Rick Minter's OBSERVATIONS

Economic woes taking toll

At a time of the year when all the focus in NASCAR should be on the points battles in the top three series, the economy and its impact on the sport is foremost on many minds.

NASCAR Chairman Brian France met with the media at Phoenix on Sunday to talk about how the current woes are affecting the industry and what he might or might not be able to do about it.

One idea he quickly ruled out is having NASCAR secure a line of credit for teams, as the NFL has done. France said there were too many teams in NASCAR to make that work.

"The idea we can wave a safety net or have a safety net for everybody that is in our industry, I wish we could, but it's just not practical," he said, adding that what NASCAR will do is try to cut costs for team owners.

"We're looking very, very hard at that, at being more aggressive than we've ever been."

The Craftsman Truck Series seems particularly vulnerable, with two manufacturers, Ford and Dodge, already drastically reducing their participation. France acknowledged as much.

"The manufacturer support is going to be very challenging in the months and years ahead, because of lack of selling big trucks," he said.

France also responded to some critics who say he has not been the visible leader NASCAR needs at this time. He said he's happy with NASCAR President Mike Helton being the front man.

"We like the way we're structured," France said. "We have the president of our company at every event who has the total confidence of me and the entire France family and the board."

France said he concentrates on the big-picture issues, which are dealt with on Monday through Friday at the NASCAR offices.

TV ratings offer a mixed bag

TV ratings for Sprint Cup races have dropped off in the past several weeks, but the Craftsman Truck Series is showing remarkable gains even though the circuit draws a much smaller audience. It's apparently helping that the series has an exciting, close points race even though the circuit still uses the season-long formula that the Sprint Cup Series abandoned when it went to the 10- race Chase format.

Heading into this weekend's finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Johnny Benson leads Ron Hornaday by three points, the closest margin in series history for this point of the season.

TV viewers are loving it.

Speed channel, which broadcasts truck races, reports that the recent truck race at Atlanta Motor Speedway scored a 1.0 (732,000 households) versus a .56 (410,000 households) last year, a 79-percent jump.

On the other hand, the Pep Boys Auto 500 Cup race at AMS drew a 3.6 compared to a 4.0 last year, according to a Street and Smiths reports.

Speed said the increased Truck Series ratings are nothing new — 16 of the 18 races this year have posted increases, with the rise being in the double digits 13 times.

SPRINT CUP STANDINGS

1. Jimmie Johnson 6,561; leader 2. Carl Edwards 6,420; behind: -141 3. Greg Biffle 6,358; behind: -203 4. Jeff Burton 6,292; behind: -269 5. Kevin Harvick 6,233; behind: -328 6. Clint Bowyer 6,226; behind: -335 7. Jeff Gordon 6,151; behind: -410 8. Matt Kenseth 6,091; behind: -470 9. Denny Hamlin 6,090; behind: -471 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 6,087; behind: -474 11. Kyle Busch 6,080; behind: -481 12. Tony Stewart 6,059; behind: -502