Auto Racing News – Other than their penchant for going fast, NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers and long-track Olympic speedskaters generally do not have much in common. Yet after the past few days, the two sets of athletes may want to compare notes.

Sunday’s signature stock car event – the Daytona 500 – was marred by two long delays to repair potholes on the track. Monday the speedskaters ran into a similar problem when three ice resurfacing machines broke down, leading to a long delay during the men’s 500-metre event.

The delays were embarrassing to organizers of both races, but NASCAR may have taken the biggest hit when the overnight ratings came out showing Sunday’s race was the least viewed Daytona 500 in the United States since 2000 and the lowest rated since 1991. Only 13.3 million watched on FOX, down from 16 million last year. The rating of 7.7 was way down from the 9.2 in 2009.

After a year of falling ratings, the Debacle at Daytona was the last thing NASCAR needed.

The drop likely reflects the loss of casual fans who weren’t interested in watching roadwork rather than racing, especially with a smorgasbord of other sports viewing options, including the Olympics.

The diehards, of course, stuck with the race and saw Jamie McMurray take the checkered flag for his first Daytona 500 victory – in a green-white-checked finish no less. Many of those fans kept themselves occupied during the more than two hours of delays by taking potshots at NASCAR and Daytona on Twitter. Although many of the jabs were good-natured, they also show the public relations mess NASCAR finds itself in after the incident.

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