NASCAR Not Going After The Athiest Demographic

From the TriCities (Bristol TN) News: Around 1 p.m. today, thousands of fans at Bristol Motor Speedway will stand silently — as millions more tune in on TV — while the Rev. Mike Rife utters a brief prayer, minutes before engines roar to life for the Food City 500.
The pre-race invocation is a NASCAR tradition as revered as the performance of the “Star Spangled Banner” and the command to start engines. Rife, senior pastor of the Vansant Church of Christ in Vansant, Va., has provided every Food City 500 invocation since 1992. It’s a rare opportunity to reach well beyond his typical Sunday congregation of between 250 and 300.“I think it’s important because it’s always aired on TV and it is a reminder that the majority of Americans are Christians, still believe in prayer and I think NASCAR is very good about always putting it on TV,” Rife said. “It’s a reminder that America was built on biblical principles. Not everybody in America is Christian, but America is a Christian nation. The majority of America believes in God and Jesus, his son.”
NASCAR is the only professional sports organization that includes prayer as part of its live weekly TV programming and has for virtually all of its top touring series since CBS’ first live telecast of the 1979 Daytona 500, when the late Rev. Hal Marchman invited fans to pray with him.
Rife remains cognizant of the privilege those moments offer.
“You don’t want to be overbearing and you want to be respectful. They are very time-conscious and I respect that. If preachers start going over their time, Fox or ESPN will tell NASCAR to calm them down. It’s not just for me, but the guy praying at Martinsville or Daytona. I’d hate to be the one who goes way too long.”
While most invocations are traditional and uneventful, the Rev. Joe Nelms of Lebanon, Tenn., garnered national attention in 2011, when he thanked God for several series sponsors by name and his “smokin’ hot wife” prior to a Nationwide Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.  http://www.tricities.com/news/local/article_793872b8-acaa-11e3-b9b2-0017a43b2370.html
Not only does the Sprint Cup series televises it's prayers but so does the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series.
I imagine that the TV networks are under pressure to change this but I can't imagine they would not televise the prayers because it is such a big tradition and it will result in lower ratings as the NASAR fans who watch the prayer would be pissed.
And fans don' like a change from tradition.  For instance, there are many fans angry at Austin Dillon for driving the #3 car this year.  They are angry that the number belonged to Dale Earnhardt Sr. and he died in February 2001, over 13 years ago.
So, the prayer goes on in NASCAR and no other large sporting events in the world.
It's good to stand out like this.