Ratings, economy aside, France says sport is strong (cont'd)

"We had these same conversations about this at the same time last year when the economy was worse, and there are always teams at this time of year that are under-funded, looking for sponsorship. That's not anything new," France said.

"Clearly the sponsorship market is tougher than it's ever been in my memory. I don't anticipate that getting remarkably better -- although I will tell you we are starting to see the inquiries through our New York group and the teams who do the selling of our sport. I'm starting to feel the ice thaw on that. There are companies who are very close to joining us on one level or another. It doesn't mean it will be all perfect from the sponsorship standpoint and everyone will have everything they want."

Champion's Week

• Schedule released
• NASCAR Foundation auction
• Tweet2Vegas contest
• Fans can get tickets

France also commented on two hotly-debated, controversial subjects that were at the forefront in the 2009 -- NASCAR's drug-testing policy that came under fire when it was challenged by suspended driver Jeremy Mayfield; and intense driver criticism on the dangers presented by races at Talladega Superspeedway.

"On the drug policy, we believe we made the right decisions to make an already tough policy even more tough," France said. "We think we have to do that due to the circumstances that go on in the country today, and in sports in general. We have a 200 mile an hour race car. We felt it was very imperative that we improve our policy, which we did. We will stand behind that very clearly."

As for Talladega, France said races there always face scrutiny and that the governing body attempts to learn from and improve on each event that is held at the facility. But he also made it clear that NASCAR will be reluctant to make too many changes to races that have proven popular with the fans.

"Those are our signature races, no question about it -- starting with the Daytona 500, going to the Pepsi 400 (at Daytona International Speedway in July) and going to Talladega twice," France said. "Those are the highest-rated television races, and we've got to make certain the racing is safe for sure. And then we need to make sure it's a typical Daytona-Talladega kind of race, and that's what we work on."

France also conceded that while there are no immediate plans to shorten NASCAR's lengthy schedule -- which runs 38 weeks long when two non-points events are included -- he did not rule out possibly looking into shortening the length of some individual races.

"We've done that in the past at Dover, some other places. We have done that when that makes sense," France said. "We wouldn't just cut the laps back or the distance back unless we thought it would make a big difference [to the fans]."