NASCAR Cup Series

E15 fuel will be used in all 3 series next season

Published Oct. 17, 2010 10:14 p.m. ET

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NASCAR will switch to E15 ethanol fuel, beginning next year, for all Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races. The ethanol will be corn-based, NASCAR Chairman Brian France said Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "Domestic ethanol, for sure," France said. France and other officials said that switching to the new fuel shouldn't impact fuel mileage and has shown signs of providing more power for drivers.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, said that teams have been using ethanol in various tests, including Goodyear tire tests this year. The move completes a quick transition for NASCAR in its fuel supply. NASCAR went from leaded to unleaded fuel in 2007 and now this. France pledged more would be done in regard to green initiatives, although he didn't specify what could come next. "This is one of these areas that involve the whole industry," France said. "It's not about NASCAR just making some mandates. It's about working with all of the sponsors or track operators [and] team owners. "The companies that are doing business with us and our fans sort of expect us to take good, smart steps to do what we can as an industry to protect the environment and be smarter about how we go about our business." TV ratings With the TV ratings down about 25 percent for the first four Chase races, NASCAR Chairman Brian France briefly addressed the issue. Asked about the ratings decline, France said: "We're working on it. Racing is great and over time that takes care of things. We'd like to have better ratings but we will over time." Asked what could be done and if it would make sense to show commercials on the TV screen at the same time as the race (like the IndyCar Series does), France said: "We'll look at everything we can do. Ultimately, the racing, which is phenomenal, will carry the day. That's our product." Bruton Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc., said that NASCAR needs to move the start times back for some of his races. Instead of races starting at 1 p.m., Smith said that the races should start at 2 p.m. "You've got to look at competition on TV today and that's one of the things," Smith said. "I'm not sure we're down 25 [percent]. I have difficulty believing that, but here again, if you start a race at 1 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, look at all the competition you have on TV. I'm not sure that 1 o'clock is doing our sport any favor. "If people want to tune in and watch football -- and every game seems to be about the same -- if they want to, let them. Let's say by 2 o'clock they're tired of it and then they'll come over and watch a real sport.." Satisfaction A few days after being selected for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett, Bud Moore and the family of Lee Petty served as grand marshals for the race. "One goal I set for myself was to live long enough to get in it," Jarrett said. "I worked extremely hard on my health the last several years for this purpose, well, I wanted to live for other reasons, too, but certainly that was a big reason why I wanted to be around for a while." Next race The series heads to Martinsville next week where Denny Hamlin will look to score his third consecutive victory at that track. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at www.martinsvillespeedway.com.