VERY BIG SHOES TO FILL
NASCAR looks to promote up-and-coming drivers to replace retiring Cup legends
LAS VEGAS – Even as Martin Truex Jr. accepted NASCAR’s championship trophy last week for success at the highest level of stock car racing, there is concentration on the next wave of young drivers who’ll be racing to take his place.
Chris Powell, president of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, had an important decision to make recently. A program known as Victory Tour matches drivers and speedways, with each track on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule choosing a driver to visit its location for promotion of its race.
For next year, the Las Vegas track had one of the first picks. Powell skipped over such accomplished veterans as Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch and chose Darrell “Bubba” Wallace, who’ll run the full 2018 schedule in Richard Petty Motorsports cars.
Wallace, 24, is part of the group of young drivers who will be under unusual heat next season as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth and Danica Patrick — all star-quality racers — move away from full-time competition, leaving a significant void. The group includes William Byron (20), Alex Bowman (24), Erik Jones (21), Chase Elliott (22), Ryan Blaney (23), Daniel Suarez (25), Chris Buescher (25), Kyle Larson (25), Austin Dillon (27) and Ty Dillon (25).
NASCAR goes through a changing of the guard at its superstar level as part of the cycle of years rolling by, but the losses of Earnhardt Kenseth, Patrick, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards in the last few years has made this one particularly noteworthy.
There is the expectation the younger drivers will accelerate quickly, gaining race victories, competing for playoff spots and igniting fan interest. But on- track success might not be enough as NASCAR works to improve attendance and television rating numbers that generally have sagged over the last decade.
The workload, some say, must be shared by the drivers, teams, NASCAR and track promoters.
“At the end of the day, it goes back to results and putting points on the board, but if we all get behind a couple of the names and try to help make them into big-time stars, that could be the difference,” Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage told USA TODAY.
“I think promoters and the television networks will have a big hand in shaping the images of some of these young guys. It’s about marketability, but it has to be authentic. Fans know if something is real or fake.”
Powell said he chose Wallace for a promotional visit next year specifically because he’s part of the younger demographic among drivers. “He’s young, and he’s really good at what he does,” Powell said. “He’s African American. We want people to know these guys. The more fans embrace these drivers, the better off racing will be.”
Getting fans closer to the drivers is a marketing tool that clearly works, but the connection is more difficult to make these days than in past years, when drivers such as Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and other superstars often mingled with fans at hotels and restaurants along the NASCAR trail. With the arrival of at-track motor homes for drivers in the 1990s, much of that connection faded away.
Still, Powell said, putting fans in the driver loop in real time remains a key. “We’re especially fortunate here in that we have a lot of at-track opportunities,” he said. “We encourage young drivers to make appearances (during race weekends). A driver can’t sign 3,000 autographs, but he can speak to 3,000 people for 10 minutes, do question-and-answer sessions, things like that.”
Much is expected of Jones, who will replace Kenseth at Joe Gibbs Racing next year. As one of the best young drivers in Toyota’s driver pipeline, he won rookie of the year honors in the Cup series this year, becoming the first to claim that award in all three NASCAR national series (He won the Xfinity rookie of the year award in 2016 and Camping World Truck Series honors in 2015).
“I think there is somewhat of a role for the younger drivers to take on and take up the slack of those guys that are leaving,” Jones said. “There is a big gap with all the well-known guys who are moving. There is a chance for us to really take a role in being that guy, although I don’t know if anybody will take it as one person like Junior or Jeff did.
“It’s up to us, for the most part — promoting ourselves along with being successful, running up front and winning races. Winning will draw more fans than any promotion will.”
But Gossage said fans expect a certain level of drama. “That’s why we all watch, for the drama of winning, the drama of narrowly losing,” he said. “Does my guy have the guts to drive into that little hole going into Turn 1 where the other guy doesn’t?”
Gossage said he often texts newer drivers after races in an effort to improve their skills in how they present themselves off-track.
Seven-time Cup champ Johnson said the racing climate, which includes a variety of social media opportunities, offers chances for newer drivers to make names for themselves quickly.
“I see team owners and sponsors and track promoters letting people be themselves,” Johnson said. “You see Kyle Larson racing dirt tracks all around the country. His owner and his sponsors understand that that’s what makes him who he is, and that works with fans.”