“That Makes Me Mad”- NASCAR’s Unnecessary Negative Hype Following in Bill France Sr’s Shoes Riles Up Veteran

When Bill France Sr founded NASCAR in 1948, even he wouldn’t have comprehended the big success it would have. Over the years, the stock car racing in America has grown into one of the largest spectator sports in the world. While growth has been a constant, controversies surrounding NASCAR have also been a common phenomenon.

Today, the Bill France Sr-founded motorsport attracts some of the finest drivers in the world. While diversity in NASCAR has been impressive, the hype surrounding the sport seems to be based more on negative publicity. With France Sr having a big role in such an approach, one of the sport’s veterans expressed his unhappiness with it.

NASCAR veteran with the governing body adopting Bill France Sr’s questionable mantra

NASCAR has been in the news for several reasons in the past weeks. While there have been positive reasons behind it, the negative ones seem to triumph. One of them involves the unprecedented decision of Stewart-Haas Racing to shut down at the end of the year. While that’s still unbelievable, so has been the governing body’s treatment of Kyle Larson.

Last month, the Hendrick Motorsports driver attempted one of the most challenging tasks in the motorsports world. Larson’s decision to attempt “The Double” by competing both in the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 was more than commendable. Unfortunately for him, weather played a key role in hampering his efforts as the Cup Series star struggled to compete in the race at Charlotte.

As per NASCAR’s rules, a driver has to start every race to be eligible to compete in the playoffs. While Larson failed to start at Charlotte, he and HMS owner Rick Hendrick applied for a waiver from the ruling body. Given the #5 driver’s importance to the sport, it looked like an easy decision but it wasn’t the case.

While NASCAR dragged the matter for over a week, it infuriated plenty. One of them included former driver Rick Mast. Speaking on “The Rick Mast Show!”, the 67-year-old explained the possibility of the three scenarios surrounding the Kyle Larson waiver controversy. The first one involved the NASCAR officials being offended by Larson prioritizing the Indy 500 over the Coca-Cola 600.

Interestingly, the second one could have been a positive one. This involved Larson’s decision to compete in the Indy 500 was a great deal for both NASCAR and racing. However, what makes it more interesting is the third possibility. As per Mast, the NASCAR officials likely thought they were going to provide the waiver as it is. However, the idea of getting some hype over it and making the best out of it made them drag the decision.

In all honesty, it only ended up attracting a negative hype overall. While it may seem like a bad thing, Mast found Bill France Sr’s footprints all over this move. In Rick Mast’s words, France Sr’s only mantra was publicity. The former CEO of NASCAR thought good or bad, any publicity helped his and the sport’s cause.

However, Mast found it difficult to find out the actual scenario behind Larson’s waiver details and it only enraged him. He said, “That makes me mad. Because I normally have enough inside information or not inside information, I have enough people I talk to and all and just kind of read between the lines and figure this stuff out but I can’t figure this one out. I just don’t know at this point.”

While Rick Mast spoke candidly on the matter, another NASCAR insider spoke on similar lines.

Is NASCAR bitter about Kyle Larson prioritizing the Indy 500?

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How NASCAR handled Kyle Larson’s waiver situation grabbed plenty of attention. After all, it was uncharacteristic of the ruling body to take a long while to decide the outcome. Surprisingly, Chase Elliott was easily granted two separate waivers despite missing several races and serving a suspension last season.

While the notion is that NASCAR didn’t take Larson’s prioritizing the Indy 500 well, insider Daniel DiOrio brought more light to the controversy. Speaking on the Rubbin’ is Racing podcast, he said, “It seems to, given how long it took, someone at NASCAR HQ was personally offended that Larson prioritized IndyCar over the series that he should be full-time competing in.”

DiOrio added, “I think that’s just an unfair criticism, he was doing something to grow the sport, and bring more eyes onto the sport…To me, it’s a little concerning that it took this long and there seems to be some feelings hurt in the process. I understand he is a NASCAR Cup Series driver and that should be the main priority, however, he was doing something that was historically celebrated…”

If that’s true, NASCAR ensured it milked the situation to its benefit by dragging the matter. Eventually, they ended up getting some negative publicity as Rick Mast highlighted. While it may have helped with short-term benefits, it hasn’t gone down well with the fans.