It is no secret that NASCAR is experiencing a variety of issues related to its popularity, despite a slight recent uptick in TV ratings. Longtime, big-name sponsors are leaving the sport while attendance and TV ratings are experiencing an overall decline, and no one, drivers included, is particularly sure how to fix it.
NASCAR just isn’t where it used to be, especially when you remember the high times of the late-1990s and early 2000s. And while it certainly won’t solve all of the sport’s issues, Tony Stewart explained what he thinks is one of the root causes and how to address it.
In a recent interview with The Virginian-Pilot, the team owner and retired driver broke down how he thinks NASCAR can turn things around. When asked, “What else do you think NASCAR has to do to get back to some semblance of the popularity it had?” Stewart — who’s still one of the biggest names in the sport — said:
“They’ve got to get drivers that have personality. It’s great having opportunities to drive cars, but shoot, they’re not even old enough to go to a bar and they’re trying to make these 18-year-old kids heroes.
I’m still a race fan, too, and it’s hard for me to embrace somebody who’s just graduating high school and they’re driving a Cup car. What have they done to really, legitimately earn their opportunity?
There’s hundreds of thousands of race-car drivers across the country that have clawed and scratched their way at Saturday night short tracks, and worked on their cars all their life to get where they are. Then you get kids with rich fathers and deep pockets that put them in race cars.
All the sudden, because they’re 18 years old, they think they deserve to be in a Cup car. I have a hard time with that.
I think there are drivers out there with the experience and personality that makes race fans want to follow them. That’s what’s lacking in NASCAR.”
It’s unclear if Stewart is talking about a specific driver or simply a trend of new Cup Series drivers coming up as teenagers or before they’re legally allowed to drink. When normally this type of argument could elicit the “Old Man Yells At Cloud” meme, the three-time Cup Series champion might actually have a point here about drivers not being ready for the next level for a variety of reasons.
While this specifically is a new take, Stewart is certainly not the first person to raise the issue of highlighting and encouraging multiple personalities in general.
Last season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a passionate argument for multiple personalities — “Villains and black hats, and good guys and bad guys, and blue collar and white collar” — being necessary in NASCAR. And yesterday, we argued that Kyle Busch, as the most polarizing driver on the track, is a villainous character that the sport desperately needs.
When some younger drivers might be hesitant to show off their big personalities, Stewart is right. If they have personalities, they need to bring them to the race track to help draw fans back in.
