Lol I was so confused to start, because I thought you meant take the G56 entry to other form of motor sports, and I was like, “where else are they supposed to run a hybrid between a stock car and a trans-am car?”. However, once I read it again, I completely agree with you. Get that car into every game you can, across every platform. From mobile games all the way up to iRacing / rFactor. It captured the world’s attention, but the world moves so fast now that within a day of LeMans, everyone had moved on to the next thing.
As a relatively new fan, (since 2020), I can say the problem I have with the sport is interviews tend to be “Well the “brand name” car was fast today, and I’d like to thank “more brands here” etc. Everything feels formulate. Watching these drivers talk is like watching paint dry, man. Idk man, drive to survive did wonders for F1 in capturing personalities.
You've summed it up perfectly. Like, I get thanking all of your sponsors, but doing it every single interview after practice, qualifying, and after the race is extremely excessive. Let the drivers show their emotions and real thoughts after a session, not just say "oh the car was good today and I'd like to thank 'xyz' for their support." It's unbelievably boring and stale
NASCAR superstars don’t exist because the championship format doesn’t allow it. It’s too random that unlike the stick and ball sports dynasties can’t be formed.
@@janyogyog76the guy in charge is a fucking idiot and has no idea how to run a motorsport. Tony Stewart talked about how he had a meeting with someone he couldn’t name but they told him everything he said would fix issues were completely opposite of what they wanted to do. Hearing the CEO say they are determined to keeping the playoffs after the Phoenix race I am 100% confident he’s the guy Tony talked to. He’s also the same guy asking drivers and fans what we believe will fix the cars but then says we’re all wrong
@@GRASCARCupSeriesin the 10 race chase format he was dominant. Not in the stupid knockout format as someone also mentioned above. Although both are flawed, the chase was definitely better than the knockout format.
The paint schemes thing is a huge part of it. I remember Jimmy Johnson when he was young was ALWAYS lowes. And I went to lowes all the time with my dad! So seeing a poster of him above the entrace, and the same car design every single race, I always knew who was in the lowes car.
Paint schemes were a huge part. They even have throwback races, which in itself proves the point. The sponsors pushing their driver was just as integral. So much so that Budweiser made a commercial for Dale Jr, 10 years later. It was a great run. I personally think stage breaks are NASCAR'S actions detrimental to the sport. These new cars (or the last ones) aren't quite as close to equal as they want. If they'd do away with the breaks I think we'd see the field work itself out. It's like they've designed the races so that there will never be another JJ, King or Intimidator.
I always liked the number 18 Interstate Batteries car, and I cam definitely say that if I ever need a battery, I know where I'm going. I don't think NASCAR realizes that paint schemes have a big impact.
@@piedpiper8355 All the stuff added on like the playoffs/stages/cautions/chase/whatever are all WAYYY too confusing to ever grab the attention of an outsider. I've been a fan since I was little, but I was less so for the last ~decade. I still catch races now and then, but not like I did before. And I have NO CLUE what half the stuff is. F1 and Indy were easy to get into more seriously because they are fairly simple. Points add up, finish better for more points. No track is generally worth more or less, no race doesn't matter (for the most part) to the championship results, etc. It's a huge mistake to complicate a potentially simple thing. The strange rules and layout of the season, plus the difficulty finding a place to watch without cable that doesn't suck (for someone who doesn't already know), the drivers and cars never having a distinct semi-perminant look, all makes it hard to follow. I can still remember Dale Jr.'s car from like 2005, of which I had a diecast model. I can remember FedEx, M&M's, Jeff Gordon (ironically not the brand), home depot, Napa, etc. - but I couldn't name a current sponsor that isn't a legacy sponsor off the top of my head. I think part of it that sponsors don't get while trying to cut the costs is that just seeing the name at the Daytona 500 ONCE all season, and in no other races, does not accomplish much. Would I remember Jimmy's Lowe's car if it was a 4x/year livery? Hell no. But I can still clearly picture it a decade after I was crazy about it, purely because it was so consistent. You don't even need to have a winning car, just an attractive color that sticks in the head, and *consistency* of appearances.
I think the biggest issue here is legitimacy. I’m a Ryan Blaney fan, but him winning the championship actually felt weird and depressing. The rest of the world used to care who won the championship, but they don’t anymore because it isn’t real. Everyone knew who Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon were. If you won the Cup, you were considered the best. Nobody thinks the #12 team was the best this year. In F1, you usually know who the best team is. NFL, NBA, Soccer, they all know. NASCAR spends the entire year focusing on the championship, then just gives it to whoever has the best couple races at the end. There’s really no buildup to it because nothing really matters til the end. Imagine if Verstappen finished 2nd in the last race and wasn’t the champion. Ryan Blaney has a great personality for a champion, but if someone who isn’t a NASCAR fan just learned about him then learned he was probably the 6th or 7th best driver this year, just think of how stupid that sounds. Jimmie Johnson won 7 championships all while the sport continued to lose viewers. The season long buildup from Winston Cup meant that every single race mattered. What happened last week affected this week and this week mattered for next week. If your favorite driver finished 5th it was a good day. Now it only matters if he wins, and even then only one win really matters. The battles for position all over the race track were important, now there is no difference at all from 5th to 26th, DNF, who cares because it’s all about a championship that will be decided in one race where a guy can have 30 wins and lose to a guy with zero by finishing just one spot behind him.
I'm done with Nascar and for the exact same reasons you posted. I've followed the sport since the 70s but what I have witnessed the last 10 years or so just isn't what I would consider racing. Hell, despite it's detractors, F1 has been better. I look forward to Daytona. The 24 hours of Daytona. The 500 I will probably sleep through
As a European observer, I can’t begin to fathom why anybody thought the playoff system would be a good idea. To me it seems like it’s designed to reward pure luck, where you can fluke a win during the regular season and be pretty much guaranteed a spot in the championship 16. And then during the actual playoffs themselves, someone could have n absolutely dominant season but having a few bad races during the round of 16/12/8 kills any chance they have of claiming the championship. It just seems a really bizarre and counterintuitive way of deciding a championship.
@@wingracer1614f1 is dogshit idk what you are smoking that makes you think it’s remotely good but my god it’s awful. Watch endurance racing, namely IMSA, it’s the best on track product out there rn
Y’all can thank Jeff Gordon for the playoff system. Look what he did from 1995 to 2001. NASCAR didn’t want him or any driver to dominate so they came up with the Chase.
For all the hate that Denny Hamlin gets (some deserved, some not), the sport is better for having him in it. I reckon people will look back on him and his shit-talk heel moves with nostalgia. Stuff like his Actions Detrimental podcast and the "Didn't win most popular driver. Maybe next year" post are great, he'll be missed when he's gone
That most popular driver post might not even be his best this year. He had the "Booooooooo" after winning the xfinity race at Darlington and had the "thanks for the love Pocono. Lots of 11s out there", while zooming in on fans flipping him the double bird (did it with the other post too). People just hate him cause he whines (which is true), but he's not a driver programmed for PR. He will go against the grain and that's what fans have been begging for for years, and he's making headlines weekly for it
Idk. Denny isn’t being himself. He’s basically admitted that it’s a persona to stir up drama. I think people miss someone like Tony Stewart more for being the opposite of Hamlin. Denny is too contrived.
It's funny, when I went to the garage in dover for my birthday present, I remember seeing ross Chastain in a car for christ knows what team. It's crazy to think how far he's come. Also, knowing that he got the wall ride from playing nascar 05 on gamecube (my brother and I put a lot of hours into that) is pretty sick
Everything you said about the young drivers was spot on. I used to have the dream of being a nascar driver. Then one day I went to a local legend car race. One of the Parents told me most of the racers were homeschooled and he would invest $8 million into his average-skilled son’s racing career. At first I was pissed, but then I learned that racing is no longer about raw talent. It’s about whose dad foots the bills.
It's unfortunately the case for a lot of modern sports, especially if there happens to be a sizable financial investment barrier. I used to play junior golf; the amount of talent you could see was absolutely amazing. Sadly, as you went up the age groups, the sheer cost involved would cause more and more people to drop out till only those whose parents could comfortably afford it were the only ones left. It may sound like hyperbole (ok, fine, I admit there's a little bit, lol), but there are golfers out there who could *beat the brakes* off Brooks Koepka/Jon Rahm/Jordan Spieth etc...their families/living situations just couldn't pay for them to take the jump.
@@BirdmanDeuce26 yeah Sawalich and Lewis have CEO dads. And the kid I’m referring to was getting so much hype from his dad and has barely gone anywhere
That's literally how our entire world is structured. WEhat you're skilled at or no literally means nothing anymore. It's all about how much money you have.
Brother. You can't think that way. Dale didn't think way. Racing has ALWAYS had these rich MFS in just walking in. If you want to race, the god dammit brother GO RACE
100 percent agreed. When I started following the sport again a few years back it took me ages to find MY favorite driver, someone who could compete with the personality of my faves from the 1990s/2000s. And just like you, I gravitated towards Ross Chastain.
I’m still searching for a driver. I’ve watched just about every week since 2018 and just hope for a good race. It was a cool feeling watching Jr race at Bristol and actually rooting for him to win.
What I have to note here as a European observer who has been to some sportscar races (WEC, GT World Challenge, DTM) recently: having access to drivers is massively important, as you can actually get what makes them tick. From what I’ve heard, actually getting to meet NASCAR drivers is becoming a rare, expensive pursuit, whereas I was able to walk into a DTM paddock for 20 bucks and meet whoever I liked
@@xavierjuno4572 your were probably reading about F1, where (usually) only the richest fans and celebrities can mingle with the F1 drivers Edit: corrected a spelling error
@@xavierjuno4572 That used to be the case. Hell, I remember going to a car dealership in the 80s to meet Darrel Waltrip. That's just not the case anymore. And I really can't blame the drivers or Nascar. The sport just got too big. When I went to that dealership, there were maybe 30 fans there. He signed autographs and talked to everyone for an hour or so and was gone. Now there would be a thousand people or more for such a thing.
Dale Jr. Download is 100% the best way to reveal the personalities of drivers/team members without jeopardizing their careers. My favorite episode was the one with John Force.
I used to work briefly in the sport and I heard that NASCAR does want to get the drivers into doing a lot of commercials and media stuff but the problem is most of the drivers don’t want to do any of that stuff. Drivers back in the day didn’t want to either, but they knew it was good for the sport and most of the time did it anyway
NASCAR is just so corporate right now, feels like they try to maintain a main stream image, yet like what the video says, is taking away the personality of the sport.
NASCAR has the opportunity to take advantage of a renewed interest in motorsports for those under 30. They can present themselves as the modern, innovative sport that they are and start cutting into to the people who found F1 through netflix. I'm hoping with the new TV deal we start to get a more premium and professional presentation of the races. Above all though, they gotta make the drivers household names. Bubba and Blaney are my favorite drivers because they put themselves out there and speak their minds. As you said, these teams are babysitting their drivers and that stifles any opportunity for brand building. Hell, Hailie Deegan is a household name based solely on her TH-cam channel and last name. It can't be that difficult to market people if all parties involved are committed to it.
The current playoff format from 2014 to now makes it difficult to win multiple championships, compared to the format from the Winston or the early chase format. With the current elimination style format we will probably never see a back to back champion
They need to go back to Winston Cup era and do a straight up full season Championship. You won't get a last race of the season dash. But when you did it was special. The last race at Atlanta Speedway at the end of the 1992 was so incredible to watch live on TV...which I did.
As an overseas viewer I've watched a few races and i noticed that the winning driver seemingly says the exact same things everytime, usually something like "I'm grateful to be with X team, thank you to W, Y, Z sponsors for giving me this opportunity" like i get that but why say it every race? Just let them be themselves on camera and let them bring out their emotion and personality. Also im surprised NASCAR still doesn't have their own Docuseries yet but series like WEC and IMSA do. It'll allow drivers to be themselves on camera and help fans get closer to the sport. With the gold-mine of flair, action and character NASCAR has under them im surprised they haven't done it yet.
I think there being barely any post-race interviews anymore also has to be taken into account as well. You get the race winner and that's pretty much it. I thought last year's Ally car was the best they've done, and I really disliked that previous hood. This also reminds me of when Kyle Busch won in the McLaren Custom Grills car. So many people went their website right then, that it crashed
It feels like there are a lot of fans who dont want big personalities. My favourite example for that was the championship finale this season. Ryan Blaney got the best car from the remaining top 4 in the race tries to overtake Ross Chastain who wants to win the race. Ross fights him fairly and Blaney shows his anger. Probably the most interesting laps of the race but afterwards there was a big discussion of who was in the wrong while i just thought it was cool to watch (although a bit scary as a Blaney fan).
I'm a Blaney fan too. In my opinion, neither of those 2 did anything wrong. Ross went there to win a race, just like 35 other drivers did. That is what he is paid to do. Ryan was aggravated as all hell ! He wanted around Ross so bad, he wanted that buffer between him and the 5 car, and he was also under immense pressure to win since so many said he never would. BOTH drivers acted accordingly to the situations they were both in at that moment.
Something that doesn’t really get mention, NASCAR’s merch (namely the older stuff like shirts and jackets) will sometimes get appeal. This could be a video idea that could get fleshed out more but I do want more people to talk about the merch and how it’ll sometimes leak out into the mainstream.
Yeah, the NASCAR gear goes in and and out streetwear every other decade or so. I remember getting clowned on by "Gangsta" kids in elementary for wearing a Home Depot pit crew jacket. Those same dweebs, would wear those kinds of jackets years later 🤣
Not a nascar guy, never have been just ended up here somehow but I realize even I knew about the drivers back then and now I couldn’t name one if you had a gun against my head.
I think the current point system as it's set up also serves to make sure that long-lasting legacies can't be built. The all-season points format would have led to guys like Harvick, Edwards and Elliott becoming multi-time champs but because of how random it is, it's nearly impossible to have a driver's consistent successs translate into championships or season-to-season success. Hell, look at how Logano has made the final 4 every other year, while in the off years getting knocked out early. And he's one of the better drivers in the sport right now, and those "off seasons" aren't that much more different than the good ones.
They have to reign back the team pr managers. Blaney doesn't have a sponsor defying personality, yet when he went on the Bussin with the Boys podcast he was so uptight compared to the laid back hosts.
I hate it when NASCAR fans complains about the issues, but complain about when NASCAR fixed it. This is why I watched NASCAR Fans who are actually have maturity.
As a 50 year old man I’ve been watching “racing” for a while. The sport of racing overall across the globe has changed. In all forms of racing “men” built cars, then raced them. Now the majority of drivers are just the kids of parents that have more than enough money and connections to put their kids in seats. As a 50 year old, it’s difficult to make a connection with the new age of child drivers, especially when you have no idea why they are in a top tier of racing, other then, somebody close to them has a lot of money
Well, I'll tell you why they are in the top level of motorsports. It's because they proved themselves through the lower categories. Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, Gasly, Schumacher, Piastri, Tsunoda, DeVries, Stroll, Norris, Albon, Waters, Brown, Feeney, Lundgaard, Lawson, Giovinazzi, Vandoorne, Cassidy, OWard, Herta, Kirkwood, Malukas, Byron, Elliott, Briscoe, Gibbs, they all proved themselves through the lower categories before making it to the big leagues. And once they made it, most of them proved they belong there. And with guys like Drugovich, Ticktum, Pourchaire, Vesti waiting for opportunities while you still have guys like Martins, Bearman, Hadjar, Maloney and Antonelli coming up, there's a lot of talent around. Liam Lawson only ever finished 4th in F2 but was quite good in his stint in F1. Giovinazzi was relatively bad in F1 getting beaten by an out of form Kimi, but he won the 24h of LeMans this year. It's a sentiment to the talent of today that even drivers that are middle of the road in F2 end up very competitive in Indycar, the WEC and Formula E.
@@xavierjuno4572 Exactly the issue now with modern racing. What was said in the video is very true, if you want to be a racing driver now you need to spend just about every hour of your life from childhood in the driver's seat of a racecar. If your parents couldn't afford for you to start out Karting from childhood or a little later, you're basically already done. That's not to say it's impossible to start a career later on like Chastain, but you're going to be fighting an even more uphill battle than the drivers who were already racing since childhood. Of course this is all if you don't have money. Becoming a racing driver is starting to become something exclusively for the wealthy.
Not if he can't tell the difference between Michael Waltrip and Rick Hendrick he shouldn't! No seriously, go check the part where he was showing the clip of the NAPA commercial featuring Martin Truex Jr. and Michael Waltrip singing NAPA-Know-How, he actually called Michael Waltrip Rick Hendrick dressed up like Elvis Presley, now how in the hell did he do all that research for this video and get THAT wrong?! X_X @6:16
I'm surprised NASCAR still doesn't have a docuseries like IMSAs Win The Weekend, WECs Full Access and F1s Drive To Survive. I think that would be a nice way to not only get drivers to express themselves and show them who they really are but also help get fans closer to the sport.
@@NoName-gv6pi Yet, they haven't. It's like Jim France is cannibalising NASCAR, hell he never liked it, he refused to be the next guy when Bill Jr. Passed on (he was the next one in line, because Brian was a nutcase) but his love was Sportscar racing, he would take the idea of IMSA, and make it cheap, creating Grand Am in 2000, buying the Motorola Cup in 2001, and going on to merge with IMSA (which was sold to Don Panoz as it cost NASCAR money throughout the 90s following the F1 murder of Group C), and now it's probably the thing that kept NASCAR afloat during the dark ages.
They do. NASCAR Full Speed. However, this is another problem in my opinion. The trend now is to build a streaming platform and pull content to your platform to force subscriptions. You make tons of money but you alienate fans who now can't follow the content because they either don't want to or cant afford to subscribe.
Regarding Sponsors & Team Identity - I've noticed some of the newer orgs out there: Trackhouse, RFK, 23XI, and your own Faction 46 using the car number more than the sponsor as a symbol to get behind. I personally find this idea far more appealing than your standard eponymous orgs of days gone by. These are sports teams after all, not the Great Houses of Westeros. That said, every team needs stars, and stars need to shine bright enough to be seen from space. Hendrick in particular could stand to benefit in particular from this - I swear they still never learned their lesson after firing KFB for his attitude all those years ago.
The cars changing every week is very difficult for the on boarding of new fans. Yes we understand the number stays the same. It’s sometimes hard to see a number in a crowd of cars.
To me the biggest failure comes from doing almost nothing with rivalries. Ross Chastain isn't just aggressive, he's outright said he does not care racing our 2023 champion hard to win the race at Homestead. Gragson, Larson, Hamlin, Blaney, Almendinger, the list goes on with people he's pushed around and very little happened outside of Rick Hendrick threatening to scale back their partnership with his team Trackhouse if he continued fucking around and found out Whether it's a dedicated segment on TV/streaming, a podcast, or something else, get everyone together to hash it out. Not saying for it to become Jerry Springer or Bloodsports, but this is far and away the best chance to flash personality. Smoke used to get by doing the interviews and confrontations after races, but now due to programming priority they can cut away after the checkered flag, robbing any insight outside the website (which you need to be a fan of in the first place) Suarez's best flash of notoriety came when he slammed the fuck out of my boy McDowell. Can you imagine if Ross pushed the envelope in an interview and they elect to settle it hockey style until a person falls on the ground? Sponsors are here for exposure, you see Chastain getting a clean hit on Hamlin/knock him to the ground wearing a Busch jacket, it only further cements him as a grizzled human of testosterone (which they are likely clamoring for after this Summer) and will likely get more beer/merchandise sold
I am old enough to remember "The Winston Open". It was an event in the 1990s that happened every year before the season in Winston-Salem, NC (where I lived) where you could meet all the drivers and get their autographs. As a kid, THIS is why I really started loving Nascar. Dale Earnhardt, who was winning championships and races... my hero, I got to meet him multiple times, shake his hand, and still have his autograph. Those were the good old days for sure. But today, these drivers do not interact with their fans like in the 1990s. Sure Twitter (X) is a good way, but there is something about meeting your favorite driver that was so exciting. I do not hear of any drivers doing autograph sessions. Heck! Harry Gant did an autograph signing in a new car dealership in Winston-Salem, as did Dale. It seems today that drivers have this "celebrity status". They don't want to be bothered by meeting fans and signing autographs. I think that goes back to the "silver spoon" entitled mentality. On another note, I do not like sons of drivers. Including Dale Jr. You said it perfectly, they didn't have to work for anything! When your name is Gibbs, you know that ride is coming no matter what. There was something about Dale Earnhardt (to an extent because I know his dad raced, but Dale EARNED his spot in Nascar), Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott, and Jeff Gordon who earned their way. I have such a hard time liking any drivers because I bet half of them have no idea how to even turn a wrench. Morgan Shepard for example, worked on his car along side his team.
you gotta read about dale jr's life, that dude worked for his spot. dale Earnhardt gave him nothing early on and never encouraged him to race as a kid. he started racing at 15 and had to work on his cars himself and at his dads dealership before getting better opportunities.
Finally, someone talking about this. They need more commercials and brand marketing at stores with the drivers like they used to do. I personally, and may be biased, but I feel Truex was one of the last guys to do commercials, when he did the Five Hour Energy ones and a few Bass Pro Shops ones I believe. (except for the Harrvick and Bowyer Formula 1 commercials and Chase Elliot you mentioned.)) Also, Truex and Dillon are the last guys with a long season sponsors with Bass Pro.
This phenomenon, along with ‘Cars,’ was entirely responsible for my (admittedly not very committed) fandom of NASCAR. Going to Home Depot with my carpenter Dad who worked long hours was one of the most special things in my early childhood, and when they would bring Tony Stewart’s Home Depot #20 to our local store, it was heaven on earth. From then on, partially nurtured by my nascar-fiend uncle, I was obsessed with the hero of my favorite place, collecting books, posters, cards, models, etc., regardless of how little I understood the sport. It is a real shame to see drivers, no matter their prowess, no longer sporting superhero-like theme colors throughout long stretches of their careers. Thank you for making this! All of your videos are truly outstanding, not just in this genre but across all of TH-cam. Real quality and talent.
This idea has been in my head for quite a while, but NASCAR and Netflix should collaborate to make their own Drive To Survive like F1 have atm. In that way, drivers will finally showcase their personalities on the main stage. It has so much potential honestly…
It’s because they are forced to regurgitate sponsors in every interview, aren’t allowed to fight and have to be squeaky clean on all social platforms. They aren’t allowed to be a person.
When I grew up, I was a Jaime Mac fan simply because "McDonald's" those colors popped on the race track ESPECIALLY the "Mac Tonight" throwback, also I was 5 and loved happy meals. 😅
It truly is crazy how years ago almost anyone could be a driver if they had the skill and drive. Now it’s all about who has the most money and connections. I hope one day they change that because I wana drive, my family goes back to when nascar was still moonshiners running from the cops. But a man can dream ig
Yeah, and his career had a lot of interesting antics. Maybe his seat at Tackhouse was destiny after he replaced it's owner Justin Marks, for his first truck start.
as a mainly f1 fan (tryna get into nascar) all the points u brought up are all things that made getting into f1 so easy-distinct colors for teams what lasted all season, driver personalities distinct from another, and yes, a superstar to head it all off. the grid being so small also helps lol, as well as a shitton of fan content being readily available
I can’t say I necessarily agree with the idea that in the past, which I did grow up in, people loved drivers more because they identified with them, or that they were the children of big names. Dale Earnhardt was mysterious and inscrutable. Jeff Gordon had half the fan base complaining he was a pampered baby. Some of the most popular drivers in various eras were sons of greats. Jr, people like Kyle Petty who you couldn’t find a single person who hated him, and even today Chase Elliot. I would also say we tend to hold modern drivers to different standards than the legends we look up to. There were plenty of dirty drivers in the 80s and 90s, whiners, crybabies, hotheads, etc. Dale Earnhardt got away with a lot of cheap moves and was beloved. We can’t return to that past era, or our memories. Even if that era came back, I feel like those who grew up in it would still be jaded. As we grow older, I think it’s a good idea to look back at yourself and scrutinize why you liked something in the past and are unhappy today. It’s easy to say “something changed and I don’t like it” but every thing to exist deals with that viewpoint. If you want to love modern NASCAR, and are a longtime fan, I think you have to accept modern NASCAR on its own terms. That doesn’t mean not criticizing etc but there is a lot of talent in NASCAR, and I think it’s still one of the most interesting sports to watch live. There’s a lot to enjoy and it has a reason to exist. We won’t feel like we did in the 90s, but that’s OK.
Imma be real, I have maybe watched one nascar race in my life, but the effort and quality of your videos make me so invested in learning about the sport that now I can’t help but invest time into watching every video multiple times to learn more and more. Truly do not get as many views and praise as you deserve. One of the few channels I check for new videos daily. Keep it up, you make all of our days a little better🙌
I'm a little late in but having just accidentally become an F1 fan just from watching the drivers do silly challenge videos on youtube and really vibing with their personalities enough to look into the sport proper, I cannot agree enough with you here. Let those NASCAR drivers loose, get them doing something fun and unusual! We want to see them be themselves off the track too! Your channel is a big reason I started looking into more diverse motorsports too so thank you for your excellent videos, they are a lot of fun.
Lol. The funny part about Max Verstappen dominating F1, is that many F1 fans are getting annoyed by how many times there's one guy dominating the entire sport. Many of us would wish F1 was like nascar in that regard.
Im not sure how I actually got here as I have never been very interested in motorsports, but it's kinda interesting. Also, your music choices are peak.
Dale Jr got me interested in NASCAR twenty years ago... for a while until I wasn't again, but he is again now with his podcast and coverage. Makes me look up other videos of racing, watch the Netflix doc and possibly attend my first race ever next month. I watched almost the entire 1978 Daytona 500 last week and I couldn't believe I was doing it
They're all kids! Rookies used to be around 30 because they were the best of the best from every other series. Grown men wont look up to a C Bell like they would Earnhardt or Petty! They made drivers a throw away commodity..
F1 Fan here, honestly the thing that brings me back to F1 over NASCAR over and over again, Isnt figures like Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton, it’s the actual driving itself. I feel like when I’m watching F1 I can’t look away for a single turn or lap Because each one is so important to the race whereas NASCAR I feel like I could take an hour long break and I wouldn’t really miss much because they’re all kind of driving on highway lanes in a oval. I mean 60-70 laps is pretty golden.. As someone who grew up around Charlotte and has been to a few NASCAR races, I don’t know why, but I always had trouble finding the entertainment in NASCAR. Im really excited theyve integrated road and dirt in recent years and those sound like races id watch. Also F1 has a huge advantage in consistent sponsorships and liveries and the fans can incest a lot in a select field of 20 drivers that change ~every 4 years. Love this channel tho and its taught me so much about the sport of nascar.
I call it the “Jimmie Johnson Effect”. Absolutely robotic, overly “professional driven” drivers. Mix thise with the family members of the corporate sponsors they are “blessed with” and now you get the blandest personalites in sports. Sadly, as a fan over almost three decades, the things necessary to return to the Golden Era are simply unrealistic.
Point2: Having someone dominate a sports can be okay but it create a problem if it goes on too long. I mean if say the Saints for example in the NFL won the Super Bowl 6 years in a row that might be good for Saints fan but after a while you don't want to see it anymore. I'm more in the parity is good area. In terms of the respect well it goes both ways. From the guys coming up and having their career stalled because of cup guys coming in a bushwacking its not hard to see why they might be not willing to give respect.
I lost interest in stock cars years ago. Stage racing, green/white/checker, the Chase, champions decided by luck in one race. Drivers who either are there because of who they're related to, or have daddy's money, and don't think twice about wrecking cars or take responsibility. Even though I hate Max Verstappen's blitz through F1, we know we're seeing history being made by a once-in-a-generation driver. Compared to NASCAR's manufactured results?
@@xavierjuno4572it works as they intended, so yes it is as close to producing a script for every race and the whole season - mandatory stage breaks basically automates and guarantees their "debris cautions" from pre-2017, alongside competition cautions that both bite into a race's runtime - a playoff system that includes a guaranteed qualification if you win, effectively making races 1 through 26 basically meaningless, and the last 10 as well since they throw everything out the window for NASCAR's obsession with empty "Game 7" moments instead of naturally evolving storylines all year
You said it best, Kyle Larson is the closest thing NASCAR has to a star right now, and while controversial, I think that's why NASCAR gave him the waiver despite him missing the Coke 600 for the Indy 500, they know and support what he was trying to do, which was to give NASCAR a good rep in the Indy 500 by running well in front of a world audience, and he did do that, he just didn't get the finish he deserved nor get the run the second race of the Double, but they can't control the weather. Larson will win another title, possibly this year's, and he'll certainly attempt the Double again next year and have a better run at it than this year.
While parity with spec car or playoffs is a common thing, that's why there won't be dynasty anymore at NASCAR because winning the championships are so random especially with this "One Race Championship"
Nascar needs to start pushing these drivers out there and have them go mainstream, like have them on more talk shows, podcasts, tv shows, movies, commercials, etc. Hey, they can put them on a livestream with Adin Ross or Kai Cenat that would give Nascar alot of that 18-49 viewers
for what it's worth, I, a normal person who doesn't watch NASCAR but likes videos like these, have never heard of Chase Elliot before this video. But I remember vividly guys like Dale Jr, Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, etc... so you are definitely correct
I'm gonna quote what IanPerez2000 said a couple weeks ago after Chase Elliott won MPD for the 6th straight year. "The people that voted Chase Elliott for MPD, or any other driver, are the same ones that complain about drivers having no personality." Personally, I haven't complained once about driver personality when it comes to the drivers I root for, and I think that's what fans should do too. If you're gonna root for your favorite drivers, then don't complain about the lack of personality from other drivers.
NASCAR will have this problem for a while because the "elder statesmen" of the sport today, didn't have a Dale Earnhardt to keep them in line as rookies. As a result, drivers like Kyle Busch were able to get away with all kinds of antics when they were young and nobody would really try to keep him in line. It's the same with any sport. The freshmen learn how to do things from the seniors. However if the seniors aren't teaching those lessons, you could lose the culture in as little as four years.
Another thing that doesn’t help is the sponsors themselves. To even say Corporate America is almost like a slur in modern terms. And by no means am I a person who cares about left vs right, conservative vs liberal, or republican vs democratic, but my lord woke culture has ruined transparency on so many levels. It’s like no one is given a fair margin for error and major companies buy into the propaganda thinking they’ll make more money from it. Also, the playoff format has to go and so does any form of post season. Id rather nascar not fix the short tracks and road courses if it means getting a proper season long format and promote the best driver year in year out. Love Ryan Blaney, but I would be lying to potential new fans that he was the best this year when we all know deep down 2023 was the year of Big Hat Byron. The fact that Willy B got comfortable winning and has a hyperbolic signature apparel means he’s doing his part and isn’t being just the guy who started his career on a computer. But since he’s not champion, I guess we missed out on not just crowning him, but telling America and the rest of the world that he was the best driver this year. What a shame.
Ross Chastain said on a interview I don''t give a crap, I don't take any crap, I am not in the crap business . If not for rick hendricks Ross would be having another stellar year .
I got into NASCAR in the '90s, but I dropped off from 2000 to 2019. In 2020, I picked it up again with the cards, and today, watching the 2023 season, I've never been so bored. NASCAR will never be what it used to be - badass drivers, unbelievably cool cars that could still sell 40 years later. Nowadays, it's just cars with ultra-ugly, flashy paint schemes and sponsors plastered everywhere. To the point where you can't even differentiate the team colors, and you don't know who's who in each race. No, I'd rather refocus on watching races from the '80s and '90s on TH-cam - I get a hundred times more enjoyment out of that. And if I may say something about what I feel NASCAR has lost, it's the "personality" of the drivers. It seems like these drivers have nothing, no soul, no personality. Except for one or two, the others feel like interchangeable figures that I wouldn't recognize from one race to the next. (I'm just sharing my impression.)
Fake drama isn't memorable. NASCAR has spent the past 20 years focusing on fake drama, instead of celebrating the real thing and allowing it to be rare.
I pull for Chase because I used to pull for his dad. Just like Richard's fans pulled for Kyle, Bobby's fans pulled for Davey, & Dale's fans pulled for Junior. I'm really tired of people saying Chase has no personality. Not every driver can be a John Force, or a DW, or a Clint Bowyer. Chase's dad said it best years ago, "The Elliott's are doers. Not talkers."
I know this is a nascar video but thr point you mentioned about all the superstars leaving is very true for f1 also. When Alonso and Lewis are gone, only Max will be left as a superstar. Leclerc, lando and others are popular but they lack that star value right now.
Could be worse, NASCAR still has more publicity than MotoGP, Indycar and WRC combined. MotoGP had Agostini, Rainey, Doohan, Rossi, Marquez (pre-injury), Lorenzo and Stoner. Indycar had Andretti, Unser, Foyt, Mears, Mansell, Fittipaldi, Villeneuve, Montoya, Zanardi, Rahal and Sullivan. WRC had Kankkunen, Auriol, Alen, McRae, Burns, Makkinen, Gronholm, Sainz, Solberg, Loeb and Ogier. Now?! Sod that, who cares
I agree largely with your Ross Chastain logic! He’s legitimately the common man that made it! Busch Beer sees it and they can kill it if they put him in every commercial. He enjoys a beer just like us. I’m the same age as Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace, but I don’t feel the shared life experience because they were raised to be just nascar drivers. If there is nothing when they take the helmet off on victory lane, no one cares who they are when they have the helmet on! Dale, Jr, Petty, and Gordon knew this… nascar needs to get that back!
the problem is NOW ONE CARES about the drivers- look at F1 everything they do revolves around the drivers. In depth interviews with all drivers, segments designed to "know" the drivers, etc... NASCAR is how the sponsor, youre the driver of Tampax 22- ffs the announcers have to spout out every sponsor that exist when call a pitstop lol NASCAR IS A JOKE
The system destroys some of what the drivers could be. Imagine a 7 time Jeff Gordon?? The golden boy on par with Earnhardt and Petty.. or a 4 time Harvick, the guy who replaced Earnhardt being so high on the title list (and winning 2010 in RCR equipment). It feels like it’s a crap shoot, you can dominate the season and make the final four, but hey it’s at a track you actually aren’t great at (everyone has those) and for this guy that barely made it in, well that’s his best track so yea, he’s better.
One issue that NASCAR has is that those drivers with personality tend to be reigned in by the series (Denny Hamlin) or a good chunk of the audience hates them for dubious reasons (Bubba Wallace) or the driver has exactly what they need but don't want to be the dace and rather be unassuming (Ross Chastain). All 3 of these drivers are drivers that I like and root for, but either they're in their own way, or something else is in the way. Now these might be more "villanous" or "heelish" drivers, but look at what prime Kyle Busch and Especially Tony Stewart did, now they of course got in trouble a lot.
Good video. You touch on a lot of great points, although it's hard to pinpoint that one thing that does make a personality - charisma. Wrestling has the same problem right now in. It's a lot of cookie cutter training where whatever personality is there seems to get trained out of them. A lot of that too as you touch on is the corporations themselves have moved away from marketing with a company-wide persona in favor of not offending anyone. Let's face it the machine gets the most of the screentime, that requires the car itself being the personification of the personality rather of the driver or the sponsor. Just like wrestling the way around that seems to be linking to the past when the personalities weren't so watered down -- why so many next generation people end up being the ones fans gravitate toward. It appears NASCAR is leaning more toward an F1 model lately, marketing the organization itself, and bringing fans in that way. That's way tougher for NASCAR as it's own personality is changing against what old timer fans and even the 2000s boom fans remember of it.
Love the video, I’ve been in and out of nascar. Totally agree with the personality and sponsorship issues. Watched the Netflix series and yes I kinda helped just seeing who the drivers really are as people.
I feel like the MLB struggles with this now too. Most sports will down the road in my opinion. And there’s not much marketing that can be done by the actual leagues to sway that. Look at someone like Mike Trout.
As a casual, I watch 5-10 races every year.. it's so difficult to follow a driver due to constant branding changes to the cars.. just the number is not enough.. alongside the driver, the car livery also gives it its own personality.. take F1.. the iconic red for ferrari, the yellow nose tip for Red Bull, the silver/black and teal for Mercedes.. it's also important for F1 as a brand to advertise each team as a unique faction which is possible due to a constant livery throughout the season.. sure F1 too has a ton of sponsors, but NASCAR feels like a clusterfuck with no consistency.. Another bad aspect of NASCAR is that it uses the driver beefs and drama more as an advertising tool.. rather than a racing series, it's advertised as a reality show.. which is why European fans can't connect as they are more racing enthusiasts.. the negative response to the flashy pre race shows at Las Vegas and Miami GPs prove that..
Speaking of NASCAR trying to be a stick and ball wannabe no more is this more evident than their stupid playoff point system we currently got. One size does not fit all when it comes to point systems in sports.
NASCAR fans: omg nobody has personality anymore Also NASCAR fans when there is someone other than a buck standard white dude with no hobbies or real personality: omg why do they have to be so different
man out hear preaching what ive been saying for years. hopefully NASCAR can remedy it. being genuine and accessible is the best selling point for drivers.
Kind of feels like the "young guns" problem may be a long-term effect of '08. There's an entire generation of drivers who were either competing when it happened or were making their first moves when it happened, and they were obviously affected in some way. AMA Superbike was hit particularly hard by that, for example.
@@MarkPentler The Great Recession, I mean. It did have a major effect on all motorsports. The aforementioned AMA Superbike, at that point one of the world's premiere motorcycle racing championships, pretty much collapsed and is still struggling to recover for example.
@@TheEmm4lpha AMA Superbike had been struggling since the 90s, after Duhamel dominated for years. Guess who owned it at that time, yup NASCAR. NASCAR singlehandedly killed AMA Superbikes because it was a threat to it's popularity, same with IMSA in 1992 (co-joint with Formula 1 killing Group C).
I grew up with NASCAR from the 80s, and it will continue to wane in popularity until it eventually fades into irrelevance. The drivers today are indistinguishable from each other, and every car make looks exactly the same. It's basically the ARCA series with a bigger budget.
Nascar also missing a huge opportunity not adding the garage 56 to every Motorsport game they can
You haven't heard? Motorsport games is dead
@@EndlessFlameout4I think they meant games about motorsports and not the company
@@Fandom_Junkie oh that makes sense
@@EndlessFlameout4yeah i despise motorsport games lol
Lol I was so confused to start, because I thought you meant take the G56 entry to other form of motor sports, and I was like, “where else are they supposed to run a hybrid between a stock car and a trans-am car?”.
However, once I read it again, I completely agree with you. Get that car into every game you can, across every platform. From mobile games all the way up to iRacing / rFactor. It captured the world’s attention, but the world moves so fast now that within a day of LeMans, everyone had moved on to the next thing.
As a relatively new fan, (since 2020), I can say the problem I have with the sport is interviews tend to be “Well the “brand name” car was fast today, and I’d like to thank “more brands here” etc.
Everything feels formulate. Watching these drivers talk is like watching paint dry, man.
Idk man, drive to survive did wonders for F1 in capturing personalities.
You've summed it up perfectly. Like, I get thanking all of your sponsors, but doing it every single interview after practice, qualifying, and after the race is extremely excessive. Let the drivers show their emotions and real thoughts after a session, not just say "oh the car was good today and I'd like to thank 'xyz' for their support." It's unbelievably boring and stale
@@smokeybandit9760 imagine taking a shot every time they mention a sponsor
@@BKLegacy Id be dead before I move on to the next driver 💀
I agree. I haven't watched driver interviews since covid.
Instead of bitching, come up with a solution. Those sponsors literally are what pay them.
NASCAR superstars don’t exist because the championship format doesn’t allow it. It’s too random that unlike the stick and ball sports dynasties can’t be formed.
Yeah, like why not revert to the old points system or modernize the current format, surely there has to be some change
Jimmie Johnson was a superstar in this playoff format.
@@GRASCARCupSeries i would disagree. in the chase format yes, in the knockout playoff format no.
@@janyogyog76the guy in charge is a fucking idiot and has no idea how to run a motorsport. Tony Stewart talked about how he had a meeting with someone he couldn’t name but they told him everything he said would fix issues were completely opposite of what they wanted to do. Hearing the CEO say they are determined to keeping the playoffs after the Phoenix race I am 100% confident he’s the guy Tony talked to. He’s also the same guy asking drivers and fans what we believe will fix the cars but then says we’re all wrong
@@GRASCARCupSeriesin the 10 race chase format he was dominant. Not in the stupid knockout format as someone also mentioned above. Although both are flawed, the chase was definitely better than the knockout format.
The paint schemes thing is a huge part of it. I remember Jimmy Johnson when he was young was ALWAYS lowes. And I went to lowes all the time with my dad! So seeing a poster of him above the entrace, and the same car design every single race, I always knew who was in the lowes car.
Paint schemes were a huge part. They even have throwback races, which in itself proves the point.
The sponsors pushing their driver was just as integral. So much so that Budweiser made a commercial for Dale Jr, 10 years later.
It was a great run.
I personally think stage breaks are NASCAR'S actions detrimental to the sport. These new cars (or the last ones) aren't quite as close to equal as they want. If they'd do away with the breaks I think we'd see the field work itself out. It's like they've designed the races so that there will never be another JJ, King or Intimidator.
Same with me except with Tony Stewart and Home Depot haha
I always liked the number 18 Interstate Batteries car, and I cam definitely say that if I ever need a battery, I know where I'm going. I don't think NASCAR realizes that paint schemes have a big impact.
@@piedpiper8355 All the stuff added on like the playoffs/stages/cautions/chase/whatever are all WAYYY too confusing to ever grab the attention of an outsider.
I've been a fan since I was little, but I was less so for the last ~decade. I still catch races now and then, but not like I did before. And I have NO CLUE what half the stuff is.
F1 and Indy were easy to get into more seriously because they are fairly simple.
Points add up, finish better for more points. No track is generally worth more or less, no race doesn't matter (for the most part) to the championship results, etc.
It's a huge mistake to complicate a potentially simple thing.
The strange rules and layout of the season, plus the difficulty finding a place to watch without cable that doesn't suck (for someone who doesn't already know), the drivers and cars never having a distinct semi-perminant look, all makes it hard to follow.
I can still remember Dale Jr.'s car from like 2005, of which I had a diecast model. I can remember FedEx, M&M's, Jeff Gordon (ironically not the brand), home depot, Napa, etc. - but I couldn't name a current sponsor that isn't a legacy sponsor off the top of my head.
I think part of it that sponsors don't get while trying to cut the costs is that just seeing the name at the Daytona 500 ONCE all season, and in no other races, does not accomplish much.
Would I remember Jimmy's Lowe's car if it was a 4x/year livery? Hell no. But I can still clearly picture it a decade after I was crazy about it, purely because it was so consistent.
You don't even need to have a winning car, just an attractive color that sticks in the head, and *consistency* of appearances.
@@jordanberube7305 yeah, that bright orange really sticks to the mind!
I think the biggest issue here is legitimacy. I’m a Ryan Blaney fan, but him winning the championship actually felt weird and depressing. The rest of the world used to care who won the championship, but they don’t anymore because it isn’t real. Everyone knew who Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon were. If you won the Cup, you were considered the best. Nobody thinks the #12 team was the best this year. In F1, you usually know who the best team is. NFL, NBA, Soccer, they all know. NASCAR spends the entire year focusing on the championship, then just gives it to whoever has the best couple races at the end. There’s really no buildup to it because nothing really matters til the end. Imagine if Verstappen finished 2nd in the last race and wasn’t the champion. Ryan Blaney has a great personality for a champion, but if someone who isn’t a NASCAR fan just learned about him then learned he was probably the 6th or 7th best driver this year, just think of how stupid that sounds. Jimmie Johnson won 7 championships all while the sport continued to lose viewers. The season long buildup from Winston Cup meant that every single race mattered. What happened last week affected this week and this week mattered for next week. If your favorite driver finished 5th it was a good day. Now it only matters if he wins, and even then only one win really matters. The battles for position all over the race track were important, now there is no difference at all from 5th to 26th, DNF, who cares because it’s all about a championship that will be decided in one race where a guy can have 30 wins and lose to a guy with zero by finishing just one spot behind him.
I'm done with Nascar and for the exact same reasons you posted. I've followed the sport since the 70s but what I have witnessed the last 10 years or so just isn't what I would consider racing. Hell, despite it's detractors, F1 has been better. I look forward to Daytona. The 24 hours of Daytona. The 500 I will probably sleep through
As a European observer, I can’t begin to fathom why anybody thought the playoff system would be a good idea.
To me it seems like it’s designed to reward pure luck, where you can fluke a win during the regular season and be pretty much guaranteed a spot in the championship 16.
And then during the actual playoffs themselves, someone could have n absolutely dominant season but having a few bad races during the round of 16/12/8 kills any chance they have of claiming the championship.
It just seems a really bizarre and counterintuitive way of deciding a championship.
@@wingracer1614f1 is dogshit idk what you are smoking that makes you think it’s remotely good but my god it’s awful. Watch endurance racing, namely IMSA, it’s the best on track product out there rn
The Winston Cup era ended at the end of 2003. I have not watched NASCAR since honestly. Your statement William does explain well a big reason why.
Y’all can thank Jeff Gordon for the playoff system. Look what he did from 1995 to 2001. NASCAR didn’t want him or any driver to dominate so they came up with the Chase.
For all the hate that Denny Hamlin gets (some deserved, some not), the sport is better for having him in it. I reckon people will look back on him and his shit-talk heel moves with nostalgia. Stuff like his Actions Detrimental podcast and the "Didn't win most popular driver. Maybe next year" post are great, he'll be missed when he's gone
The only reason people will miss Denny is because there is no one else so easy to hate.
You are so correct on this.
That most popular driver post might not even be his best this year. He had the "Booooooooo" after winning the xfinity race at Darlington and had the "thanks for the love Pocono. Lots of 11s out there", while zooming in on fans flipping him the double bird (did it with the other post too). People just hate him cause he whines (which is true), but he's not a driver programmed for PR. He will go against the grain and that's what fans have been begging for for years, and he's making headlines weekly for it
Idk. Denny isn’t being himself. He’s basically admitted that it’s a persona to stir up drama. I think people miss someone like Tony Stewart more for being the opposite of Hamlin. Denny is too contrived.
He and Kyle Busch are the last of a dying breed and were guys who were rookies when guys like Gordon and Rusty were the last of a dying breed.
People can say what they want about Ross Chastain, but in reality NASCAR needs that guy more than ANY other driver in the entire garage.
Him & His Teammate could change the entire sport
Him and Hamlin are the most entertaining tbh
I haven’t watched a race since 2012, but hearing about him got my attention
chastain for the win
It's funny, when I went to the garage in dover for my birthday present, I remember seeing ross Chastain in a car for christ knows what team. It's crazy to think how far he's come.
Also, knowing that he got the wall ride from playing nascar 05 on gamecube (my brother and I put a lot of hours into that) is pretty sick
Everything you said about the young drivers was spot on. I used to have the dream of being a nascar driver. Then one day I went to a local legend car race. One of the Parents told me most of the racers were homeschooled and he would invest $8 million into his average-skilled son’s racing career. At first I was pissed, but then I learned that racing is no longer about raw talent. It’s about whose dad foots the bills.
It's unfortunately the case for a lot of modern sports, especially if there happens to be a sizable financial investment barrier. I used to play junior golf; the amount of talent you could see was absolutely amazing. Sadly, as you went up the age groups, the sheer cost involved would cause more and more people to drop out till only those whose parents could comfortably afford it were the only ones left.
It may sound like hyperbole (ok, fine, I admit there's a little bit, lol), but there are golfers out there who could *beat the brakes* off Brooks Koepka/Jon Rahm/Jordan Spieth etc...their families/living situations just couldn't pay for them to take the jump.
@@BirdmanDeuce26 yeah Sawalich and Lewis have CEO dads. And the kid I’m referring to was getting so much hype from his dad and has barely gone anywhere
That's literally how our entire world is structured. WEhat you're skilled at or no literally means nothing anymore. It's all about how much money you have.
Brother. You can't think that way. Dale didn't think way. Racing has ALWAYS had these rich MFS in just walking in. If you want to race, the god dammit brother GO RACE
i know why nascar has a personality problem…
it’s because paul menard retired. we gotta bring him back.
Nice
Paul Menard. The antithesis of Michael Waltrip, and we loved him for it.
HARD FOR MENARD
STIFF FOR BIFF
it’s been 2 years… 💔
@@Gerarghini WHAT😭
100 percent agreed. When I started following the sport again a few years back it took me ages to find MY favorite driver, someone who could compete with the personality of my faves from the 1990s/2000s. And just like you, I gravitated towards Ross Chastain.
I’m still searching for a driver. I’ve watched just about every week since 2018 and just hope for a good race. It was a cool feeling watching Jr race at Bristol and actually rooting for him to win.
Hope you find someone to root for! It's always fun to have "that guy". Maybe a newcomer like Josh Berry will do it for ya.
What I have to note here as a European observer who has been to some sportscar races (WEC, GT World Challenge, DTM) recently: having access to drivers is massively important, as you can actually get what makes them tick. From what I’ve heard, actually getting to meet NASCAR drivers is becoming a rare, expensive pursuit, whereas I was able to walk into a DTM paddock for 20 bucks and meet whoever I liked
Huh funny I heard the opposite
@@xavierjuno4572 your were probably reading about F1, where (usually) only the richest fans and celebrities can mingle with the F1 drivers
Edit: corrected a spelling error
@@AS19Motorsport ya but from I've heard Nascar fans usually have no problem interacting with drivers
I met a Truck Driver, Spencer Boyd at a go kart place several years ago.
@@xavierjuno4572 That used to be the case. Hell, I remember going to a car dealership in the 80s to meet Darrel Waltrip. That's just not the case anymore. And I really can't blame the drivers or Nascar. The sport just got too big. When I went to that dealership, there were maybe 30 fans there. He signed autographs and talked to everyone for an hour or so and was gone. Now there would be a thousand people or more for such a thing.
Dale Jr. Download is 100% the best way to reveal the personalities of drivers/team members without jeopardizing their careers. My favorite episode was the one with John Force.
I used to work briefly in the sport and I heard that NASCAR does want to get the drivers into doing a lot of commercials and media stuff but the problem is most of the drivers don’t want to do any of that stuff. Drivers back in the day didn’t want to either, but they knew it was good for the sport and most of the time did it anyway
NASCAR is just so corporate right now, feels like they try to maintain a main stream image, yet like what the video says, is taking away the personality of the sport.
NASCAR has the opportunity to take advantage of a renewed interest in motorsports for those under 30. They can present themselves as the modern, innovative sport that they are and start cutting into to the people who found F1 through netflix. I'm hoping with the new TV deal we start to get a more premium and professional presentation of the races. Above all though, they gotta make the drivers household names. Bubba and Blaney are my favorite drivers because they put themselves out there and speak their minds. As you said, these teams are babysitting their drivers and that stifles any opportunity for brand building. Hell, Hailie Deegan is a household name based solely on her TH-cam channel and last name. It can't be that difficult to market people if all parties involved are committed to it.
The current playoff format from 2014 to now makes it difficult to win multiple championships, compared to the format from the Winston or the early chase format. With the current elimination style format we will probably never see a back to back champion
They need to go back to Winston Cup era and do a straight up full season Championship. You won't get a last race of the season dash. But when you did it was special. The last race at Atlanta Speedway at the end of the 1992 was so incredible to watch live on TV...which I did.
As an overseas viewer I've watched a few races and i noticed that the winning driver seemingly says the exact same things everytime, usually something like "I'm grateful to be with X team, thank you to W, Y, Z sponsors for giving me this opportunity" like i get that but why say it every race? Just let them be themselves on camera and let them bring out their emotion and personality. Also im surprised NASCAR still doesn't have their own Docuseries yet but series like WEC and IMSA do. It'll allow drivers to be themselves on camera and help fans get closer to the sport. With the gold-mine of flair, action and character NASCAR has under them im surprised they haven't done it yet.
They have Race to the Championship and Full Speed.
I think there being barely any post-race interviews anymore also has to be taken into account as well. You get the race winner and that's pretty much it.
I thought last year's Ally car was the best they've done, and I really disliked that previous hood. This also reminds me of when Kyle Busch won in the McLaren Custom Grills car. So many people went their website right then, that it crashed
It feels like there are a lot of fans who dont want big personalities. My favourite example for that was the championship finale this season. Ryan Blaney got the best car from the remaining top 4 in the race tries to overtake Ross Chastain who wants to win the race. Ross fights him fairly and Blaney shows his anger. Probably the most interesting laps of the race but afterwards there was a big discussion of who was in the wrong while i just thought it was cool to watch (although a bit scary as a Blaney fan).
I'm a Blaney fan too. In my opinion, neither of those 2 did anything wrong. Ross went there to win a race, just like 35 other drivers did. That is what he is paid to do. Ryan was aggravated as all hell ! He wanted around Ross so bad, he wanted that buffer between him and the 5 car, and he was also under immense pressure to win since so many said he never would. BOTH drivers acted accordingly to the situations they were both in at that moment.
Something that doesn’t really get mention, NASCAR’s merch (namely the older stuff like shirts and jackets) will sometimes get appeal. This could be a video idea that could get fleshed out more but I do want more people to talk about the merch and how it’ll sometimes leak out into the mainstream.
Yeah. I still see people wearing merch from the ‘90s and 2000’s today.
I wear 90s/2000s NASCAR drip consistently because I think it looks really cool.
Yeah, the NASCAR gear goes in and and out streetwear every other decade or so.
I remember getting clowned on by "Gangsta" kids in elementary for wearing a Home Depot pit crew jacket. Those same dweebs, would wear those kinds of jackets years later 🤣
Not a nascar guy, never have been just ended up here somehow but I realize even I knew about the drivers back then and now I couldn’t name one if you had a gun against my head.
I think the current point system as it's set up also serves to make sure that long-lasting legacies can't be built. The all-season points format would have led to guys like Harvick, Edwards and Elliott becoming multi-time champs but because of how random it is, it's nearly impossible to have a driver's consistent successs translate into championships or season-to-season success. Hell, look at how Logano has made the final 4 every other year, while in the off years getting knocked out early. And he's one of the better drivers in the sport right now, and those "off seasons" aren't that much more different than the good ones.
You made this enjoyable to someone who has no interest in, and has never really seen NASCAR or racing. Good job.
They have to reign back the team pr managers. Blaney doesn't have a sponsor defying personality, yet when he went on the Bussin with the Boys podcast he was so uptight compared to the laid back hosts.
The Lowes carts hit me with nostalgia
When NASCAR Drivers have no Personality: 😡
When NASCAR Drivers have Personality: 😡
I hate it when NASCAR fans complains about the issues, but complain about when NASCAR fixed it. This is why I watched NASCAR Fans who are actually have maturity.
The Fans are the ones with that said Personality issue because they don't know what they want
To be fair, when almost every driver has the same personality, thats not the same as them having no personality, but it still really sucks.
NASCAR fans don't know what they want
@@xxJayKxx That's what I said
As a 50 year old man I’ve been watching “racing” for a while. The sport of racing overall across the globe has changed. In all forms of racing “men” built cars, then raced them. Now the majority of drivers are just the kids of parents that have more than enough money and connections to put their kids in seats. As a 50 year old, it’s difficult to make a connection with the new age of child drivers, especially when you have no idea why they are in a top tier of racing, other then, somebody close to them has a lot of money
Well, I'll tell you why they are in the top level of motorsports. It's because they proved themselves through the lower categories. Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, Gasly, Schumacher, Piastri, Tsunoda, DeVries, Stroll, Norris, Albon, Waters, Brown, Feeney, Lundgaard, Lawson, Giovinazzi, Vandoorne, Cassidy, OWard, Herta, Kirkwood, Malukas, Byron, Elliott, Briscoe, Gibbs, they all proved themselves through the lower categories before making it to the big leagues. And once they made it, most of them proved they belong there. And with guys like Drugovich, Ticktum, Pourchaire, Vesti waiting for opportunities while you still have guys like Martins, Bearman, Hadjar, Maloney and Antonelli coming up, there's a lot of talent around. Liam Lawson only ever finished 4th in F2 but was quite good in his stint in F1. Giovinazzi was relatively bad in F1 getting beaten by an out of form Kimi, but he won the 24h of LeMans this year. It's a sentiment to the talent of today that even drivers that are middle of the road in F2 end up very competitive in Indycar, the WEC and Formula E.
@@nickklavdianos5136Ya basically we have so many young and talented drivers that every motorsport barely has enough seats to house them all
@@nickklavdianos5136 Liam Lawson would've won Super Formula if it wasn't for that f1 stint, fyi.
Super Formula is more competitive than INdyCar.
@@Dexter037S4 nope, it is not. Super Formula has only Japanese drivers and the odd outsider.... Indycar has drivers from all over the world.
@@xavierjuno4572 Exactly the issue now with modern racing. What was said in the video is very true, if you want to be a racing driver now you need to spend just about every hour of your life from childhood in the driver's seat of a racecar. If your parents couldn't afford for you to start out Karting from childhood or a little later, you're basically already done. That's not to say it's impossible to start a career later on like Chastain, but you're going to be fighting an even more uphill battle than the drivers who were already racing since childhood. Of course this is all if you don't have money. Becoming a racing driver is starting to become something exclusively for the wealthy.
11:00 you freaking nailed that part man. I'm really enjoying your videos. You should have more subscribers.
Not if he can't tell the difference between Michael Waltrip and Rick Hendrick he shouldn't! No seriously, go check the part where he was showing the clip of the NAPA commercial featuring Martin Truex Jr. and Michael Waltrip singing NAPA-Know-How, he actually called Michael Waltrip Rick Hendrick dressed up like Elvis Presley, now how in the hell did he do all that research for this video and get THAT wrong?! X_X @6:16
@Crater7928 The hell are you talking about? That's nowhere close to what he meant
I'm surprised NASCAR still doesn't have a docuseries like IMSAs Win The Weekend, WECs Full Access and F1s Drive To Survive. I think that would be a nice way to not only get drivers to express themselves and show them who they really are but also help get fans closer to the sport.
Nascar owns IMSA so they can literally mess up every thing in that seris
@@NoName-gv6pi Yet, they haven't.
It's like Jim France is cannibalising NASCAR, hell he never liked it, he refused to be the next guy when Bill Jr. Passed on (he was the next one in line, because Brian was a nutcase) but his love was Sportscar racing, he would take the idea of IMSA, and make it cheap, creating Grand Am in 2000, buying the Motorola Cup in 2001, and going on to merge with IMSA (which was sold to Don Panoz as it cost NASCAR money throughout the 90s following the F1 murder of Group C), and now it's probably the thing that kept NASCAR afloat during the dark ages.
They actually do now, it's on Netflix and called NASCAR Full Speed.
They do. NASCAR Full Speed. However, this is another problem in my opinion. The trend now is to build a streaming platform and pull content to your platform to force subscriptions. You make tons of money but you alienate fans who now can't follow the content because they either don't want to or cant afford to subscribe.
@@NoName-gv6piIMSA is Jim France's baby, he hasn't allowed anything NASCAR planned to be put in.
Regarding Sponsors & Team Identity - I've noticed some of the newer orgs out there: Trackhouse, RFK, 23XI, and your own Faction 46 using the car number more than the sponsor as a symbol to get behind. I personally find this idea far more appealing than your standard eponymous orgs of days gone by. These are sports teams after all, not the Great Houses of Westeros.
That said, every team needs stars, and stars need to shine bright enough to be seen from space. Hendrick in particular could stand to benefit in particular from this - I swear they still never learned their lesson after firing KFB for his attitude all those years ago.
Honestly with sponsors ever-changing, this seems like a natural evolution tbh
The cars changing every week is very difficult for the on boarding of new fans. Yes we understand the number stays the same. It’s sometimes hard to see a number in a crowd of cars.
To me the biggest failure comes from doing almost nothing with rivalries. Ross Chastain isn't just aggressive, he's outright said he does not care racing our 2023 champion hard to win the race at Homestead. Gragson, Larson, Hamlin, Blaney, Almendinger, the list goes on with people he's pushed around and very little happened outside of Rick Hendrick threatening to scale back their partnership with his team Trackhouse if he continued fucking around and found out
Whether it's a dedicated segment on TV/streaming, a podcast, or something else, get everyone together to hash it out. Not saying for it to become Jerry Springer or Bloodsports, but this is far and away the best chance to flash personality. Smoke used to get by doing the interviews and confrontations after races, but now due to programming priority they can cut away after the checkered flag, robbing any insight outside the website (which you need to be a fan of in the first place)
Suarez's best flash of notoriety came when he slammed the fuck out of my boy McDowell. Can you imagine if Ross pushed the envelope in an interview and they elect to settle it hockey style until a person falls on the ground? Sponsors are here for exposure, you see Chastain getting a clean hit on Hamlin/knock him to the ground wearing a Busch jacket, it only further cements him as a grizzled human of testosterone (which they are likely clamoring for after this Summer) and will likely get more beer/merchandise sold
I am old enough to remember "The Winston Open". It was an event in the 1990s that happened every year before the season in Winston-Salem, NC (where I lived) where you could meet all the drivers and get their autographs. As a kid, THIS is why I really started loving Nascar. Dale Earnhardt, who was winning championships and races... my hero, I got to meet him multiple times, shake his hand, and still have his autograph. Those were the good old days for sure. But today, these drivers do not interact with their fans like in the 1990s. Sure Twitter (X) is a good way, but there is something about meeting your favorite driver that was so exciting. I do not hear of any drivers doing autograph sessions. Heck! Harry Gant did an autograph signing in a new car dealership in Winston-Salem, as did Dale. It seems today that drivers have this "celebrity status". They don't want to be bothered by meeting fans and signing autographs. I think that goes back to the "silver spoon" entitled mentality. On another note, I do not like sons of drivers. Including Dale Jr. You said it perfectly, they didn't have to work for anything! When your name is Gibbs, you know that ride is coming no matter what. There was something about Dale Earnhardt (to an extent because I know his dad raced, but Dale EARNED his spot in Nascar), Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott, and Jeff Gordon who earned their way. I have such a hard time liking any drivers because I bet half of them have no idea how to even turn a wrench. Morgan Shepard for example, worked on his car along side his team.
you gotta read about dale jr's life, that dude worked for his spot. dale Earnhardt gave him nothing early on and never encouraged him to race as a kid. he started racing at 15 and had to work on his cars himself and at his dads dealership before getting better opportunities.
Finally, someone talking about this. They need more commercials and brand marketing at stores with the drivers like they used to do. I personally, and may be biased, but I feel Truex was one of the last guys to do commercials, when he did the Five Hour Energy ones and a few Bass Pro Shops ones I believe. (except for the Harrvick and Bowyer Formula 1 commercials and Chase Elliot you mentioned.)) Also, Truex and Dillon are the last guys with a long season sponsors with Bass Pro.
This phenomenon, along with ‘Cars,’ was entirely responsible for my (admittedly not very committed) fandom of NASCAR. Going to Home Depot with my carpenter Dad who worked long hours was one of the most special things in my early childhood, and when they would bring Tony Stewart’s Home Depot #20 to our local store, it was heaven on earth. From then on, partially nurtured by my nascar-fiend uncle, I was obsessed with the hero of my favorite place, collecting books, posters, cards, models, etc., regardless of how little I understood the sport. It is a real shame to see drivers, no matter their prowess, no longer sporting superhero-like theme colors throughout long stretches of their careers.
Thank you for making this! All of your videos are truly outstanding, not just in this genre but across all of TH-cam. Real quality and talent.
This idea has been in my head for quite a while, but NASCAR and Netflix should collaborate to make their own Drive To Survive like F1 have atm. In that way, drivers will finally showcase their personalities on the main stage. It has so much potential honestly…
It is coming on 30 of january!
It’s because they are forced to regurgitate sponsors in every interview, aren’t allowed to fight and have to be squeaky clean on all social platforms. They aren’t allowed to be a person.
When I grew up, I was a Jaime Mac fan simply because "McDonald's" those colors popped on the race track ESPECIALLY the "Mac Tonight" throwback, also I was 5 and loved happy meals. 😅
It truly is crazy how years ago almost anyone could be a driver if they had the skill and drive. Now it’s all about who has the most money and connections. I hope one day they change that because I wana drive, my family goes back to when nascar was still moonshiners running from the cops. But a man can dream ig
What you said about Ross is spot on. He’s the only relatable guy out there
Yeah, and his career had a lot of interesting antics. Maybe his seat at Tackhouse was destiny after he replaced it's owner Justin Marks, for his first truck start.
OMG when you showed all those commercials THE NOSTALGIA!!!! My family and I loved those commercials.
as a mainly f1 fan (tryna get into nascar) all the points u brought up are all things that made getting into f1 so easy-distinct colors for teams what lasted all season, driver personalities distinct from another, and yes, a superstar to head it all off. the grid being so small also helps lol, as well as a shitton of fan content being readily available
I can’t say I necessarily agree with the idea that in the past, which I did grow up in, people loved drivers more because they identified with them, or that they were the children of big names. Dale Earnhardt was mysterious and inscrutable. Jeff Gordon had half the fan base complaining he was a pampered baby. Some of the most popular drivers in various eras were sons of greats. Jr, people like Kyle Petty who you couldn’t find a single person who hated him, and even today Chase Elliot.
I would also say we tend to hold modern drivers to different standards than the legends we look up to. There were plenty of dirty drivers in the 80s and 90s, whiners, crybabies, hotheads, etc. Dale Earnhardt got away with a lot of cheap moves and was beloved.
We can’t return to that past era, or our memories. Even if that era came back, I feel like those who grew up in it would still be jaded. As we grow older, I think it’s a good idea to look back at yourself and scrutinize why you liked something in the past and are unhappy today. It’s easy to say “something changed and I don’t like it” but every thing to exist deals with that viewpoint. If you want to love modern NASCAR, and are a longtime fan, I think you have to accept modern NASCAR on its own terms. That doesn’t mean not criticizing etc but there is a lot of talent in NASCAR, and I think it’s still one of the most interesting sports to watch live. There’s a lot to enjoy and it has a reason to exist. We won’t feel like we did in the 90s, but that’s OK.
Geez, you can't put Chase Elliot in a commercial. There's more personality in a Napa pamphlet.
Imma be real, I have maybe watched one nascar race in my life, but the effort and quality of your videos make me so invested in learning about the sport that now I can’t help but invest time into watching every video multiple times to learn more and more. Truly do not get as many views and praise as you deserve. One of the few channels I check for new videos daily. Keep it up, you make all of our days a little better🙌
3:12 how is nobody talking about how great this transition was!?
I hope your channel blows up man! I'm not even interested in NASCAR but I'm captivated by the pro-level content, editing, and sound quality.
Michael Waltrip "I'm at the wrong track!"
I'm a little late in but having just accidentally become an F1 fan just from watching the drivers do silly challenge videos on youtube and really vibing with their personalities enough to look into the sport proper, I cannot agree enough with you here. Let those NASCAR drivers loose, get them doing something fun and unusual! We want to see them be themselves off the track too! Your channel is a big reason I started looking into more diverse motorsports too so thank you for your excellent videos, they are a lot of fun.
Lol. The funny part about Max Verstappen dominating F1, is that many F1 fans are getting annoyed by how many times there's one guy dominating the entire sport. Many of us would wish F1 was like nascar in that regard.
Im not sure how I actually got here as I have never been very interested in motorsports, but it's kinda interesting. Also, your music choices are peak.
Dale Jr got me interested in NASCAR twenty years ago... for a while until I wasn't again, but he is again now with his podcast and coverage. Makes me look up other videos of racing, watch the Netflix doc and possibly attend my first race ever next month. I watched almost the entire 1978 Daytona 500 last week and I couldn't believe I was doing it
My man can push outamazing videos like every week
They're all kids! Rookies used to be around 30 because they were the best of the best from every other series. Grown men wont look up to a C Bell like they would Earnhardt or Petty! They made drivers a throw away commodity..
F1 Fan here, honestly the thing that brings me back to F1 over NASCAR over and over again, Isnt figures like Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton, it’s the actual driving itself. I feel like when I’m watching F1 I can’t look away for a single turn or lap Because each one is so important to the race whereas NASCAR I feel like I could take an hour long break and I wouldn’t really miss much because they’re all kind of driving on highway lanes in a oval. I mean 60-70 laps is pretty golden..
As someone who grew up around Charlotte and has been to a few NASCAR races, I don’t know why, but I always had trouble finding the entertainment in NASCAR. Im really excited theyve integrated road and dirt in recent years and those sound like races id watch. Also F1 has a huge advantage in consistent sponsorships and liveries and the fans can incest a lot in a select field of 20 drivers that change ~every 4 years.
Love this channel tho and its taught me so much about the sport of nascar.
I have never been interested in nascar, but I just found your channel and can’t stop watching
I call it the “Jimmie Johnson Effect”.
Absolutely robotic, overly “professional driven” drivers. Mix thise with the family members of the corporate sponsors they are “blessed with” and now you get the blandest personalites in sports.
Sadly, as a fan over almost three decades, the things necessary to return to the Golden Era are simply unrealistic.
Point2: Having someone dominate a sports can be okay but it create a problem if it goes on too long. I mean if say the Saints for example in the NFL won the Super Bowl 6 years in a row that might be good for Saints fan but after a while you don't want to see it anymore. I'm more in the parity is good area. In terms of the respect well it goes both ways. From the guys coming up and having their career stalled because of cup guys coming in a bushwacking its not hard to see why they might be not willing to give respect.
Doesn't help that it's an eat-or-be-eaten landscape in motorsports, not just Nascar
I lost interest in stock cars years ago. Stage racing, green/white/checker, the Chase, champions decided by luck in one race. Drivers who either are there because of who they're related to, or have daddy's money, and don't think twice about wrecking cars or take responsibility. Even though I hate Max Verstappen's blitz through F1, we know we're seeing history being made by a once-in-a-generation driver. Compared to NASCAR's manufactured results?
I wouldn't say manufactured per say
@@xavierjuno4572it works as they intended, so yes it is as close to producing a script for every race and the whole season
- mandatory stage breaks basically automates and guarantees their "debris cautions" from pre-2017, alongside competition cautions that both bite into a race's runtime
- a playoff system that includes a guaranteed qualification if you win, effectively making races 1 through 26 basically meaningless, and the last 10 as well since they throw everything out the window for NASCAR's obsession with empty "Game 7" moments instead of naturally evolving storylines all year
You said it best, Kyle Larson is the closest thing NASCAR has to a star right now, and while controversial, I think that's why NASCAR gave him the waiver despite him missing the Coke 600 for the Indy 500, they know and support what he was trying to do, which was to give NASCAR a good rep in the Indy 500 by running well in front of a world audience, and he did do that, he just didn't get the finish he deserved nor get the run the second race of the Double, but they can't control the weather. Larson will win another title, possibly this year's, and he'll certainly attempt the Double again next year and have a better run at it than this year.
While parity with spec car or playoffs is a common thing, that's why there won't be dynasty anymore at NASCAR because winning the championships are so random especially with this "One Race Championship"
I love how you use all the colorado teams for the sponsor things that's amazing!
The 2021 48 scheme was absolutely 🔥
For the holidays NAPA should make a commercial with Chase Elliot snowboarding.
Nascar needs to start pushing these drivers out there and have them go mainstream, like have them on more talk shows, podcasts, tv shows, movies, commercials, etc. Hey, they can put them on a livestream with Adin Ross or Kai Cenat that would give Nascar alot of that 18-49 viewers
Not really they have the Tv agreement
@@Vivid-197 Still they have to push the drivers out there
"Adin Ross" lmao are you 12
@OccasionalNASCARRaces I'm actually 14 and the reason why I said Adin Ross is because he has that age demo graphic that Nascar is looking for
for what it's worth, I, a normal person who doesn't watch NASCAR but likes videos like these, have never heard of Chase Elliot before this video. But I remember vividly guys like Dale Jr, Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, etc... so you are definitely correct
I'm gonna quote what IanPerez2000 said a couple weeks ago after Chase Elliott won MPD for the 6th straight year. "The people that voted Chase Elliott for MPD, or any other driver, are the same ones that complain about drivers having no personality."
Personally, I haven't complained once about driver personality when it comes to the drivers I root for, and I think that's what fans should do too. If you're gonna root for your favorite drivers, then don't complain about the lack of personality from other drivers.
NASCAR will have this problem for a while because the "elder statesmen" of the sport today, didn't have a Dale Earnhardt to keep them in line as rookies. As a result, drivers like Kyle Busch were able to get away with all kinds of antics when they were young and nobody would really try to keep him in line. It's the same with any sport. The freshmen learn how to do things from the seniors. However if the seniors aren't teaching those lessons, you could lose the culture in as little as four years.
Sponsors don't want RP nightmares, and driver personalities can be a migraine headache to businesses. So yeah...
You leave Ryan Preece outta this!
Another thing that doesn’t help is the sponsors themselves. To even say Corporate America is almost like a slur in modern terms. And by no means am I a person who cares about left vs right, conservative vs liberal, or republican vs democratic, but my lord woke culture has ruined transparency on so many levels. It’s like no one is given a fair margin for error and major companies buy into the propaganda thinking they’ll make more money from it. Also, the playoff format has to go and so does any form of post season. Id rather nascar not fix the short tracks and road courses if it means getting a proper season long format and promote the best driver year in year out. Love Ryan Blaney, but I would be lying to potential new fans that he was the best this year when we all know deep down 2023 was the year of Big Hat Byron. The fact that Willy B got comfortable winning and has a hyperbolic signature apparel means he’s doing his part and isn’t being just the guy who started his career on a computer. But since he’s not champion, I guess we missed out on not just crowning him, but telling America and the rest of the world that he was the best driver this year. What a shame.
Ross Chastain said on a interview I don''t give a crap, I don't take any crap, I am not in the crap business . If not for rick hendricks Ross would be having another stellar year .
I still want my Chase Elliott dip stick
I got into NASCAR in the '90s, but I dropped off from 2000 to 2019. In 2020, I picked it up again with the cards, and today, watching the 2023 season, I've never been so bored. NASCAR will never be what it used to be - badass drivers, unbelievably cool cars that could still sell 40 years later. Nowadays, it's just cars with ultra-ugly, flashy paint schemes and sponsors plastered everywhere. To the point where you can't even differentiate the team colors, and you don't know who's who in each race. No, I'd rather refocus on watching races from the '80s and '90s on TH-cam - I get a hundred times more enjoyment out of that.
And if I may say something about what I feel NASCAR has lost, it's the "personality" of the drivers. It seems like these drivers have nothing, no soul, no personality. Except for one or two, the others feel like interchangeable figures that I wouldn't recognize from one race to the next. (I'm just sharing my impression.)
Fake drama isn't memorable. NASCAR has spent the past 20 years focusing on fake drama, instead of celebrating the real thing and allowing it to be rare.
What you said about Ross is exactly why I gravitate towards him as my favorite driver.
I pull for Chase because I used to pull for his dad. Just like Richard's fans pulled for Kyle, Bobby's fans pulled for Davey, & Dale's fans pulled for Junior. I'm really tired of people saying Chase has no personality. Not every driver can be a John Force, or a DW, or a Clint Bowyer. Chase's dad said it best years ago, "The Elliott's are doers. Not talkers."
I wouldn’t call myself a nascar fan because I don’t follow year to year but damn do I eat up nascar TH-cam content it’s all so great
I know this is a nascar video but thr point you mentioned about all the superstars leaving is very true for f1 also. When Alonso and Lewis are gone, only Max will be left as a superstar. Leclerc, lando and others are popular but they lack that star value right now.
Could be worse, NASCAR still has more publicity than MotoGP, Indycar and WRC combined. MotoGP had Agostini, Rainey, Doohan, Rossi, Marquez (pre-injury), Lorenzo and Stoner. Indycar had Andretti, Unser, Foyt, Mears, Mansell, Fittipaldi, Villeneuve, Montoya, Zanardi, Rahal and Sullivan. WRC had Kankkunen, Auriol, Alen, McRae, Burns, Makkinen, Gronholm, Sainz, Solberg, Loeb and Ogier. Now?! Sod that, who cares
MotoGP has Bagnaia now i guess
I agree largely with your Ross Chastain logic! He’s legitimately the common man that made it! Busch Beer sees it and they can kill it if they put him in every commercial. He enjoys a beer just like us. I’m the same age as Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace, but I don’t feel the shared life experience because they were raised to be just nascar drivers. If there is nothing when they take the helmet off on victory lane, no one cares who they are when they have the helmet on! Dale, Jr, Petty, and Gordon knew this… nascar needs to get that back!
the problem is NOW ONE CARES about the drivers- look at F1 everything they do revolves around the drivers. In depth interviews with all drivers, segments designed to "know" the drivers, etc... NASCAR is how the sponsor, youre the driver of Tampax 22- ffs the announcers have to spout out every sponsor that exist when call a pitstop lol NASCAR IS A JOKE
The system destroys some of what the drivers could be. Imagine a 7 time Jeff Gordon?? The golden boy on par with Earnhardt and Petty.. or a 4 time Harvick, the guy who replaced Earnhardt being so high on the title list (and winning 2010 in RCR equipment).
It feels like it’s a crap shoot, you can dominate the season and make the final four, but hey it’s at a track you actually aren’t great at (everyone has those) and for this guy that barely made it in, well that’s his best track so yea, he’s better.
One issue that NASCAR has is that those drivers with personality tend to be reigned in by the series (Denny Hamlin) or a good chunk of the audience hates them for dubious reasons (Bubba Wallace) or the driver has exactly what they need but don't want to be the dace and rather be unassuming (Ross Chastain). All 3 of these drivers are drivers that I like and root for, but either they're in their own way, or something else is in the way. Now these might be more "villanous" or "heelish" drivers, but look at what prime Kyle Busch and Especially Tony Stewart did, now they of course got in trouble a lot.
Good video. You touch on a lot of great points, although it's hard to pinpoint that one thing that does make a personality - charisma. Wrestling has the same problem right now in. It's a lot of cookie cutter training where whatever personality is there seems to get trained out of them. A lot of that too as you touch on is the corporations themselves have moved away from marketing with a company-wide persona in favor of not offending anyone. Let's face it the machine gets the most of the screentime, that requires the car itself being the personification of the personality rather of the driver or the sponsor. Just like wrestling the way around that seems to be linking to the past when the personalities weren't so watered down -- why so many next generation people end up being the ones fans gravitate toward. It appears NASCAR is leaning more toward an F1 model lately, marketing the organization itself, and bringing fans in that way. That's way tougher for NASCAR as it's own personality is changing against what old timer fans and even the 2000s boom fans remember of it.
Love the video, I’ve been in and out of nascar. Totally agree with the personality and sponsorship issues. Watched the Netflix series and yes I kinda helped just seeing who the drivers really are as people.
I feel like the MLB struggles with this now too. Most sports will down the road in my opinion. And there’s not much marketing that can be done by the actual leagues to sway that. Look at someone like Mike Trout.
Well the MLB is reinventing itself now as well, they’re heavily pushing guys like Acuna, Harper, and Ohtani.
It's basically what happens when you Moneyball capitalism
Elly out here dropping banger after banger.
Love the Song of Storms playing in the background
As a casual, I watch 5-10 races every year.. it's so difficult to follow a driver due to constant branding changes to the cars.. just the number is not enough.. alongside the driver, the car livery also gives it its own personality.. take F1.. the iconic red for ferrari, the yellow nose tip for Red Bull, the silver/black and teal for Mercedes.. it's also important for F1 as a brand to advertise each team as a unique faction which is possible due to a constant livery throughout the season.. sure F1 too has a ton of sponsors, but NASCAR feels like a clusterfuck with no consistency..
Another bad aspect of NASCAR is that it uses the driver beefs and drama more as an advertising tool.. rather than a racing series, it's advertised as a reality show.. which is why European fans can't connect as they are more racing enthusiasts.. the negative response to the flashy pre race shows at Las Vegas and Miami GPs prove that..
Speaking of NASCAR trying to be a stick and ball wannabe no more is this more evident than their stupid playoff point system we currently got. One size does not fit all when it comes to point systems in sports.
NASCAR fans: omg nobody has personality anymore
Also NASCAR fans when there is someone other than a buck standard white dude with no hobbies or real personality: omg why do they have to be so different
I remember NASCAR did a crossover with a TV show where contestants make giant lego cars and Gordon and Byron were there
man out hear preaching what ive been saying for years. hopefully NASCAR can remedy it. being genuine and accessible is the best selling point for drivers.
The only problem with nascar’s personality problem is the fans. Personality isnt a requirement to win anything. Its more of a skill and strategy thing
And personality sometimes just means "is a huge dickhead"
Great video as always. Pinpointed exactly why I love Ross as well
They just need to play the radio chatter in open broadcast. Kyle Busch alone would bring in tons of fans.
Kind of feels like the "young guns" problem may be a long-term effect of '08.
There's an entire generation of drivers who were either competing when it happened or were making their first moves when it happened, and they were obviously affected in some way.
AMA Superbike was hit particularly hard by that, for example.
Sorry, I'm very slow, 2008?
@@MarkPentler The Great Recession, I mean. It did have a major effect on all motorsports.
The aforementioned AMA Superbike, at that point one of the world's premiere motorcycle racing championships, pretty much collapsed and is still struggling to recover for example.
@@TheEmm4lpha AMA Superbike had been struggling since the 90s, after Duhamel dominated for years.
Guess who owned it at that time, yup NASCAR.
NASCAR singlehandedly killed AMA Superbikes because it was a threat to it's popularity, same with IMSA in 1992 (co-joint with Formula 1 killing Group C).
Ngl I really liked the intro showing the Faction46 car. Nothing else to say I just liked how it was edited
The Fans will never be satisfied Even if NASCAR does give them exactly what they want
I grew up with NASCAR from the 80s, and it will continue to wane in popularity until it eventually fades into irrelevance. The drivers today are indistinguishable from each other, and every car make looks exactly the same. It's basically the ARCA series with a bigger budget.