NASCAR is a sport where a few influential figures like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Jordan are prominent voices. Dale Jr. has retired from competitive racing quite a while ago. But he still looks after his team, JRM, and voices his opinions through his podcast. Meanwhile, MJ, arguably the most popular athlete in history, has taken NASCAR by storm and has quickly established himself as a prominent figure. Both, arguably, spearhead the image.

For a sport where anything and everything revolves around the race car drivers, how did team owners and former drivers become popular figures? There was a time when fandom for drivers like Richard Petty, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt, and Rusty Wallace was pure obsession for the fans. But, for some reason, that dynamic has changed in the modern era of racing. Even veteran driver Rick Mast couldn’t comprehend how drivers are not the center of attention compared to the heydays of the sport.

Did Michael Jordan and Dale Jr. steal the limelight away from NASCAR drivers?

There was a time when NASCAR used to be a part of America’s pop culture landscape. Back then, even U.S. President Ronald Reagan came to Daytona to cheer on his favorite driver, Richard Petty, during his 200th run. Such was its popularity that the Hollywood movie Days of Thunder took influence from Jeff Gordon’s racing career to bring a driver’s life onto a movie screen. But those days are in the past now.

Fast-forward to the modern era, and we can hardly pick out a cult-favorite driver that has pull or significance within contemporary popular culture. And this is indeed concerning for a sport that is trying to reinvent itself but is unable to cash in on its drivers’ star power. Sharing his take on the current situation, Rick Mast took a stroll down the memory lane. “If you go back to the 50s and 60s and really through the 80s, everybody was a Ford guy or a Dodge Chrysler guy or a Plymouth guy, right? It seemed like there was always this argument where the fans had a manufacturer or for the driver.”

Not only that, as the sport transitioned, the drivers became cult figures, and their fans used to worship them. Explaining the visual he witnessed firsthand, Mast added this while speaking on Kenny Conversation: “These drivers that I raced against were worshipped; they were heroes. I witnessed it; I watched it, and I’m not talking about a group of fans where they’d be fanatical; I’m talking about 500 fans—all 500 are fanatical… Everybody knows who the King is, and if we look, so many stories and books are written about the guys, the drivers, and they’re talking about the older guys, and they’re just revered in the way they talked about.”

We do have talented race car drivers like Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, and Denny Hamlin. However, none of them have been able to carry the sport on their shoulders and be a larger-than-life figure, like most of the legends did back in the day. Which is why figures like Michael Jordan and Dale Jr. are more renowned with their links to NASCAR and play an influential role. Well, Mark Martin, in a recent interview, opened up about this issue, and he had an alternate solution that could bring NASCAR back to life.

Does NASCAR needs more polarizing figures and characters?

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In the absence of the hero-like figures, this is perhaps the time when bullish drivers can cement their place in the sport. We have seen Kyle Busch wind up race fans during his peak days of racing. Denny Hamlin had his famous one-liner, “I beat your favorite driver,” whereas Ross Chastain ruffled the feathers of HMS drivers. So you see, the interesting storylines and topics of discussion are stemming out from polarizing figures of the sport.

It would’ve been a different topic of discussion if we had Kyle Larson express himself like Jeff Gordon did. But for some reason, most of the drivers seem alike, and it feels as if they lack personality. Well, even the likes of Hamlin and Rowdy aren’t going to stick around for long. And this is where Mark Martin feels NASCAR could use a villain-like figure.

“We need Ross Chastain to ruffling feathers. Not to say I approve of every time he does it. I’m saying we need it. When we lose Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, we’ve got to have some polarizing figures and some guys that get people’s blood pumping. We need Noah Gragson’s personality and Chastain ruffling feathers.” Martin said in an interview.

NASCAR’s new OTT series on Netflix, Full Speed, is a good initiative, but other than that, drivers themselves will have to take responsibility.