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RICHMOND, Va. -- Colleen Lenzer loves NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt Jr., but that's not enough to watch an entire Sprint Cup race on TV anymore.

She's found something else to do: Folding laundry.

The 42-year-old Lenzer watches the start of the races but a sport that had her "glued to the TV" only a couple of years ago no longer is as gripping.

"I get bored with it," says Lenzer. "It doesn't seem competitive or exciting. It doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of passing."

The 42-year-old Scranton, Pa., resident isn't the only one who feels that way. Fox's TV ratings for Cup races are down 13 percent from this time a year ago. That's a significant drop for a network that saw its Cup ratings relatively unchanged the past two years.

The ratings drop can be blamed on several things -- from a rain-shortened Daytona 500 to lack of excitement in some races to a deepening erosion of the television audience.

The decline worries some in the garage. They fear lower ratings could make it more difficult to entice sponsors even though NASCAR is the most-watched and highest-rated sports program since the season began.

"I know that the networks are really looking hard at what else they can do to bring the audience back up to the levels that were there," says Geoff Smith, president of Roush Fenway Racing.

TV ratings, though, can be fickle, bouncing up and down like the stock market. With more channels, there are more choices. Industry insiders said if a program's ratings remained even year to year, that could be viewed as a sign of success.

Fox officials aren't panicking about the lower ratings.

"We're aware of the trends," said Michael Mulvihill, Fox Sports vice president of programming and research. "We don't stick our head in the sand. We look at the ratings every week."

Mulvihill said Fox's NFL ratings were down 2 percent last year for the regular season and 10 percent for the playoffs this year. He said CBS' regular-season NFL ratings were down 3 percent last year. He also said Fox's Major League Baseball coverage during the regular season last year fell 13 percent from the previous year.

Mulvihill says the economy has impacted ratings. He says research shows viewers are turning to cable news programs more often during the recession. A Daytona 500 shortened by rain, robbing fans of a finish possibly as dramatic as last weekend's Talladega end, also impacted NASCAR's TV numbers.

Humpy Wheeler, former track president of Lowe's Motor Speedway, says the reason for lower TV ratings this year is simple: It's the racing.

"I don't think there's any question about why we've lost them," Wheeler said of fans tuning out NASCAR. "We lost them because of boring, dull races. That came about because of lack of a considerable amount of drama. That's what needs to be corrected."

Lead changes, often used as way to gauge a race's competitiveness, are down by more than 20 percent from last year. Only three of the first nine races this year have had more lead changes than the same event a year ago.

It also doesn't help NASCAR that it's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has one Cup victory since the 2007 season. Both Mulvihill and Barbara Zidovsky, a former senior vice president of sports marketing at Nielsen Sports, say ratings could jump if Earnhardt begins winning races.

Tim Gluth, a 29-year-old Pewaukee, Wis., resident says his viewership of NASCAR races has fallen, but that it might increase if Earnhardt performed better.

Another factor could be NASCAR's fading luster. One of the fastest-growing sports in the '90s and even earlier this decade when a majority of its races moved to network television, some fans might have moved on to other programs.

Such a concept stuns Linda Nelson.

"I just can't imagine people are turning off the TV," says the 58-year-old in Moline, Ill., who watches all the Cup races. "You've got to find out what's going on."

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long @news-record.com

Friday's qualifying

at Richmond International Raceway

Lap length: .75 miles

(Car number in parentheses)

1. (83) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 127.131.

2. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 126.844.

3. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 126.665.

4. (1) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 126.642.

5. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 126.322.

6. (09) Mike Bliss, Dodge, 126.286.

7. (5) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 126.257.

8. (82) Scott Speed, Toyota, 126.180.

9. (00) David Reutimann, Toyota, 126.133.

10. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 125.945.

11. (12) David Stremme, Dodge, 125.927.

12. (33) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 125.909.

13. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 125.892.

14. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 125.798.

15. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 125.786.

16. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 125.751.

17. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 125.716.

18. (9) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 125.681.

19. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 125.681.

20. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 125.535.

21. (47) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 125.441.

22. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 125.424.

23. (43) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 125.366.

24. (87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 125.197.

25. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 125.023.

26. (66) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 124.907.

27. (26) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 124.792.

28. (77) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 124.763.

29. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 124.700.

30. (55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 124.700.

31. (44) A J Allmendinger, Dodge, 124.683.

32. (19) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 124.654.

33. (98) Paul Menard, Ford, 124.585.

34. (71) David Gilliland, Chevrolet, 124.579.

35. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 124.298.

36. (7) Robby Gordon, Toyota, 124.281.

37. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 124.149.

38. (41) Jeremy Mayfield, Toyota, 124.127.

39. (36) Scott Riggs, Toyota, 123.768.

40. (96) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 123.468.

41. (07) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 123.265.

42. (34) John Andretti, Chevrolet, Owner Points

43. (37) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 123.700.

Failed to qualify

44. (64) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 123.119.

45. (06) Trevor Boys, Dodge, 117.228.