Dale Earnhardt Jr Blatantly Blames NASCAR Teams for Sabotaging Their Driver’s Personalities and Growth

It is no secret that NASCAR’s popularity has been on a steady decline if the TV ratings are to be believed. One of the reasons for this, according to sports experts, has been the lack of a champion with whom fans can relate. It all comes down to drivers’ individual personalities and how they are marketed by their respective PR teams. According to former Cup Series driver Dale Earnhrdt Jr, that marketing has not been up to the mark.

Dale Jr won NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Award for 15 straight years. It is safe to say that he knows a thing or two about marketing. On a recent episode of Kenny Conversation, the two-time Xfinity Series champion blamed the teams for failing to bring drivers, even Cup Series champions, into the spotlight.

Dale Earnhardt Jr reveals change that negatively impacted NASCAR

Dale Earnhardt Jr looked back on the early days of his career when things used to be different. During the early 2000s, the PR officials used to be employed by the driver’s sponsors rather than the teams. Ever since the onus fell on the teams to hire PR teams for drivers, things have fallen short of expectations as per the 49-year-old.

“In 2004 man, when me and you were racing, the PR people were hired by the sponsor. So when you’re a PR person that is employed by Budweiser, there is a lot of pressure. You better perform,” Junior told Kenny Wallace, later adding, “I wonder now since that shifted, the PR people are now really more employed by the race teams, that the motivation and the real true role of the PR person has evolved and maybe the corporate sponsor didn’t want to manage that cost of the salary of the PR person.” 

A lot of people believe that the onus of marketing drivers lies with NASCAR but as far as Dale Jr is concerned, the organization has not slagged off. He iterated that NASCAR has not slacked when it comes to promoting its drivers, just like they used to back when Junior used to drive. “They’re doing everything they’ve always done. They’re doing all they can. I don’t see them doing less than when I was driving. I think they do a lot,” Junior said.

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Another issue that Dale Earnhardt Jr is not a fan of is teams holding drivers back from showing their true personalities to the public. The former Cup Series driver gave the example of a certain 7-time Cup Series champion he knows very well.

Former Hendrick Motorsports driver slams team for holding back Jimmie Johnson

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Junior was teammates with 7-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports for several years. The 49-year-old driver alluded that the team and its sponsor, Lowe’s, played a part in quelling Johnson’s real personality from coming out to the real world.

“Jimmie Johnson is one of the most interesting, coolest guys I have ever met. He has a fun sense of humor, likes to goof off, gets wild every once in a while, and he was with Lowe’s, and he was with Hendrick and a lot of really quelled that sort of personality from ever coming out. He wasn’t all that eager to showcase that side of him to the rest of the world. For whatever reason, that person that I knew never really became that well-known to the rest of the world,” he said.

Proper marketing and PR of drivers go a long way in bringing fans closer to the sport. A lot of people believe that Ryan Blaney is a champion who can be relatable to a lot of people if properly advertised. Will he be able to get through to the people better than his predecessors?

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