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.

HAS NASCAR LOST THE SOUTH? EX-DRIVER UNLOADS AFTER SEEING "100,000 EMPTY SEATS"

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.

NASCAR RACE LOOKS PATHETIC WITH EMPTY SEATS, DRIVER GIVES THE FINGER & THE MOST EMBARRASSING COMMAND EVER?

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.

NASCAR MAKES MAJOR CHANGE TO 2027 DAYTONA 500 WEEK, FANS FURIOUS WITH ANOTHER CHANGE & RACE WIFE IN COSTA RICA

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.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGE

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.

THE CRAIG CARTON SHOW–UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE. DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW!

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 ...

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

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 ...

SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY OUTKICK NEWSLETTER

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.

Levi Kitchen just won the 2026 Monster Energy SMX 250 Class World Championship. But the 25-year-old already has his eye on another competitive pursuit for whenever he decides to hang up his helmet.

Professional bass fishing.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE FROM OUTKICK OUTDOORS

The Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider is an avid angler who spends much of his downtime on the water. And while he's got plenty left to accomplish on a dirt bike, Kitchen told OutKick OutDoors in an exclusive interview that he'd love to try his hand at tournament fishing someday.

In fact, he's already gotten a little taste of what that world looks like.

Earlier this year, Kitchen participated in the Bassmaster Classic Celebrity Pro-Am, where he teamed up with professional angler Tristan McCormick. The two didn't exactly dominate the leaderboard, but Kitchen came away with a few fish, a new friend and an even greater appreciation for the athletes who make their living chasing bass.

"It was amazing. Me and Tristan, we had a great time," Kitchen said. "I didn't know Tristan going into it. I'd just heard his name, but he's a great dude."

McCormick, who grew up near Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Tennessee, was already familiar with motocross thanks to the amateur racing held there. And Kitchen was pleased to discover that he could hold his own on the fishing side of things, too.

"He actually said I wasn't like, you know, sometimes he gets people that go to those events and they say they can fish a little bit and they really don't know what's going on," Kitchen recalled. "But I was proud to at least catch a few fish. We didn't do great, but it was a blast."

More importantly, the experience gave Kitchen a firsthand look at just how demanding professional bass fishing can be.

"It was an eye-opener, too," he admitted. "I've always said, when I'm done racing, I want to give that a shot. I really do. But I have so much more respect for those guys. If I ever wanted to do that, I'd have to really buckle down. You have to put so much time, so much time into it."

And it's not like Kitchen is a newcomer to fishing.

Growing up in Washington state, he developed a love for the outdoors thanks in part to his father. Around age 14 or 15, he discovered an old fly rod in his dad's shop, started practicing casts in the yard and quickly fell in love with fly fishing.

Watch Levi Kitchen's entire interview with OutKick OutDoors here:

These days, Kitchen lives in Florida, where bass fishing has become his primary obsession. But he still makes time to return home to Washington for an annual steelhead fishing trip with his father, friends and family — a tradition that has lasted roughly a decade.

"I still love it," Kitchen said. "When the racing's done down the road, you'll probably find me on a river fly fishing a lot, or on a bass boat. Just maybe not Florida in the summertime."

Fishing also provides a welcome contrast to the intensity of professional motocross.

CHASE ELLIOTT SAYS NASCAR'S GRUELING 10-MONTH SEASON CAN 'EAT YOU UP' WITHOUT AN ESCAPE

Kitchen said he and fellow rider Malcolm Stewart frequently talk about fishing in Florida, and he suspects the sport appeals to motocross athletes because it's such a departure from their day jobs.

"We get to kind of calm down and be a little more present than when you're just wide open on a dirt bike," he explained.

But there's still a competitive element, even when championship points aren't on the line.

"It's another way to be, I guess, kind of competitive with yourself," Kitchen said. "You obviously don't want to go out there and not catch a fish, but sometimes that happens."

And as much as Kitchen enjoys catching fish, he also appreciates the atmosphere surrounding competitive bass fishing.

At the Bassmaster Classic Pro-Am, he found himself surrounded by athletes and celebrities from across the sports world, including NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss. Kitchen was particularly amused by Moss' impressive collection of fishing boats.

"First, Randy Moss, I'm like, who's this guy with two of the same specced-out, crazy sweet boats?" Kitchen recalled. "And they're like, 'Oh, that's Randy.'"

He also noticed something that set the fishing crowd apart from what he's accustomed to in motocross: Competitors were hanging out together at the hotel bar the night before the tournament.

"You do not see that in dirt bike racing," he said. "They put their game face on when it's time to fish, but just the whole event and weekend is pretty laid-back, which is kind of my style."

Of course, Kitchen isn't preparing to trade his Kawasaki for a bass boat just yet.

Levi Kitchen has big plans for 2027 season

The newly crowned 250 SMX World Champion, who helped end a seven-year championship drought for Pro Circuit Kawasaki, has made it clear that he wants a long career in motocross.

After recovering from a serious crash at Daytona in 2025, Kitchen said he's learned the importance of racing smarter and protecting his longevity in the sport.

"I want to race for a lot more years to come," he said.

And he's certainly not satisfied with one championship. His goals for 2027 include winning both a Supercross and a Pro Motocross title before eventually moving up from the 250 class.

So, no, Levi Kitchen isn't walking away from moto anytime soon.

But when the day finally comes to hang up the helmet, don't be surprised if The Chef trades his dirt bike for a bass boat.

SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY OUTKICK NEWSLETTER

After all, it never hurts to have a backup plan. Especially when that plan involves doing something you already love.

Love all things fishing and outdoors? Follow OutKick OutDoors on Instagram and TikTok!