THE NEXT BIG BUST?
But circuit’s young drivers say ‘don’t blame us’
NASCAR’s youngest talents are not only failing to win races, but they’re not winning followers to replace retired popular drivers.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It was the finish NASCAR banked on as the genesis of its ballyhooed youth movement.
Austin Dillon and Darrell Wallace Jr. finished 1-2 in the Daytona 500, a promising pair of 20-somethings behind the wheel of iconic car numbers that could excite old-school fans, yet a pair with enough social media savvy that might attract millennials to a sport in dire need of a spark. The kids were coming! Wallace and good buddy Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, William Byron and Daniel Suarez were among the relative newcomers who had their images plastered on billboards and program covers and hailed as NASCAR’s version of The Next Big Thing.
Yet, at NASCAR’s halfway point, the series returns this weekend to Daytona International Speedway with the so-called Young Guns in danger of becoming The Next Big Bust.
They’re not winning races — or even fans inside their sport.
International Speedway Corp. President John Saunders pinned some of NASCAR’s woes on the failure of the new crop of drivers that has failed to replace retired stars Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards and even Danica Patrick in performance or popularity.
“We still have an issue with star power, and hopefully this stable of young drivers coming along will start to win and build their brands,” Saunders said Thursday.
ISC owns tracks in California, Kansas, Virginia, Arizona and Alabama and reported a 10 percent dip in attendance this season for the six races held on its properties from March through May.
Weather and travel; ticket prices and event oversaturation; and long, boring races have been blamed for NASCAR’s tumble.
Now it’s Saunders’ turn to gripe about the dearth of stars, and the drivers have heard enough.
“Honestly, this whole ‘young guys need to win now’ thing is getting old,” the 24-year-old Blaney said. “We’re trying. We’re trying our hardest. It’s not like I go out there and I’m happy for fifth every single week.”
Wallace threw the criticism back at Saunders, saying outdated tracks that fail to keep pace with modern-day amenities are just as much at fault for driving away fans.
“It kind of goes hand-in-hand from us behind the wheel to people that are here hosting us,” Wallace said.
Wallace, whose second-place finish in the Daytona 500 was the best ever by a black driver in the event, is a social media darling with more than 176,000 Twitter followers, posting behind-the-scenes videos and starring in a documentary series that aired on Facebook Watch. The 24-year-old Richard Petty Racing driver even takes on his critics and serves as his own one-man publicity machine for NASCAR fans.
But it’s checkered flags and championships that will define drivers, not likes and retweets.