Kyle Busch believes 1990s NASCAR fans ‘went away’ after star drivers left the sport

[carolinakid]

Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports© On3
We hear it all the time about how NASCAR isn’t the sport it used to be. Kyle Busch, at least in part, subscribes to that notion. In many ways, it isn’t the same sport.

There are pros and cons to those changes but one thing is obvious, there is a lack of star power. Yes, you have Chase Elliott, the most popular driver in the sport. Compared to Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and others – he isn’t in the same ballpark in terms of broad popularity. Neither is Kyle Busch or anyone else.


Part of that has to do with the sports culture in America. The boom of the NASCAR industry led the sport to reach astronomical heights in pop culture. It also led to bloated stadiums and tracks that had too many seats than they knew what to do with.

Kyle Busch talked to the Kansas City Starabout “star power” in the sport. For him, things have just changed and a lot of fans just didn’t keep up with the changing times.

“I’m not sure what it is, but you have the die-hard fans of NASCAR, of Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Harry Gant … you name it — guys from the ‘90s, mid-90s, late-90s, all of that,” Busch said, via The Star. “Our world now, today, of 2024, is a lot different fan base that’s following along. I don’t feel like we were able to transition a lot of the fans that were fans of those drivers into a William Byron fan, into a Kyle fan or whoever.

Related video: NASCAR returns to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend (FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth)
Mark Faber, General manager, Texas Motor Speedway The NASCAR Rd.
Loaded: 12.30%


Play

Current Time 0:01
/
Duration 4:52

Quality Settings
Captions
Fullscreen

FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth
NASCAR returns to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend
Unmute
0

View on Watch

“They kind of all probably went away, just stopped following as much. Which is hard to say because honestly, when you look at NASCAR, the fans love the drivers. The driver star power, that’s what brings people to the racetrack, is the drivers.”

It definitely didn’t help the sport when Dale Jr., Tony Stewart, and Jeff Gordon all kind of made their exit stage left about the same time. A lot changed in the sport between 2015-2020. At least now, it feels like NASCAR has momentum, it’s building its brand once again.

Will it ever reach the level where 10 million people tune into the races each week? No. Probably not. That doesn’t mean that Kyle Busch and others can’t help grow the sport and build their fanbases.

 

[carolinakid]

i agree and with all the crap rules today, it not the real nascar, but a water down thing

 

[BobbyFK]

I agree. I remember back in the day. drivers like Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr.....Those were the real stars

 

[carolinakid]

they going to keep the 2 by side crap for 500 miles until someone get kill in one of the big ones before they change the rules imo, this not racing in my book, they want to keep the cars all together to try and hold the fan interest, again this is not racing

 

[djefferis]

Fans went away because the “sport” became more obsessed with corporate sponsorship and less about its fans. Drivers were no longer drivers - they were talking billboards who simply could do nothing that would upset the suits.

A few guys could get away with doing what they wanted and not being viewed as being “controlled” by the corporate sponsors and NASCAR - but as they went away - the new crop wasn’t able to sustain their ability to get away with saying/doing things that might get them in hot water with sponsors. It was just Earnhardt - guys like Bill Elliott, Tony Stewart ect - they had the name and the following that allowed them to be both driver and marketable.

Today’s NASCAR is simply trying to recreate the glory days - while ignoring what made those days great. Non cookie cutter tracks - allowing “unique” personalities and an “outlaw” attitude that prevailed throughout the tracks. In a way it’s like baseball in the 70s - let’s build a bunch of similar concrete bowls - let’s make the players look and act like role models and above all else - let’s not miss an opportunity to make a dollar if it’s available.

The marketing of merch is ridiculous- a special paint scheme for EVERY race these days - not just the “big ones” - it’s as bad as the 8 alternate uniforms teams use now. Price stuff reasonably and have drivers focused on doing more FREE events meeting fans. Better yet - use some of the legacy names in fan fest events to get people back in the game.

 

[carolinakid]

you are 100% correct

 

[carolinakid]

and dont even get me going on all these stages crap in racing, who in the hell came up with that

 

[Wagerallsports]

He is definitely right

Used be be a ton of interesting star drivers

And the rule changes got old

 

[djefferis]

and dont even get me going on all these stages crap in racing, who in the hell came up with that

People who got tired of seeing their driver lead 160 laps and then losing a race either via their own stupidity or some other jackass who had nothing to lose making an ill advised pass and taking out a bunch of cars.

Same mindset as passing out participation trophies - telling people you were doing soo good - sure you lost - but you were the “winner” 1/3 of the way through - so here’s some points and a “stage winner” ribbon.

I mean all the major sports do it right ? The Olympics give medals to the halfway race winners now right ? The KY Derby announces winners at each pole…it’s just the new way of racing.

 

[jjgold]

Once you lose stars, it’s over I think the NBA is going to start to experience that


IndyCar dead as a door knob

 

[Tanko]

yeah.... Nascar lost me as a regular fan years ago. I used to go to races and if not attending, would always watch on Sunday. Now meh.....

 

[jjgold]

How’s the attendance at the actual event? I know the TV ratings are terrible.

 

[209life]

Tony Stewart killed a guy.

 

[carolinakid]

nascar to me today is just as boring as watching the indy cars