Changing gears

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The telltale signs are everywhere at Daytona International Speedway. They are the signs of change, the ubiquitous yellow banners that trumpet Nextel's arrival as the new title sponsor of NASCAR's premier racing series.

They read: "New color. New cup. Same race."

Now that NASCAR has kicked its tobacco habit by trading in the red-and-white packs of Winstons for the yellow-and-black cellphones of Nextel, officials hope the transition is smooth and seamless.

When the curtain is raised on the 2004 Nextel Cup Series with today's Daytona 500, the new sponsor will be only the most visible of the myriad changes the sanctioning body has undergone in its attempt to slingshot its way into the American mainstream as a major league sport.

"I think the '04 season will go down in history as maybe one that is the best example of modernizing the sport," said NASCAR president Mike Helton. "Certainly with the advent of the Nextel sponsorship of the Cup series, which is a huge change from what we were used to."

In replacing Winston, which was hindered in its advertising by federal regulations on the tobacco industry, Nextel executives hope to bring NASCAR into the information age as the perfect vehicle to broaden the fan base.

"We think we have an opportunity to give so much more exposure to the sport than it's had in the past," said Nextel CEO Tim Donahue, whose $8.7 billion company answered NASCAR's call for a new title sponsor last June by ponying up a reported $700 million in a 10-year deal.

"It's not because Winston didn't want it, it's because of the situation with their limits on advertising," said Donahue. "We're not constrained in that regard, but we're going to be measured, obviously.

"On the other hand, you're going to see a lot more exposure to the sport as a result of the partnership between Nextel and NASCAR," Donahue added, citing TV ads featuring drivers Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. that aired during the Super Bowl. "We've got a base of 13 million customers and we're going to expose lots of our customers to all these races. This is an amazing sport to me, because once you come to one of these races and experience it, it's like `Wow!' "

Nextel's title sponsorship, while huge, is not the only new thing in NASCAR.

There's a new lineup of races, part of the "Realignment: 2004 and Beyond" initiative. A new official fuel supplier in Sunoco, which replaces Unocal 76. A new radial tire Goodyear engineered to be soft enough to give drivers more mechanical grip on the track.

But perhaps the biggest (and most talked about) changes are in NASCAR's hierarchy and in how the series champion will be determined.

Brian Z. France, the 41-year-old grandson of late NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., became the third-generation leader of the family business when he was tapped last October to succeed his father, Bill France Jr., as chairman and CEO.

"Brian's evolution as chairman certainly was no surprise internally, because he's of that family," Helton said. "He's not a stranger to the sport. He's not new. He's not coming out of another profession into this one to start fresh with his career. This is a continuation of his career and commitment to it.

"It's a new title, if you will, and a new set of responsibilities for Brian. It's a new relationship with the people who work here with a new leader. But in a lot of ways, it doesn't change much. Brian has the same goals, ambitions, and desires that his grandfather and his father had."

To that end, France has adhered to the family tradition of moving the sport forward, as he took over the gymnasium-sized office his father once occupied at NASCAR headquarters in Daytona.

"It's been a little better than I thought," France said. "And it's all about Bill in terms of how he was going to deal with things in a good way. He's been supportive. Everyone's given me a chance, too. Everyone in the garage knows that I care about it and I've got a good background in what we're doing.

"Even people who don't know me that well have been pretty fair with me, and I can't really complain about much."

France took a bold step to add sizzle to the points system after interest in it seemed to fizzle last year when Matt Kenseth captured the championship on the strength of his amazing consistency. Kenseth, who set a modern-era record by spending 33 consecutive weeks atop the standings, finished 90 points ahead of Jimmie Johnson with one win, 11 top-five finishes, and a series-high 25 top 10s.

To create more buzz at a time when NASCAR goes head-to-head with the NFL and the World Series, officials introduced a radical change: After the 26th race of the season at Richmond, Va., the top 10 drivers in the points -- plus any driver within 400 points of the lead -- will advance to a 10-race shootout, the Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship.

"Once you get the steak right at the restaurant, you've got to get more customers in to try it," France said. "That's why we think the revamped points is going to be exciting. It's going to energize more sets of fan base groups late in the year."

Predictably, the drivers did not universally endorse the new system. Some even wailed that it threatened to ruin NASCAR.

Asked if he believed NASCAR would have changed the system had he, and not Kenseth (with just one victory), won the championship, Earnhardt shrugged and said, "Naw."

Then, turning the question on reporters, Earnhardt asked, "Do y'all?"

When there was no response, Earnhardt prodded for an answer.

"I mean, nobody's recording y'all, so can't you give me your honest opinion? Do you think they would've?"

That elicited a resounding "no" from the throng surrounding Earnhardt outside his hauler in Daytona's garage area.

"Well then, all right," he said, nodding. "It's not going to be bad for the sport. You're never going to be able to please everybody. I've read in the paper where some fans say they're never going to watch the races again and that NASCAR treats them like dirt. I mean, I wouldn't go as far to say that.

"It's my opinion and I've got a right to have one, but I wouldn't have changed it. But I'm not going to kick anybody in the gut and I'm not going to beat up NASCAR in the newspaper about it, because it does nobody any good.

"In my opinion, I wouldn't have changed it, but they changed it and I'm here and I'm a big fan of this sport and I love doing it and so I'm going to do whatever they tell me to do."

Even if it means adapting to a few changes this year.

"You've been around so long that you hate to see stuff change," Earnhardt said. "But at the same time I feel like you've got to have change. Things are going to change. People are going to go in and out of your life.

"I used to work with a guy named Gary Hargett when I was racing late models and he got to be like a grandfather to me," Earnhardt recalled. "I couldn't imagine going to the racetrack without him, but the day came when I had to go to the racetrack without that man and it was the hardest thing I ever did. From then on out, I realized that things were going to change and they never were going to stay the same.

"Just because I want the same old system that I had, it ain't right that it should stay that way. So you got to let things like that go, you've got to let go the old and bring in the new and embrace it and make it work for you."