching, are complaining. A lot. About the car. About the tracks. About the lack of drama, and personality, and, frankly, about the TV channel.

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Most folks have turned it off completely. Those who have stayed aren't thrilled.

I don't need to tell you guys, but that's not a great place to be.

Take a look:

Why are fans leaving NASCAR? It's simple.

Last Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix drew a pathetic audience of just 1.2 million viewers. That number is alarming, folks. I've seen a lot of bad TV numbers for NASCAR over the years. Believe me.

It's not like they're hard to find.

But that's a low number. It's an unfathomable number given the series is smack dab in the middle of its playoffs. I never thought we'd see the day where a NASCAR Cup Series race drops below the Mendoza line (1 million), but we're getting close. Too close.

For comparison's sake, NASCAR averaged more than 4.5 million viewers per race in 2016, which was a really bad time for the sport. That's when viewers were fleeing left and right. Jeff Gordon had retired. Tony Stewart was on his way out. Dale Jr. was right behind him.

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There's been a nearly 50% drop-off in viewership since then! Through 33 races this season, the Cup Series is averaging 2.3 million viewers per race. Through seven Chase races (that's what we're calling the playoffs this season), the number drops to 1.5 million.

So, yeah — I'd imagine alarms are going off in the big glass building across from Daytona International Speedway this morning. At least they should be.

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Now, the obvious question they'll be asking themselves is ... why? Why is this happening? Where are fans going? Why are they leaving?

To me, it's a fairly simple answer if everyone is just honest with themselves for 30 seconds. I'll go in order from what I consider most pressing, to least:

1. The TV deal stinks. It brought in a lot of money, but it's really poor for exposure. Do you know how many races have been on network TV this season? Seven. Seven! Six on FOX, one on NBC. That means there has been one race on network TV since the spring (Daytona in August). That's awful. Asking folks to hunt down the USA Network, and TNT, and then download Amazon Prime, and also find FS1 for 26 of your 33 races is a slap in the face.
2. The schedule stinks. I don't mean the tracks themselves, I mean the time of year. NASCAR is putting its 10-race "Chase" right up against college football and the NFL. That's like taking a knife to a gun fight. No sport is going to win that fight, much less NASCAR. Chase Elliott said it years ago, and it's still true today: The season needs to end around Labor Day weekend. There's no upside in going up against the NFL.
3. The Next Gen car has been a bigger turnoff than a Kamala Harris cackle. Fans despise it. Drivers despise it. You can't pass. You can't push the car. God forbid you try to run in "dirty air." Folks aren't stupid. They've seen what it's done to these races, and they've lost interest.
4. To steal a phrase from the great Rick Pitino, "Dale Jr. is not walking through that door." There's no real personality in the garage anymore, beyond Carson Hocevar. Like him or hate him, Carson has moved the needle all season. Nobody else does. Chase Elliott is your "Most Popular Driver" year in and year out, and he was supposed to be NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. replacement. That hasn't worked out. Chase has no interest in carrying that torch.

Jeff Gordon is gone. Dale Jr. is gone. Tony Stewart is gone. Kyle Busch, tragically, died. He was, perhaps, the last of the "old guard" when it came to NASCAR. Beyond hoping someone goes viral and physically attacks Carson Hocevar every week, I'm not sure who NASCAR is looking at to bring in new fans. He doesn't exist.

And finally ...

1. Let's be honest, the drama isn't there anymore. At least it's not what it's been over the past decade. Yes, the shift back to The Chase format was popular amongst hardcore NASCAR fans. I get it. But the sport gave up elimination races in the process, which is naturally going to hurt interest from casual fans. People like drama. Having an elimination race every third race in the fall certainly helped with interest. Those are gone now.

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Now, let's try to fix NASCAR ...

OK, that was a long-winded "30 seconds" of honesty, but you get the picture. You add all those up, and I think it's fairly easy to see how the series has cratered in terms of viewership over the past few years.

As for the answers? I don't know. I'd shorten the season and own the summer. That's probably atop my list. Utilize midweek races in June and July. End the regular season in July, and end the postseason on Labor Day weekend.

That's probably the quickest and easiest fix.

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The TV deal is done, so I'm not sure you're changing that any time soon. A new-era car would take a while to build, so that's probably a ways off, too. As for the lack of personalities in the garage ...

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Yeah, I wouldn't hold your breath. Carson Hocevar is gonna need to keep rattling cages for years to come, I fear.

So start with the schedule, and go from there. That's my best suggestion ...

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Because right now we live in a world where a WNBA Finals game is outdrawing a NASCAR postseason race.

And nobody wants to live in that world, folks.

It’s back to National Hunt action and Cheltenham on Friday our racing correspondent Jonathan Doidge has four selections from jump racing’s HQ

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Racing Victoria CEO Aaron Morrison says the sport can never be entirely without risk, following the death of Ohope Wins.

Racing Victoria CEO Aaron Morrison says the sport can never be entirely without risk, following the death of Ohope Wins.

Imprenditori, leader del terzo settore, grandi interpreti dell’associazionismo e del civismo. Persone impegnate a costruire qualcosa di significativo. Protagonisti. A Milano, in Lombardia, in Italia. Su Affaritaliani.it Milano una rubrica dedicata al racconto di donne e uomini che con le loro iniziative, le imprese, la loro visione, forgiano quotidianamente la nostra realtà. A curare questo spazio, Mario Furlan: fondatore dei City Angels, ma anche attivista, giornalista, scrittore, coach motivazionale. Insomma, uno che di protagonisti se ne intende eccome.

Medico chirurgo specialista in ortopedia, il dottor Riccardo Minola ha oltre quarant’anni di esperienza maturata tra la medicina, la chirurgia ortopedica e lo sport ad altissimo livello. Formatosi al Gaetano Pini e tra Berna, Lione e Pittsburgh, ha diretto la Chirurgia Ortopedica dell’Humanitas ed è past president della Società Italiana di Artroscopia. Nel 2005 ha operato alla spalla Gianluigi Buffon, che l’anno successivo sarebbe diventato campione del mondo.

Negli anni Minola ha affiancato all’esperienza sui danni e sulle patologie del corpo un’attenzione sempre maggiore alla medicina del benessere, dello sport e della performance. Oggi è Medical Director di Yamaha Motor Racing e segue la squadra in MotoGP, un ambiente in cui corpo e mente vengono portati al limite e nel quale ogni parametro può contribuire alla prestazione. Nel suo studio di Milano segue atleti e pazienti di ogni età e lavora allo sviluppo di un “gemello digitale” (Digital Twin) per misurare lo stato di benessere e comprendere come migliorare la performance.

Ma cosa può insegnare l’altissimo livello a chi non corre a oltre 300 km/h e vuole semplicemente stare bene e invecchiare meglio? Con Minola abbiamo parlato delle abitudini che incidono sulla longevità, dell’importanza della forza muscolare e dell’attività aerobica, degli effetti di smartphone e computer su collo e spalle e degli esercizi utili per prevenire problemi. Ma anche del confine tra scienza del benessere e consumismo del wellness, in un mercato sempre più affollato di integratori, app, dispositivi e protocolli che promettono di misurare e migliorare la salute.

Dottore, da dove si comincia?
Dalle basi, banali solo in apparenza: dormire bene, muoversi ogni giorno, allenare la forza, mangiare in modo semplice, coltivare le relazioni. Forza muscolare e capacità aerobica sono tra i più solidi predittori di longevità. Nessun integratore si avvicina a questi effetti.

Lo smartphone ci rovina il collo?
Il problema non è la curva, è il tempo. Restare a lungo con la testa in avanti, al telefono o al computer, carica collo e spalle. Non esiste una postura perfetta: la migliore è la prossima. Telefono all’altezza degli occhi, una pausa ogni 30-40 minuti, qualche rotazione delle spalle e un’apertura del torace.

Le spalle sono il punto debole di molti. Cosa fare?
La spalla, l’articolazione più mobile del corpo, vive dell’equilibrio muscolare. Con un elastico bastano pochi esercizi: rotazioni esterne con il gomito al fianco, rematori e le «Y-T-W» a busto inclinato per stabilizzare la scapola. Poi la mobilità della colonna dorsale: una schiena rigida sovraccarica la spalla. Carichi progressivi, due o tre volte a settimana.

E cosa evitare?
Lento e lat machine dietro la nuca, che stressano la spalla anteriore; le tirate al mento con i gomiti alti; i dip profondi con sovraccarico. E l’errore più comune: smettere di muovere una spalla che fa male. Quasi sempre il carico graduale è la cura, non il nemico. Per alcuni casi, un buon programma di esercizi vale quanto l’intervento.

Integratori, app, dispositivi: il benessere è ovunque. È un bene?
La scienza dello stare bene esiste ed è rigorosa. Il consumismo del benessere è un’altra cosa: come in tanti ambiti della vita, ci fa inseguire dettagli e apparenze e ci allontana dal contenuto. Il protocollo miracoloso, l’esame che nessuno ha chiesto, l’integratore di moda, il dato dello smartwatch letto senza contesto. In MotoGP misuriamo moltissimo, ma un dato vale solo se cambia una decisione. Prima di comprare qualcosa per la salute, chiedetevi se avete già fatto le cose semplici. Quasi sempre la risposta è no.

L'articolo Riccardo Minola: “Forza muscolare e capacità aerobica predicono la longevità. Nessun integratore si avvicina” proviene da Affaritaliani.it.