NASCAR

Helton: NASCAR willing, able to change

- jutter@charlotteobserver.com
Sunday, Jun. 07, 2009

LONG POND, Pa. - President Mike Helton says NASCAR officials could make more changes.

In an interview on TNT, Helton said the willingness of NASCAR officials to make such changes as the move to double-file restarts may not always be apparent to fans but should be to car owners and drivers.

"What the (state of the sport) meetings were in Concord, as much as anything, was to establish a newer, broader, better way of communicating with the stakeholders, and obviously car owners and drivers are a huge part of that," Helton said.

"It's also a matter of explaining that today we are all in a unique time, and it helped for the drivers and owners to hear the input we get from the fans."

NASCAR has a "fan council" with more than 12,000 members.

"Telling the drivers and owners what the fans are saying is important and it was a good opportunity to do that, and from that comes, 'What can you do for me now?'

"And that's the double-file restarts."

Disclaimer