Liz Clarke is one ignorant fool. NASCAR doesn't now, nor will it ever need TV to be what it is - NASCAR.
NASCAR hasn't been NASCAR since they went to driving caricatures instead of "stock" cars.
Ignorance is all about where you decide to draw the line.
I'll go one more and say for years the elites opinion of stock car racing was as a laughable event for uneducated, beer drinking, Confederate flag waving rednecks....until of course their greedy eyes noticed the increasing popularity of the sport....and the $$$$$....now they're all "fans".
The more the MSM trys to cash in on NASCARS recent success the worse it's going to be for the true race fan. It's already waaaaaay too commercial as it is. The "hollywood" influence is showing.
Then again, maybe that's the idea. To wreck the sport and replace it with more "chick TV".
I think you are wrong on that. The reason NASCAR is so big IS because of TV.