DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — International Speedway Corp. Chairman John Saunders created a commotion Thursday when he cited a “problem with star power” among the reasons for a 10 percent drop in attendance at the company’s six NASCAR events between March and May.
So if the sport is looking for someone to build around, how about…
Kyle Busch.
No other active driver elicits a reaction as visceral as Busch. Many booed him heartily after his victory last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway, while his fans cheered, creating a confluence of noise.
Detractors seethed after Busch spun Kyle Larson to win, conveniently forgetting that seconds earlier, Larson’s touch sent Busch into the wall and out of the lead.
After collecting the checkered flag, Busch walked toward the camera and rubbed his eyes to mock those who were mourning his victory.
The boos continued and Busch taunted those fans, telling them, “If you don’t like this kind of racing, don’t even watch.” »
Busch, who is tied with Kevin Harvick with five wins in the series this year, has long admitted that there will be a vocal segment of the fan base that hates him. He never had any luck. He notes that early in his Cup career he was booed as much for being Kurt Busch’s little brother as anything else. Kyle Busch’s intensity and antics have infuriated some fans and made his supporters more determined in their support.
Busch knows he’ll probably never win the Most Popular Driver title, but isn’t his main goal to win championships?
“There you go,” he said.
As for the symbolic wearing of the black hat, Busch doesn’t worry about it.
“I’ve been wearing the black hat for a long, long time, so it doesn’t bother me as long as it doesn’t bother my sponsors and they can accept it as well, and… knowing who I am as a person outside of the race car rather than the one-minute snippets of TV that you get from a guy on TV,” he said.
This topic of star power is not new. International Speedway Corp. discussed declining ticket sales in the past due to the absence of Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.
On Thursday, Saunders cited the weather as impacting attendance at some tracks, adding: “We still have a problem with star power and hopefully this stable of young drivers that are coming in will start to win and build their brands.”
Ryan Blaney scoffed at the idea that the weight should fall solely on young drivers.
“How many winners this year? Six. Come on now,” Blaney, 24, said. “You can’t blame it on young people not winning. That’s a lot of other people not winning too.”
Ultimately, the best selling point for this sport will be the racing. Having more races and finishes like last weekend will help the sport but it will take more than that.
2. A tale of two journeys
Daytona in February is all about hope. Daytona in July is all about reality.
When NASCAR arrived here in February to start the season, Hendrick Motorsports hoped to overcome its “difficult” 2017Matt Kenseth was not on track and numerous driver changes gave their teams hope.
With Cup teams returning to the beach, Hendrick Motorsports continues to look for its first victory, Kenseth is not there yet — but will return to Kentucky for Roush Fenway Racing – and four of the drivers with new drivers this season are in the playoffs with nine races remaining in the regular season.
Equipment celebrating Hendrick Motorsports’ upcoming Cup win – which will be its 250th – has been in storage since Kasey Kahne won in Indianapolis. That was 33 races ago.
Hendrick Motorsports started the season with two new drivers. Alex Bowman took over the No. 88 after Dale Earnhardt Jr. retired, and William Byron moved up to the No. 24, taking Kahne’s place within the organization. Hendrick also came in with questions about sponsor Lowe’s (it was announced a month after the Daytona 500 that Lowe’s would not return to Jimmie Johnson’s team for 2019).
With the dominance of Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch, Hendrick Motorsports or other teams had little chance to excel. Additionally, Hendrick and many other Chevrolet teams have struggled with the new Camaro this season.
Although Hendrick has seen progress – Alex Bowman has scored back-to-back top 10s in the last two weeks for the first time this season and Chase Elliott has three top 10s in the last four races – there have been challenges. Elliott has led just eight laps this season. Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson has led two rounds this year. Hendrick’s four drivers combined to lead 106 laps – 65 by Bowman.
At Roush Fenway Racing, the struggles continue. Matt Kenseth’s run in the No. 6 car for Trevor Bayne did not lead to significant improvement.
“We’ve had some tough conversations the last few weeks,” said Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who is fighting for a playoff spot. “I think I’ve been pretty loud in the store and sometimes, whether it’s in an interview or on the radio, probably when I shouldn’t, and I definitely have to respect all of our guys in the store who are working hard and trying to get us new things. We just haven’t gotten these new things as quickly as we wanted.”
Drivers in new spots who are in the playoffs heading into Saturday night’s race are Blaney (Wood Brothers at Team Penske), Aric Almirola (Richard Petty Motorsports at Stewart-Haas Racing), Erik Jones (Furniture Row Racing at Joe Gibbs Racing) and Bowman (no full-time ride for Hendrick).
3. Drag the job!
Christopher Bell appreciates how prevalent slide work is becoming in NASCAR. It’s a skill Bell and Kyle Larson learned racing sprint cars on dirt. Other riders have adopted it, especially on tracks where a high groove is the preferred line.
On these lanes, a driver charges into the corner, cuts down and lets the car drift down the embankment to pass a car and stop that car’s momentum.
Larson attempted the move on Kyle Busch but it didn’t work and Busch went on to win. Noah Gragson tried it on Brett Moffitt during the final lap of the Camping World Truck race at Iowa Speedway, but Moffitt came back.
“It’s cool for me to see this come to fruition,” Bell said of his move. “Like Iowa, man, the Truck race, the Xfinity race, everyone was passing each other, and I think it passes, right, so you get more passes. One guy passes someone on the way in, and then another guy passes someone on the way out. I think it’s exciting to see more guys using it and it’s becoming more and more common in NASCAR.”
But it also means that drivers learn to better defend their movement. So what will Bell do?
“I hope I do it again, don’t you? » he said. “It’s going to be tough here at Daytona, and Kentucky (the groove) is down, so I won’t be able to do it there anymore. But that’s just another trick in the bag, isn’t it? So if you have the opportunity to do it, I will.
4.Less practice
Rain canceled the Cup’s final practice sessions Thursday before one car could complete a high-speed lap. That left teams with just 50 minutes of opening session to prepare for Friday’s qualifying and Saturday night’s race.
Should this be the norm for next season? In the Xfinity Series, only 10 cars came out in the final test session. Are two sessions required?
“I think if you had, let’s say, a workout but it was an hour and 20 (minutes), I think you’d be OK with that,” Kyle Busch said. “I think that would be enough and it would be beneficial to be able to go straight into qualifying and the race. Fifty (minutes) may be a little short for what some guys want to do.”
5. Will the sequence continue?
There has been a different driver who has won each of the last eight races at Daytona in July. The streak started with Kevin Harvick in 2010 and he was followed by David Ragan, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Aric Almirola, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
