In the new era of NASCAR, there seems to be a lack of star power. Kyle Petty doesn’t think NASCAR has any superstar drivers right now. When Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, and others left the sport – those days more or less ended.
It has been difficult since 2015 to really pick a “superstar” driver. Kyle Busch and Joey Logano have both won two championships a piece. Chase Elliott has been the Most Popular Driver for almost a decade at this point. But none of these drivers transcend the sport.
For the most part, no one outside of NASCAR really cares about these drivers. They aren’t pop culture figures like they used to be. In the Next Gen era, winning races has gotten more difficult, too.
Everyone is closer together than ever before. That makes is hard to stand out amongst the crowd. Kyle Petty talked about these issues and more on Out of the Groove with Eric Estepp.
“So, how do you establish yourself as a superstar when you can only win two or three races a year. How can you establish yourself, separate yourself from the pack when you can only win four or five races. You’ve got to figure that out as a driver and I think NASCAR or the teams have to figure that out, how to create superstars.
“We have a lot of phenomenal race car drivers in our sport. I’m telling you, and all of them aren’t running up front let me tell you that. A lot of them don’t get their due. They are great race car drivers. But we don’t have superstar race car drivers, we just don’t. And we’ve not had a superstar race car driver in a long time in this sport, the way I look at it. Somebody who just transcends the sport and can go do other things, away from the sport, that brings eyes to the sport. I just don’t see that.”
In his time in and around NASCAR, Kyle Petty has seen the best of the sport. His dad of course, The King, Richard Petty. However, he’s been around to see that generation go, the Dale Earnhardt generation rise, then Jeff Gordon, and now the present era.
I agree with Petty. The sport itself has moments where it can break containment. Hail Melon, Ross Chastain. SVG winning Chicago. Three-wide finish at Atlanta. You don’t see drivers making guest appearances on TV shows, widely broadcast commercials, or other media outside of NASCAR.
Right now, Denny Hamlin is the closest thing NASCAR has to a superstar. He wins races, he speaks his mind, and makes headlines. It is a shame, because like Kyle Petty said, there is a ton of great talent in the Cup Series.
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