USA TODAY International Edition
Young Cup drivers strike back at Kyle Busch
CHARLOTTE — Rising star Ryan Blaney shot back at former champion Kyle Busch on Wednesday for criticizing NASCAR’s marketing emphasis on younger drivers.
Asked his opinion Tuesday on the public relations push to gain visibility for younger drivers, Busch called the approach “stupid,” complaining that NASCAR and speedways promote “all these younger guys for fans to figure out and pick up on and choose as their favorite driver. Some of these marketing campaigns, pushing these younger drivers, I would say is not all that fair.”
Blaney, 24, one of the most promising of the younger group of drivers, said Busch might be out of the promotional spotlight by choice.
“I think it’s good for the sport and myself,” Blaney said Wednesday at the NASCAR Charlotte media tour. “I can tell you personally (Busch) doesn’t like doing a lot of stuff. That’s why they don’t ask him to do a lot of stuff. It made me upset how he bashed that part of it, but to each his own.
“If he doesn’t want to do anything, so be it. I think it’s really important to have not only young drivers but all NASCAR drivers to be pushing to get to new demographics. I’m trying to do the best that I can at it.”
NASCAR executive vice president Steve Phelps, the organization’s top marketing official, said promotion of the sport’s veteran drivers is “an important element” but added that the stories of younger drivers also are a key.
“Our marketing has traditionally been kind of a combination of deference to the younger drivers, probably a little more emphasis on the veteran drivers just because we haven’t had a crop of young drivers previously that we’ve had in the last couple years,” Phelps said.
Phelps admitted that NASCAR did not provide heavy publicity boosts to young drivers during Busch’s early years. “I think it was a miss on our part,” he said. “Until four or five years ago, most of our marketing was about the racing itself and pretty pictures around the racing. It wasn’t about the stars of our sport.”
Phelps said NASCAR began talking more about young drivers after relative unknown Trevor Bayne, then 20, scored an upset win in the 2011 Daytona 500.
Ty Dillon, 25, said promoting younger drivers is a positive.
“I don’t know if he (Busch) realizes how much of a following he gets,” Dillon said. “I think it’s great for NASCAR to push the younger demo. We need to keep getting those fans.
“You shouldn’t rely on NASCAR to do all your social and outreach for you. We have great platforms to do that. I think if he feels that way, if he’s that frustrated, he should use his platform to go after those fans himself.”
Rookie William Byron, 20, is at the youngest end of the driver age scale.
“When new guys come in, it’s kind of a fresh thing to talk about,” Byron said. “But we’re going to have to ultimately prove ourselves on the racetrack.”