When Dale Earnhardt tragically died on the final lap of the Daytona 500 in February, some wondered how NASCAR would go on without its leader, one of the most recognizable figures in all of sports.

They suggested that without the black No. 3 Chevrolet laying rubber on tracks around the country, the future of the sport would be bleak.

	Dale Earnhardt (No. 3) died from injuries sustained in a last-lap crash in the Daytona 500.

They couldn't have been more wrong.

Seven weeks since the death of the racing legend, NASCAR's popularity is soaring. Its national television ratings are up 25 percent from last year, including increases of 62 percent in the mega-markets of Los Angeles and New York.

In four of the past seven weeks, Sunday's Winston Cup telecast has been the highest rated sports show. Not until the NCAA Tournament began in the beginning of March was NASCAR bumped to No. 2.

So why the sudden surge in popularity? Some credit the added attention brought on by Earnhardt's death. Others point to a host of factors, including competitive racing, compelling story lines and captivating broadcasts by NASCAR's new television partner, Fox.

"I thought it was Dale's death at the start and, to be honest, I anticipated somewhat of a downturn a few weeks later," said Dan Patin, director of broadcast operations for NASCAR. "But instead, we've had a snowball effect and things just keep picking up."

But Patin said NASCAR remains "cautiously optimistic" about the continued trend in ratings. It wants to see if these numbers can be sustained throughout the Winston Cup's 36-race schedule.

NASCAR officials expect a slight drop during the summer when the weather improves and more fans head outdoors. But other challenges await before then, including the NBA and NHL playoffs.

But for the moment, those NASCAR officials remain pleased. And who can blame them? In New York, long perceived as a hockey market, NASCAR's first seven races have earned three times the ratings of NHL game telecasts. In Atlanta, NASCAR's strongest market, the ratings have surpassed those of all four major professional sports, including the NFL and Major League Baseball. Atlanta's NASCAR numbers are bigger than those for the Braves.

	RATING NASCAR
	The following is the top rated sports television shows in the month following Dale Earnhardt's death. Each ratings point represents approximately 1.02 million households.
	Feb. 12-18
	1. Daytona 500	10.0
	2. WWF Smackdown	4.3
	3. NBA basketball	3.6
	Feb. 19-25
	1. Dura Lube 400	8.2
	2. Dura Lube 400 rain delay	7.4
	3. Nissan Open	5.0
	Feb. 26-March 4
	1. Chrysler 400	6.5
	2. WWF Smackdown	4.5
	3. Duke vs. N. Carolina hoops	3.5
	March 5-11
	1. Cracker Barrel 500	6.7
	2. WWF Smackdown	3.9
	3. Honda Golf Classic	3.4
	March 12-18
	1-3. NCAA Tournament	7.2-6.5
	4. Carolina 400	6.1
	March 17-25
	1-5. NCAA Tournament	8.3-6.5
	6. Food City 500	6.2

"This is a sport that still has plenty of room for growth in many of the major markets in terms of track locations, promotions and fan interest," said television consultant Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports who helped negotiate NASCAR's six-year, $2.8 billion deal with Fox, NBC and Turner Sports. "And that's unlike the other professional sports. They are becoming more dependent on moving to smaller markets."

The numbers support Pilson's claim. Last week's race at the Texas Motor Speedway saw increases of 21 percent in New York, 43 percent in San Francisco, 47 percent in Los Angeles, 56 percent in Chicago and a whopping 73 percent in Detroit compared the race's ratings last year.

For Patin, the staggering growth is almost unexplainable.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he said. "It's an unanswerable question."

Maybe not. Though there is no lone, concrete answer to why the growth has occurred, a host of smaller factors have played a part.

For one, there is the enormous amount of added publicity generated from Earnhardt's death. In the week following his death, Earnhardt was on the covers of TIME, Sports Illustrated and People, not to mention in numerous daily newspapers. A Lexis-Nexis search for stories containing the word "NASCAR" the week following Daytona this year revealed an average of 408 stories per day. Last year, the same post-Daytona week produced 202 stories per day.

And greater coverage equals greater awareness, especially for the average sports fan who had yet to pay attention to NASCAR.

"People that were still calling it stock-car racing, that had no idea what the sport was all about, were suddenly aware of Earnhardt, NASCAR, Winston Cup, all of it," said Ned Simon, a former NASCAR producer for ABC and Turner who now runs Kestrel Communications, an Atlanta-based TV consulting company.

"It's one of these things that two to three years from now, we'll look back and remember what a blow we thought it would be for NASCAR when Earnhardt died. And then, as horrible as it sounds, we'll think about all the positive things that have come out of that tragedy," Simon said.

If Earnhardt helped lure new fans into the sport in the weeks after his death, great racing and compelling story lines kept them. NASCAR couldn't have written a much better script than when Steve Park, a driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc., won the first race after Earnhardt's death.

	Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon (No. 24) race to a photo finish in the Cracker Barrel 500 at Atlanta on March 12. Harvick edged out Gordon for the win, one of the closest in history.

Two weeks later, rookie Kevin Harvick, driving Earnhardt's old car and competing in just his third Winston Cup race, beat superstar Jeff Gordon in one of the sport's closest races ever.

"There are tons of average sports fans that are just rooting for Earnhardt's team now," Simon said. "They tune in or pick up a paper just to see how 'Earnhardt's kids' are doing. It something that tugs at the human emotions."

NASCAR's new contract with Fox also has had a significant impact. In the past, Winston Cup races hopped from channel to channel. Under the new television contract, the races are aired on Fox for the first half of the season and on NBC the second half.

The consistency has allowed Fox to lure viewers back with promotions of the following week's race. It also has eliminated the task of hunting for the race somewhere on cable.

The "Race of the Week" mentality was something Pilson envisioned when CBS lost the NFL during the mid-'90s.

"I always felt that network continuity and mass promotion could help the ratings considerably," Pilson said. "And I think it's the principal reason for the success we've had so far."

Where NASCAR goes from here is anyone's guess. The season is long, stretching into November. Between now and then there are plenty of tests, starting with this weekend's Masters and ending with the World Series.

The key, Patin says, is not getting too excited too soon.

"It's been an exciting year," he said, "but it's baby steps. Let's see where things are at halfway through the season and at the end of the season. I just don't see a whole lot on the horizon that can impact us."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn.com.