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NASCAR WHELEN
MODIFIED TOUR'S 2015 SUCCESS BUILDS MOMENTUM
· Car
Counts Up an Average of Five Per Event
· TV Viewership Increased 41-Percent |
Buoyed
by the intense on-track competition and an ascending
television and online following, the NASCAR Whelen
Modified Tour is riding high into the 2016 season.
When Doug Coby emerged from the closest championship
battle in 31 years of Whelen Modified Tour
competition last fall at Thompson Speedway
Motorsports Park, it punctuated one of the most
prosperous seasons in the tour’s history. The 2015
success stories are already bearing fruit for 2016.
Upstate New York’s Oswego Speedway and Southeastern
Massachusetts’ Seekonk Speedway will welcome the
Whelen Modified Tour back to their markets for the
first time in decades. Likewise, a host of drivers
have expressed or announced intent to either join or
rejoin tour competition, while others are looking to
increase their frequency of participation from 2015.
Here’s a look back at the 2015 competition,
sponsorship and consumption highlights:
Competition
Coby, Ryan Preece and Woody Pitkat entered the
season finale separated by just four points in the
closest championship competition since the Whelen
Modified Tour was born in 1985.
The championship was tight from start to finish. The
only time the margin between first and second place
reached double figures was on the final day of the
season.
The final championship margin of 11 points for Coby
over Preece was tied for the third-closest in tour
history. Coby also edged Preece by 11 in 2012.
Coby became just the third driver in Whelen Modified
Tour history to earn three career titles.
With championship podium finishes in each of the
past four seasons, Preece parlayed his Whelen
Modified Tour success to a full-time NASCAR XFINITY
Series ride for 2016.
The 15 championship events featured an average car
count of 31.2, up from 26.5 in 2014. It was the
highest average since 31.6 in 2010.
Those 15 events featured an average of 6.5 lead
changes, the second-highest mark this decade.
Contingency
Sponsorship
Hoosier Tire, the official tire supplier of the
Whelen Modified and Whelen Southern Modified Tours,
increased their commitment by adding three new
contingency awards per race that did not exist in
previous seasons.
Between the Hoosier Tire Lap Leader Award, Hoosier
Tire Fastest Lap Award and Hoosier Tire Most
Improved Driver Award, 13 different drivers earned
45 of the new awards.
With 11 different contingency awards up for grabs
each race, a total of 165 were handed out during the
campaign.
Television Viewership
In NBCSN’s first season as the official television
partner of NASCAR’s regional touring series, the
network televised a combined 14 events between the
Whelen Modified and Whelen Southern Modified Tours
in 2015.
The 14 telecasts provided triple the exposure of the
open wheel divisions from 2014.
The expanded coverage resulted in a 41-percent
increase in unique viewers over the previous season.
Online Presence
NASCAR’s regional touring and weekly series’
official website, NASCARHomeTracks.com, earned a
10-percent increase in unique visitors and an
eight-percent bump in page views in 2015 compared to
the previous season.
Modified fans once again showed that they’re among
the best consumers of news in the sport as the
Whelen Modified Tour’s home page was the most viewed
series page in 2015 on NASCARHomeTracks.com.
Outside of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car
Racing from New Smyrna Speedway in February, the
Whelen Modified Tour also produced the three most
followed events during the remainder of the year
from the site’s Race Central Live coverage.
NASCAR unveiled the 2016 schedule in mid-December.
With the addition of Oswego and Seekonk, the slate
features 17 points events, the most dates since
2005. The Whelen Modified Tour campaign will begin
on April 10 at Thompson as the headlining event of
the 42nd Annual Icebreaker weekend.
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Source:
Jason Cunningham / NASCAR
Posted:
February 5, 2016 |
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