Does NASCAR have a personality problem? If one were to answer that question, there would be a lot of layers to uncover. For starters, gone are the days of multi-time champs establishing themselves as the definitive face of the sport. Since Jimmie Johnson’s record-equaling 7th in 2016, only Kyle Busch and Joey Logano have been lucky enough to win more than one Bill France Cup. And with the Gen 7 car brought about purely for parity, winning more than one race in a season has become even tougher.

For reasons like that and many more, the popular opinion is that NASCAR lacks superstars. Granted, drivers like Chase Elliott or Christopher Bell do not warrant the same pull as Dale Earnhardt or Jeff Gordon did in the past. But with the sport’s global reach at an all-time high, even bigger challenges loom in its future. And the sanctioning body’s president, Steve Phelps, made it all too clear while discussing the current state of things in NASCAR on “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour” podcast.

Is NASCAR struggling to find its next superstar?

From a performance-based standpoint, there is not enough to separate a particular driver and his team from the rest of the grid nowadays. A lot of that credit has to be put on the Next-Gen car’s inception in 2022. As Martin Truex Jr. explained it best in his expert opinion to the Kansas Star earlier, “You are talking about everybody having the same parts and pieces; that’s never been a part of this sport. That’s definitely been the game changer.” 

But from the slow and steady exodus of household names like M&M’s and Hooters to a decline in the sport’s brand value altogether, many problems plague NASCAR’s appeal factor. There may be a lack of reliability, coupled with plenty of uncertainty, based on how things have been in the present. Look no further than the impending charter negotiations to gather proof of that sentiment. However, in the grand scheme of things, Kevin Harvick and NASCAR President Steve Phelps sat down in discussions to shed light on some eye-opening developments.

Harvick extends the conversation to Phelps, noting the cutthroat nature of competition that drivers face these days. “They’re always in a microscope, they’re always looking at the comments. And it’s just a tough environment to bring the kids up and try to teach them about the sport but also let them be who they are.”

And Steve Phelps agreed with Harvick’s observations and offered quite a nuanced point of view: “Fans can pretty quickly determine who’s being authentic and who’s not being authentic, right? So they want people to be themselves, but they want them to have a personality… They want them to drive and win, and you know, have that fire… And I think that’s really what it is.”

In today’s world, where attention spans are shorter than ever, it’s tougher for rising stars to grab the spotlight, especially with NASCAR’s challenges and the ever-changing landscape of spectator sports. But what Phelps said next will certainly make a long-time fan ponder the future. “And I think you have some drivers, you know, not to mention any names, that don’t really care about that. They all want to win, right? They all want the pinnacle of what it means to be a winner and a champion. But this idea of you know, being a famous celebrity, whatever it is, some love it, and they embrace it and lean in. And others just don’t.” revealed Steve Phelps.

“For the growth of the sport I’d rather have the former rather than the latter,” declared the man. “But you can’t force someone to be someone they’re not. So you lean into those that really want to embrace you know, their personalities being out there and you know, showing that to the race fans. And those that don’t lean into the success they have on the racetrack.” In honesty, these revelations from a true spearhead for NASCAR’s next big step into the future certainly paint a concerning picture. 

Regardless, in an era without the drama that comes with an unimaginable level of access available to fans today, his colleague, Chief Operating Officer, Steve O’Donnell, talked about the balancing factor in an earlier interview.

Balancing authenticity and performance in the digital age

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Before last year’s championship finale, O’Donnell pushed back against Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s claim that the final 4 contenders weren’t “very dynamic or aggressive.” These statements echoed those of Ryan Blaney, the 2023 Cup champ, who had regretted previously, that there was “no bad blood” between the supposed rivals. Apart from Blaney himself, the drivers in question were Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, and William Byron, three of the most mild-mannered personalities on the current roster.

To counter all the opinions, O’Donnell told AP News back then, “Everyone is not going to be a certain personality that drives things… We’re not going to be a soap opera. We’re a sport that’s going to go out there to race and showcase the talent of our athletes. With that will come personality. With that will come some storytelling.” 

Indeed, with all the storylines playing out in their own due time, there have been more than a few to look out for in the current NASCAR spectrum. It is also a welcome change for a portion of the grandstands not to witness a select few drivers hold a monopoly over the wins, and subsequently the points standings.

But as Kyle Busch also told the Kansas Star in a recent conversation, “Our world now, today, of 2024, is a lot different fan base that’s following along. I don’t feel like we were able to transition a lot of the fans that were fans of those drivers into a William Byron fan, into a Kyle fan or whoever.”

Although he still believes that it’s the drivers’ star power that ‘brings people to the racetrack,’ when the day comes for stars like himself or Joey Logano to hang up their helmets, the next generation will have to work twice as hard to become NASCAR’s new faces.