Ratings bonanza! More of you people are actually watching races

NASCAR's dying, y'all! Brian France and Jimmie Johnson and all them crazy yellow flags have people abandoning the sport in droves! Why, just look at the ratings, which are ... er ... wait, this can't be right ...

Oh, but it is. Fox Sports' Lou D'Ermilio reported Thursday morning that NASCAR's viewership to this point in the season is up by 9 percent over 2010. The 5.1 rating is up 4 percent over last year. And most significantly of all, the viewership of the prized men 18-34 is up an impressive 27 percent.

That's good news. It's too early for us to say that the sport is out of its doldrums, but it's clearly getting up off the deck.

Put against the still-low track attendance rankings, a pretty sobering trend begins to emerge, if you're a track owner: more people are watching races from the comfort of their own homes. Blame high ticket prices, blame high gas prices, blame high hotel prices, whatever -- clearly it's not the races themselves.

Indeed, this is one of the more fascinating years in recent NASCAR history, with storylines both on and off the track, and no clear winner emerging from the pack just yet. There are many races to go, of course, but for now we're looking at what might, just might, be the first year of a resurgence.

So, all you who love to tell us that you're leaving NASCAR and never coming back? Go on, get. People are lining up to replace you.

Nikki Cox Carla Gugino Ana Hickmann Mischa Barton Jamie Lynn Sigler