The Gluckometer was ready to rock and roll at Bristol – along with the drivers’ theme songs – but unfortunately prerace introductions were a big letdown.
Gluckometer: Bristol
Bristol had fans introduce the drivers via prerecorded video, which was played on the Sprint Vision screens. Instead of a public address announcer hyping up the drivers’ names, fans read the names – often in unexcited voices – and drew little reaction from the crowd.
It was likely a good idea gone bad, and the whole prerace intros lacked juice.
That’s a major factor why Brad Keselowski, who received a noise rating of 85.6 decibels in the Nationwide race (mostly boos), didn’t even rate for the Sprint Cup race. He got about the same reaction as Terry Cook, who didn’t even show for intros.
Unfortunately, the crowd just wasn’t into it, and only nine Cup drivers moved the needle.
The ratings:
| Driver | dB | Type of Noise | Comment/Explanation | |||
| 1 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 90.3 | Cheers | Most popular driver | ||
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | 89.2 | Mostly boos | Won't stop winning | ||
| 3 | Carl Edwards | 87.5 | Cheer/boo mix | Atlanta wreck controversy | ||
| 4 | Jeff Gordon | 87.4 | Cheers | Fans hope he can stop JJ? | ||
| 5 | Mark Martin | 87.0 | Cheers | Popular driver | ||
| 6 | Tony Stewart | 86.3 | Cheers | Popular driver | ||
| 7 | Kyle Busch | 85.2 | Boos | Polarizing figure | ||
| 8 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 84.7 | Boos | Not embraced by fans | ||
| 9 | Kasey Kahne | 84.2 | Cheers | Popular driver |
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