Why It Is Imperative That NASCAR Breaks Its Regionalized Shackles and Expand to International Racing

Despite all efforts, is NASCAR on an inevitable downfall? Just having completed year 75 of its incredible legacy, the racing promotion has been making moves towards extending that run into centuries. The Chicago race, Project91, Garage56 Project, and the many other moves from both the league and the teams have been aimed at attracting a global audience. But this race against time might be coming too late. For as much progress as is being made on one side, there are losses on the other.

In the latest episode of the Joe Pomp Show podcast, sports investor and entrepreneur Joe Pompliano cast his gaze on the exact issues surrounding NASCAR’s decline and made clear the need for speed in globalization.

The declining stardom of NASCAR drivers adds the pressure on breaking boundaries

NASCAR’s issue with star power is not new. Every time a generation of drivers hangs up their fire suits, the newer drivers come under the spotlight to become superstars. The most massive and notable of this phenomenon occurred in the latter half of the 2010s when the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart retired. With the continuing drop in attendance being called into question back in 2018, International Speedway Corp. President John Saunders said at the time, “We still have an issue with star power. Hopefully, this stable of young drivers coming along will start to win and build their brands.”

Several drivers including the newly crowned Cup champion Ryan Blaney had criticized his words back then. Half a decade later, the younger crop of drivers has garnered little popularity compared to the men of old. Joe Pompliano believes that this is an issue that can be tackled only by making NASCAR global. Citing his reasons for the same, he said, “The reason why this is happening is that younger fans want to follow players and individuals, not the teams and not the league. This is also why every major sports social media account today […] focuses on the individuals. Again, not the teams and not the leagues.”

Pompliano brought forth a host of numbers comparing the social media following of retired drivers like Dale Jr and Kevin Harvick with those of Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney to make his point. Further explaining why the drivers in Formula 1 were significantly more followed than their NASCAR counterparts, he said, “If you look at a sport like Formula 1, which is obviously global, drivers are significantly more popular because of the global aspect of the sport. They are reaching more fans. […] It’s because they’re reaching global audiences and this is also one of the reasons why leagues like the NFL and NBA are growing and other leagues like major league baseball, NHL, and even NASCAR are shrinking.”

Despite the reasoning behind Pompliano’s opinion that the focus ought to be on individuals rather than teams, not many would agree with him. Perhaps the most popular of them would be the NASCAR legend, Jeff Gordon.

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Jeff Gordon is undoubtedly one of the most followed stars of his generation. Currently championing Hendrick Motorsports’ NASCAR operations, he voiced his opinion back in October about creating stars in the sport. Talking at the Racer’s Forum, he mentioned that he would like fans to fall back behind teams rather than who was driving for them. Explaining the reason for that to be fans not following the sport when their favorite driver retires, he said, “I think we have a role as race teams to build our brand up. […] Because the fans seem to not have a connection to the team as strongly as they did to the driver.”

However, Gordon did clarify that he did not mean that the stardom of drivers had to be reduced. Gordon’s take was that if teams were able to draw a connection to the fans in a way that the stars did, it would help the sport as a whole. While Gordon’s opinion is valid in its own sense, the sport would also benefit a lot from creating multiple storylines surrounding individuals in a global context.

Perhaps there is a balance between the star power of teams and drivers, but NASCAR is yet to discover it. Regardless, taking the sport global is a matter that nobody disagrees on. Let’s hope the results of that fall in the right place and help the popularity of the sport.

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