HOMESTEAD, Fla. — The freefall is over, rock bottom hit more than a year ago, the restart button officially activated.

Just how cool is NASCAR these days? Michael Jordan said before Sunday’s championship race he sets his clock to watch every week.

NASCAR needs more fans to want to be like Mike, and the 2019 season showed promise that many of the issues plaguing the sport are starting to fade.

The offseason will have the refreshing feel of optimism for the first time in probably a decade. NASCAR had lost its way, growing too big, too fast and leaving behind a loyal yet aging fan base. The series has suffered in nearly every metric — attendance, television ratings, costs, sponsorship pullouts — and there seemed no end to the slide.

Not anymore.

“If you take stock of where we are, I’d say we had an incredible season,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps said at Homestead-Miami Speedway before the championship finale.

Since an overdue change in leadership in August 2018 following the arrest of then-chairman Brian France on drunken-driving charges, the new regime has instilled a sense of confidence and direction that has earned kudos from all corners. Changes are finally coming: The stagnant schedule is getting a shakeup, there will be a new car in 2021 aimed at lowering costs and a new sponsorship model is expected to be announced early next month.

On the track, three title contenders from the second-tier Xfinity Series are being promoted to the elite Cup Series, which has marked a changing of the guard as rookies and newcomers are landing seats once locked down by Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne and other popular and successful stars.

The rules package introduced this season made the racing better at intermediate tracks and superspeedways; the package failed to deliver at short tracks and Phelps admitted Sunday tweaks are needed even though NASCAR had seemed against any changes for 2020.

It is an imperative fix because the season finale moves next year — after 18 years at Homestead — to suburban Phoenix, and the racing there a week ago was disappointing for a showcase playoff event.

NASCAR needs as much as excitement as possible and Sunday’s finale was heavily hyped as three of Joe Gibbs’ drivers raced Kevin Harvick for the championship. Kyle Busch became the 16th driver with multiple Cup titles when he won Sunday’s race to earn his second championship, and while the race itself wasn’t a nail-biter, it was rich with drama for the contenders and capped a compelling 10-week playoff series.