NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was virtually eliminated from the "Chase," the racing series' playoff, as of Sunday night's race. However, in a bid to satisfy his legions of fans, NASCAR has ordered that all ten drivers who do make the Chase to change their names to Earnhardt Jr., adopt Budweiser as their primary sponsor, and to change their car number to #8. When NASCAR president, Mike Helton, was asked if this move might create confusion among the fans watching the race, he replied, "After a few Bud's, most NASCAR fans are seeing double or triple anyway.
Current championship leader, Tony Earnhardt, Jr. (formerly known as Tony Stewart) was his usual outspoken self, "I don't like it and it kind of sucks for my regular sponsor, but my merchandise sales have really taken off. As long as they get my name more-or-less right on the trophy at the end of the season, I really can't complain though."
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And here I am recycling material. I am a “green” blogger. Yes, I really did write that four years ago. I like Junior, but Junior fans are such an easy target.
After I posted this (on my then current blog), my friend Sandi, made this rather earnest reply:
“Now, this doesn't seem right to me. If he didn't make it, then it's his problem. It kind of takes away some of the glory from the people who did make it, in my opinion. Bottom line. I think it's kind of a pussy move. I now officially don't like Dale Earnhart Jr.”
Posted by Sandi on Monday, September 26, 2005 at 2:19 PM
Obviously, Sandi doesn’t follow a lot of NASCAR.
Okay, my problem isn’t with Junior, nor with his fans. My problem is with the continuous Junior coverage, regardless of his position on track.
So what? He’s NASCAR’s most popular driver; he should get more coverage. I’m okay with giving Junior an extra update or two during a race, even if he’s out of the top ten all day. But, the consistent amount of coverage he’s getting is at the expense other drivers, who are doing just as well, if not better in the race.
So what? Those drivers aren’t as popular. Okay, how do you explain to a new fan why the network continues to inexplicably update a mediocre driver throughout the race? And, surprisingly, all drivers have their fans. Why should those fans keep watching if their driver’s status is never getting updated, but Junior’s is?
This argument could probably be made about any of NASCAR’s more successful drivers, that the networks spend most of their coverage on them. But, the qualifier there is “successful.” The networks should give the majority of their attention to the drivers doing the best in the standings and, whoever’s performing best in individual races, regardless of their popularity.
More than just highlighting winning drivers, it’s in the broadcast networks’ best interests to give coverage to all the drivers they can. Like I said, all drivers have their fans and their sponsors (or are looking for them). Not to mention, who knows when somebody’s going to get on a hot streak or pull off a surprise win. This way, the network isn’t completely caught off guard by unlikely circumstances.
I wrote at the end of last season that NASCAR’s biggest problem was Junior not winning. (I would recycle that blog as well, except I just discovered that had posted it, but never saved it elsewhere, and I can’t get back onto my old blog at the moment. Oops.) People would still be complaining about this and that, but they’d be generally happy, and the sport would probably still be growing.
NASCAR is a very personality-driven sport. The sport tied itself to Junior and as his fortunes have risen and fallen, so has the sport. If he starts doing better, great, but you can’t count on Junior stepping it up. The sport and the networks, need to start seriously grooming and promoting more star drivers. They’ve already got a villain in Kyle Busch. It’s time to start auditioning heroes to see if anybody clicks. This all boils down to, if Junior wants screen time, he needs to get up front and win. Otherwise, the spotlight needs to move along. Risking the alienation of Junior Nation seems a small price to pay for the long-term survival of NASCAR. If they’re just Junior fans and not NASCAR fans, you were going to lose them at some point anyway, even if he wins championships.
Don’t believe me? I used to watch the NBA all the time. The Bulls were my favorite team. As it turned out however, I was just a fair-weather Michael Jordan fan. I was willing to watch after he retired, but whatever stars they promoted afterward seemed one-dimensional (Shaq), or didn’t win (David Robinson). Then the thugs and the jerks became the face of the sport, and I drifted away. Keep in mind, every time the Bulls won a championship, I jumped up and down and was completely insufferable. I got to celebrate six championships with my favorite player and team, and the NBA still lost me as a fan. I don’t even know what’s motivating all these Junior fans right now.
Besides, given the pit of despair most Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans are in during a race, it’s really kind of cruel to keep teasing them with repeated views of their favorite driver nowhere near being in contention for the win.
J.
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