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The NASCAR fan community can sometimes be a peculiar one. Hey, it’s the internet! Everybody has an opinion and, more often than not, they don’t agree upon one another. It’s not much different in other sports leagues such as the NFL. The fans complain about something, the governing body takes action to “fix” the issue, and, in the end, the fans still aren’t typically happy.
For the governing body of NASCAR, there’s really little difference. But as easy as it is to blame the governing body in charge with everything wrong with your favorite sport, one Reddit user took to the website to open up a discussion about various “hard truths” NASCAR fan just don’t want to hear. Let’s check it out!
The OP of the thread stated that the concept of a 4-car team in NASCAR using one of their cars strictly as an R&D car is absurd. While their is precedence of a team with multiple cars using one for research, it’s typically a fifth entry or a part-time car with a driver that isn’t running for points.
Examples of this are when Evernham Motorsports ran the #91 for Bill Elliott during the first couple of years of his semi-retirement or when Hendrick Motorsports ran the #25 for Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott in the late 2000s and mid-2010s respectively. So, yes, I agree with the OP here. It would be insane for a team to spend all of that money and time developing a fourth full-time entry to just throw it away for R&D sake.
PenskeFiles says that their harsh truth is that many fans stopped watching because their drivers retired. I agree with this one as well, at least somewhat. There’s some truth to it. In this way, NASCAR fans are unlike the fans of most other sports leagues. They typically have a favorite driver and, if their favorite driver isn’t in the race or has retired, they tend to not be as emotionally invested.
Hey, I dealt with it. My favorite driver was Dale Earnhardt Jr. After he retired in 2017, I had a hard time getting as invested. At least in terms of a driver to root for. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. I love the sport as a sport much more now and have grown to appreciate it now that I no longer pull for one specific driver. Sure, I have guys that I like over others but, hey, I’m mostly just here for the on-track action now. And, I still get to see Jr. race from time to time. I’ll be going to Bristol this September.
NobleJaguar293 says that NASCAR will never reach the popularity they did in the late ’90s and early 2000s. I don’t know if it’s true or not (I hope it isn’t!) but I can definitely see the point.
The average age of NASCAR’s fanbase continues to climb each and every year and younger fans tend to be more enamored with Formula 1. I’m not smart enough to suggest a fix for that but it doesn’t take a genius to see it. At least NobleJaguar has made their peace with it. I hope I never have to.
LouisianaRaceFan86 says that the constant sponsor swapping makes it harder for fans to connect with drivers. I can see that, as well. Kyle Busch got a lot of kids with the whole M&Ms sponsorship. Same for Dale Jr. and young men back in the Bud No. 8 days.
What do you think, DDF fans? Do you miss the old days of drivers having consistent sponsors and paint schemes on the cars? I think it would certainly help fans identify their drivers on race day if they’re mired back in traffic.
26oftheArgh says that fans are directly responsible for nearly all of the changes NASCAR has made throughout the years, specifically in the mid-2000s through the early 2020s.
Well, let’s break this down: Why was the Chase (the original attempt at a “playoff” kind of format) created? Because NASCAR fans claimed that Matt Kenseth’s 2003 championship run was “boring”. It created no drama. 2003 was Kenseth’s year, undisputed.
In the final race at Homestead, fans complained that he just “rode around” despite the fact that he earned that right by being so good and consistent all season. So, NASCAR stepped in to make sure drivers can’t just “ride around” in the final weeks of the season which ultimate led to our winner-take-all championship playoff format we have now.
JDMcDuffie (wow, that’s a throwback!) says that a full-season championship format will never return. Yeah, I think this is the big one. The era of the playoffs is here to stay and will not be going away. It’s just how things are now and how it’s going to stay. Might as well make peace with that. But that doesn’t mean we can’t tweak around the edges to improve the system.
I agree with McDuffie that we need to move away from the winner-take-all championship at the end of the season. I’ve lost way too many championships on NASCAR Heat 5 because of it.
So, Daily Downforce community, what are some “harsh truths” you think NASCAR fans need to hear and consider. Let us know and follow us on social media like Twitter and Instagram to let those opinions out!
