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From USA Today:

France says NASCAR is 'not for sale'


By Nate Ryan, USA TODAY
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — In a 25-minute state-of-the-sport address before Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, NASCAR Chairman Brian France denied he or his family would be ceding control of the sanctioning body.
"I'm committed to my job for the foreseeable future, and that's years, not months," said France, who attributed recent Internet reports to "people (who) have a lot of time on their hands."

"The family has absolutely no interest in selling NASCAR or International Speedway (Corp.). We'll put that rumor right to bed. I'm committed, and we're committed for the long run."

A SPEEDTV.com story posted last month speculated that Vice Chairman Jim France might be taking over for his nephew as NASCAR czar. Jim France was named chairman of ISC earlier this season after the June 4 death of his older brother, Bill France Jr., the longtime chairman of NASCAR and ISC.

Multiple reports surfaced last week that a European private equity firm was interested in buying NASCAR. France said the sanctioning body receives such inquiries all the time.

"We do not take meetings" with private equity companies, France said. "We're just not for sale. That comes a little bit from, you know, we lost my father. Natural questions come out. But you just got to hear it from me as directly as you can: NASCAR is not for sale."

France deemed 2007 as a "very, very good year" and hailed new initiatives such as the Car of Tomorrow and rewarding more points for wins. "I think drivers are starting to understand the emphasis on winning," France said.

Among other topics addressed by the 45-year-old who has been at NASCAR's helm since September 2003:

•France said declining TV ratings (down 9% this year) weren't a sign that longtime fans were deserting the sport.

"They are getting their NASCAR fix and information differently than they did before," he said. "There's (a) lot of different ways to watch, read or pick up video clips of what is happening. That obviously has some impact on your ratings. Everyone is seeing a ratings erosion, and I'm not just talking about sports, but across the board, in prime time and 'American Idol' and lots of big franchises."

France said NASCAR remains a "very, very strong sport with a strong fan base," pointing out that attendance was up the past two weeks at Texas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway.

"We've had more commercial interest in the sport than ever," he said. "We're oversold, if you listen to the teams in some respects, how many quality sponsors are here. A lot of them don't get on the racetrack, and that's regrettable. It shows you how much interest is here."

•No changes are planned for the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2008, but qualifying procedures would get a "good review" in the offseason.

"We're going to see if we can make it (a) little more exciting, a little more relevant to the weekend," he said.

•Responding to a question about whether the Chase lacked drama this year, France said "if someone comes up and dominates, that's what you're going to have.

"Our preferred outcome is if all 12 guys are within 20 points," he said. "If you're (NFL Commissioner) Roger Goodell you want a 34-31, high-scoring Super Bowl between your two best teams with lots of drama. That's what everybody wants. But we're a sport, and when somebody puts a dominating performance forward like Jimmie Johnson is … he is having a run that in the modern era is maybe unmatched. That's the kind of thing that deserves the focus, not the format.

"That's sports. … Jimmie Johnson and his whole team are having a fabulous year. He's better than everybody else. If somebody's better, we're not going to put a system out to give someone an advantage who's not better."