New NASCAR rules add spice, but are they for the better?

We witnessed a cultural change in NASCAR this week. It remains to be seen if it's for the better.

Make no mistake; this is a different NASCAR entering the 2010 season than the one that ran the sport up until the last checkered flag flew in '09. Gone is the complete dictatorship the sport was founded on. We now have a NASCAR that has decided the best way to stop the sagging attendance, television ratings and general malaise that has gripped the sport in recent seasons is to simply listen and respond.

Brian Vickers thinks fans will be more receptive to the new spoiler. (Getty Images)

That's just what the sanctioning body did when the new rules and policies were unveiled in Thursday's presentation during the annual Media Tour in Charlotte. Every procedure, modification and even the overall philosophy going forward was a reflection of what drivers, team owners, and maybe most importantly, fans have asked for.

Some point out that perhaps NASCAR didn't have a choice but to change the way it was conducting business.

"When attendance began to fall, that was one thing," former Charlotte Motor Speedway track president "Humpy" Wheeler told the Charlotte Observer.

"When those ratings began to fall, that really got into the middle of the cortex because you can make all kinds of excuses for fans: it's the economy, it's gas prices, it's all that. But everybody's got a TV and a tuner and when they start messing with that, that's when it hits home."

Perhaps Wheeler is on to something. While an excuse for empty seats can certainly be made due to the economic pressures facing so many fans, it would stand to reason if more people were home, television ratings would be better.

Even the mighty NFL experienced that phenomenon in 2009 with game ticket sales off but TV audiences at record highs.

It seems as if much of NASCAR Nation was turned off by the sport in whole and to recapture that interest the sanctioning body is doing what it believes necessary to return the missing spice.

A seemingly simple change is making the Sprint Cup machine look more like a stock car by ditching the exotic rear wing in favor of a more traditional spoiler.

"I think it's going to be more receptive to the fans," said Brian Vickers, one of four drivers who tested the new design at Texas Motor Speedway this week. "It looks a little cooler, a little more retro."

NASCAR may have been forced to make a pre-emptive strike as part of the Cup car's redesign before the new Nationwide machine -- which bears much more resemblance to its production-based counterparts -- comes online later this season. Fans have already fallen in love with the Mustangs and Challengers that will populate the No. 2 division because they look a lot more like stock cars than their winged cousins on the Sprint Cup side.

The spoiler helps in the aesthetic department but although early reviews have been encouraging, the jury's still out on the competition side. If the cars look better but the racing suffers because of it then NASCAR will find itself in the ultimate Catch-22 situation.

As of now, there isn't anyone who knows exactly what that answer will be until the spoiler version of the car gets much track time.

What we do know about the on-track product is that the drivers will have much more in their control than in recent seasons. NASCAR will take a decidedly more hands-off approach this coming season and promises to let them race without the worry of too many ramifications.

"We're going to put it back in the hands of the drivers," vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said. "The boys can have at it and have a good time, that's all I can say."

So rather than worry about paying a price for being what might have been before considered overly aggressive driving, NASCAR is hoping its new relaxed attitude will put more of the rubbin' is racin' mentality back in the sport and in turn bring back some of those fans who felt it was missing.

"There's an age-old saying that in NASCAR, 'if you ain't rubbing, you ain't racing,'" NASCAR President Mike Helton agreed. "I think that's what the NASCAR fan and NASCAR stakeholders all bought into and all expect."

Those NASCAR fans that longed to hear those words now must realize they have more of a voice than they've ever had. Just as when NASCAR employed the double-file restart rule last season after it proved to be a fan favorite in the All-Star Race, this new course of action is another example of listening to the customers. Whether it was through the 12,000 who comprise the NASCAR Fan Council and communicate weekly with the sanctioning body on an array of topics and issues or the call-ins to radio talk shows or the e-mails and message boards full of complaints, criticisms and moaning, fans have NASCAR's attention.

Now let's see if the sport can keep it.

For more from Pete Pistone, check him out on Twitter: @ppistone