NASCAR president Mike Helton plans to speak with the drivers who failed to attend last week's ceremonies in New York, Hunter said. The sanctioning body also is considering ways to ensure future attendance.
What is this high school?
It's also been reported somewhere that Dale Jr only gave a 10 second thank you video accepting the MPD award. Well, truth be told he taped a 90 second message which Nascar CUT and ONLY showed at the breakfast. Nascar disrespected the fans that voted for Jr since they didn't get to see his message at all. Their viewership was probably way down and will continue that way until they change the setup, their rules, and the entertainment.
Jr does have a very nice written thank you message on his DaleJr.com board under his running journal notes which he updates for his fans.
I don't see any reason for those who weren't in the top 10 to attend. No one saw any of the other drivers or even heard from them at the banquet. So what's the point? It's supposed to be for the fans. If Nascar hadn't instituted the Chase it might be different, but now it's all about the top 10 and that's it. I didn't see DJ, Rudd, Harvick, or anyone else, even though they may have been there,
Agreed, whadda load of crayola!
Jeff was off, competing somewhere else...Jr was busy...TUFF NUTZ Helton...kiss my lugs!
NASCAR basically removed the 30+ drivers from the series with ten races to go in the season. Everything is about "the chase", with the chosen 10 receiving massive amounts of coverage and the "others" relegated to the back of the pack. This was NASCAR's decision, theirs and theirs alone and if sponsors start negotiating their support for everything up to the chase, but not into, it would not surprise me. The whole game is about getting your name out and the chase format blatantly ignores that.
NOT a fan of the chase!