There's a certain subset of NASCAR fans that seems convinced the sport is going straight to hell, and has been ever since probably the second race. Some express their disappointment with a sport that seems to have lost touch with its working-class base; others come up with catchy names like "NASCRAP" and "ASSCAR" to sum up their feelings.

You don't see this in other sports -- there aren't any calls for baseball to return to the deadball era, hockey and football to stop using such technologically sophisticated helmets, or basketball to go back to shorty-shorts. But in NASCAR, there's a vocal contingent that always thinks things were better back when. (By that rationale, will NASCAR fans in 2028 be pining for the good ol' days when Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and President Johnson were going toe-to-toe?)

The always-enjoyable David Poole takes on this very subject in his latest column. He's heard the frustration of NASCAR fans at the direction they feel the sport has taken, and he says it could get worse before it gets better:

NASCAR isn't going to have it easy for the next 18 months or so. The economic issues that are being felt by virtually every industry and every household in our country isn't going to spare stock-car racing.

Attendance has been down at some of the tracks where the Sprint Cup circuit has been this year. Tracks are having to work as hard as they have in a long time to sell tickets and that will get worse before it gets better.

The fact is some of the people who buy tickets to attend a track's races year after year are getting their renewals for next year right now, and some of them are going to decide they can't afford that expense next year.

Some of the tickets that were bought but went unused this year might not be bought in the first place next year, and tracks are going to have to deal with that.