By alley - Dec 13, 2016, 12:24 PM ET

NASCAR: Midweek races being explored

NASCAR is exploring the possibility of holding midweek races, according to a report by the Sports Business Journal.

SBJ reports that NBC Sports and NBCSN president of programming Jon Miller suggested the idea to NASCAR executives in recent talks with various stakeholders. NASCAR reportedly is looking at "15 to 20" initiatives to enhance the race-day experience and improve both TV ratings and the look of its brand now that a

premier series sponsor has been found in Monster Energy

.

"We're having conversations with them about possible midweek races," Miller said, according to SBJ. "We like the idea of road racing and think it's pretty exciting, so we're working with them on those fronts. That's what's great about dealing with NASCAR: We can sit in a room, throw out some ideas and have them take them back and consider that inside their walls."

NASCAR's TV ratings have taken a tumble this season. According to Sports Media Watch, while the championship finale at Homestead was the 12th straight race to see a decline from last year's numbers (11 straight of which saw double-digit losses) it snapped an 11-race streak of all-time or decade-plus low numbers. Overall, 21 of the 29 Sprint Cup races that can be compared to last year declined in ratings and 22 declined in viewership, SMW reported. Fifteen dropped double-digits in one or both measures

NBC Sports Group reports that the Sprint Cup Series on NBC and NBCSN averaged 6.08 million viewers and posted a combined 3.51 national HH rating, marking increases of +16% (vs. 5.22 million) and +12% (vs. 3.14 HH), respectively, over 2014's presentation on ESPN.

Meanwhile, NBCSN's 2016 F1 coverage was up 3 percent (averaging 429,000 viewers) to rank as the best F1 season for a single cable network since 1995.