No need to change sport's New York state of mind

NEW YORK -- It was a little before 4 o'clock on Saturday morning when the carpenters and electricians arrived to dismantle the television lights, take down the signs and video boards, and roll up the carpet that led into the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The three-hour Nextel Cup awards ceremony and four-hour afterparty finally concluded -- it was time for NASCAR to go into a brief winter hibernation that will end when preseason testing begins at Daytona International Speedway in January.

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It was a good way to go out. NASCAR's postseason banquet is often the subject of ridicule, with critics questioning everything from its length to its sometimes mind-numbing speeches to its location far from the hub of the sport. But Friday night, most everything clicked. Sure, some of David Spade's jokes were terribly outdated, and some of the drivers seemed a little awkward in front of a teleprompter. But the pacing was quick, the speeches were short, and Tom Brokaw's fabulous tribute to late series chairman Bill France Jr. added a degree of gravity to the night. The videos introducing each of the top-10 drivers were full of cute, personal moments, like Clint Bowyer's mother expressing surprise that her son could actually win.

And the setting only enhanced the quality of the event. Go ahead, knock New York. Say the series has no business being here, or that the city doesn't care, or that by holding the banquet in Manhattan every year NASCAR is trying to pretend it's something it's not. There's plenty of ammunition to each of those claims. But there's also something about the grandeur of the Waldorf ballroom, something about being in this city when it's decked out in its Christmas finery, that makes the awards ceremony feel like a much bigger deal than it would be anywhere else.

No, New York is not consumed by NASCAR during Champions Week. The fans are out there, and in greater numbers than you'd think -- lining the barriers during the parade lap through Times Square, staking out the back entrance to the Waldorf in team jackets and with Sharpies at hand. But the sport does not dominate the city with its presence. Yet nothing really does, other than New Year's Eve or a Yankees win in the World Series. To think that you're going to come to New York for the banquet and find the fervor of an event weekend, complete with "Welcome Race Fans" banners strung from SoHo to Harlem, is downright delusional.

Does NASCAR make any kind of impact? It certainly seemed that way riding with Kevin Harvick during the Wednesday parade lap, and seeing a genuine, positive reaction on the faces of so many New Yorkers who probably couldn't tell Martinsville from Michigan. It was impressive to meet members of the New York Police Department who recognized car owners and clearly followed the sport. But really, Champions Week isn't about selling NASCAR. It's about selling Home Depot, DuPont, Chevrolet, Kellogg's, Office Depot, Nextel, and all the other companies that make NASCAR and its teams go. After every race, there's the moment when the driver climbs out of the car and thanks his sponsors. This is NASCAR's way of doing the exact same thing.

New York has always been about sponsorship -- that's the reason Bill France Jr. brought the banquet here in the first place, 26 years ago. Back then, it was an attempt to drum up business for a racing league only beginning to go nationwide. Now, it's a way to give sponsors exposure in the biggest city in America at its busiest time of year. You don't find that in Charlotte, Daytona Beach, or wherever the purists within the fan base think the awards ceremony should be. And you won't find that in Las Vegas, where NASCAR is unlikely to relocate its year-end banquet no matter how badly track magnate Bruton Smith wants it there.

Of course, that doesn't stop the flamboyant billionaire from clamoring for it. Smith, chairman of the Speedway Motorsports Inc. conglomerate that operates seven Nextel Cup tracks -- including Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- has lobbied for a year now to have the banquet moved to the Strip. He doesn't like the cold, the indifferent reception, the air traffic delays or the $400-a-night hotel room rates you find this time of year in New York. He wants to move the thing to Vegas, put it in a huge arena, open the upper level for fans and turn it into a motorsports version of the Grammys or the People's Choice Awards.

It's not going to happen. Sure, there have been meetings involving speedway officials and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau, but from a NASCAR perspective there is virtually no momentum behind the idea. With good reason. Why would NASCAR go back to a place where the sport is already a huge presence, where it draws 140,000 for a race weekend so successful the track wants another one, and pitch to the exact same crowd again? Las Vegas is conquered territory. It's NASCAR's western stronghold. If you don't have a race weekend in New York, and you want to try to make a dent in the place, the only time to come is after the season, when the holiday lights are twinkling and the place is more crowded than it is all year.

That's why NASCAR has spent the past five days in Manhattan. That's why it's unfair to judge the success or failure of banquet week on how many New Yorkers the sport is able to convert. And that's why, with apologies to Billy Joel, there's no need to change NASCAR's New York state of mind.

The opinions expressed are those solely of the writer