Going by the television ratings, NASCAR Sprint Cup racing is second only to the National Football League in popularity. But that wasn&#8217;t enough to keep ABC tuned in Sunday.</p><p>ABC&#8217;s decision to switch the end of Sunday&#8217;s race to ESPN2 still had many in auto racing talking. That includes NASCAR chairman and chief executive officer Brian France, whose displeasure was apparent.</p><p>&#8220;Well, we didn&#8217;t like it,&#8221; said France during a teleconference Tuesday to talk about the season-ending weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. &#8220;That was not what we had anticipated.&#8221;</p><p>The situation evolved late in Sunday&#8217;s Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway &#8212; the second-to-last race of the season and a key race in determining this season&#8217;s points champion.</p><p>With 34 laps remaining in the race, ABC, which had been broadcasting the race, switched the event over to one of its cable properties, ESPN2. ABC went on to show &#8220;America&#8217;s Funniest Home Videos.&#8221;</p><p>Left in the lurch were NASCAR fans without cable TV or those recording the race.</p><p>Rick Hendrick, the owner of Hendrick Motorsports and the car of Jimmie Johnson &#8212; Sunday&#8217;s race winner &#8212; said that the channel switch did not show much respect for the NASCAR series or its fans.</p><p>The switch also didn&#8217;t sit well with Johnson, who is on the verge of winning a third straight Sprint Cup championship.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s still somewhat on a prime channel of course on ABC, but to go to &#8216;America&#8217;s Funniest Home Videos?&#8217; That one hurts, no doubt,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;We have a lot of characters. Why do we need that show?&#8221;</p><p>Driver Jamie McMurray, who finished third on Sunday, looked a bit stunned when he found out about the switch.</p><p>&#8220;It seems a little odd to me, as big as NASCAR is and as many people as watch the sport, I can&#8217;t imagine being a race fan and being on the East Coast and trying to watch this and then going to that,&#8221; said McMurray, a native of Joplin, Mo.</p><p>&#8220;I mean, maybe if the President was going to talk, maybe if something big had happened, but I can&#8217;t believe that &#8216;America&#8217;s Funniest Home Videos&#8217; would take priority over us.&#8221;</p><p>ABC issued a brief statement about the change. The statement shuttles blame to the length of the race, which was twice delayed by red flags.</p><p>In its statement, ABC spokesperson George McNeilly said, &#8220;ABC&#8217;s entertainment viewers and NASCAR fans were both served well in a tough spot.&#8221;</p><p>France said that NASCAR would attempt to head off such moves in the future.</p><p>&#8220;It is imperative that we work closely together with them for scheduling,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But the most important thing is while we&#8217;re not pleased with what happened on Sunday, our interests are very much in line, and they do not want to do anything but the best coverage for our race fans.&#8221;