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Some drivers say NASCAR must alter some of its rules before this season in response to fan criticism.

Their comments come as NASCAR considers replacing the rear wing on its Sprint Cup cars with a spoiler if it improves competition. Other changes NASCAR officials might make include relaxing some rules at tracks where restrictor plates are used on car engines.

Last year, NASCAR Sprint Cup TV ratings declined on Fox (11 percent), TNT (9 percent) and ABC (8 percent). ESPN's ratings for Cup races were up 5 percent a year ago.

"Right now, we need to do something," driver Clint Bowyer said of making rule changes. "Our fans are not happy. You've got to do something to cater to our fans.

"(NASCAR has) made a lot of changes on this car over the years, but nobody has been able to see them. You take a wing off the back, put a spoiler on it, a fan watching on TV can see that change. He's going to stay tuned and follow how that reacts and how it changes the sport going on into the season."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. suggests replacing the rear wing with a spoiler might mean more to fans than it would to racing.

"The fans want to get rid of the wing, get the old spoiler back," the Sprint Cup driver said. "I don't really know what that will do to the racing. I don't think it will change it a whole lot myself.

"It could punch a little smaller hole in the air than the wing does and give us a little opportunity to get a little more grip on the front end, but it might do the opposite."

MORE RULES CHANGES? Another area NASCAR is said to be looking at is eliminating the so-called "yellow-line rule" in restrictor-plate races. The yellow line is on the inside of the track and marks an out-of-bounds area at Daytona and Talladega. Drivers who go below the yellow line to pass can be penalized, as can drivers who force competitors below the line.

Some drivers have blamed the rule for causing recent last-lap accidents at those tracks. Drivers, though, are split on if it would be good to eliminate the rule.

"I'm comfortable if they take (out) the 'yellow line rule,' " driver Tony Stewart said. "I think the drivers would be comfortable with it.

"We all know what it feels like when you get in the grass with tires with no grooves in them. It's not very fun. It's always been a self-policing deal."

Fellow driver Michael Waltrip said eliminating the rule would be a "mistake.

"We've proven we're perfectly capable of wiping each other out with the yellow line. Taking it away, what are we trying to accomplish?"

DANICA DEBATE: Kyle Petty referred to driver Danica Patrick as "a marketing machine" and questioned how well she will do in NASCAR's Nationwide Series this season.

Patrick will continue to race full-time in the Izod IndyCar Series while running about a dozen Nationwide events. She'll make her stock-car debut Feb. 6 at Daytona in the ARCA series.

"She's not really shown over there (IndyCar) and won races and done the stuff over there, numbers-wise. She's just a marketing machine," said Petty, an analyst for TNT. "So when you look at it like that, from what she does on the race track, I hope she's successful.

"But let's look at the facts and be blunt about it. She's going to help the sport. She's going to help the publicity of the sport. She's going to help a lot of that stuff. But in the end, will she perform on the right side? It's going to be all on her shoulders to do that.

"But, you know, she's coming into a situation where that car, the car she's getting in (at JR Motorsports), has won races. If she gets in that car and doesn't win races, it's not the car, it's not the engines, the team. They only changed one thing. You know what I mean?"

Kyle Busch is more optimistic about his fellow driver's NASCAR prospects.

"I think she'll do fine," Busch said of Patrick. "She's got plenty of resources behind her. She's got plenty of help to go to. She is kind of in the same organization with Hendrick Motorsports, so she has all those drivers to feed off of. I wish her the best."

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