Just before the Firecracker 400 weekend a controversy was stirred up by the Race-Stream Media over a remark by John Saunders, president of International Speedway Corporation, Daytona's parent company. Saunders noted a mild regression in ISC track attendances the last six race weekends; the controversy stemmed from this -
"We still have an issue with star power. Hopefully this stable of young drivers coming along will start to win and build their brands."
The controversy that ensued was summarized by Brendan Marks of The Charlotte Observer in a piece where he claimed that Saunders was laying all blame on NASCAR decline on lack of star power. Marks was not the only writer to make a controversy out of Saunders' remark, but oversells it (as did other writers judging from remarks from such drivers as Ryan Blaney) and thus uses driver comments in response to attack Saunders by saying "NASCAR's attendance issues predate any of these young drivers' time (in Winston Cup)........it's a faulty argument attributing all of NASCAR's decline to the departure of a few drivers."
The problem with Brendan Marks' analysis is the old cliché - hearing is a sense, listening is a skill. Re-read what Saunders actually states. The sport still has an issue with star power, and he expresses hope that the generation of young drivers coming into the sport will win and thus begin building star power. Marks reaches enormously in trying to make Saunders' remark out to be just an excuse by ISC.
Marks notes the retirement of drivers Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. - both now TV analysts, widely praised as such, Junior in particular earning much attention for his "Slide job, slide job!" call on the Kyle Larson-Kyle Busch set-to at Chicagoland, a call humorously reminiscent of "BERGERON! BERGERON!", the call of a game-winning overtime goal by Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins in 2011 by the Bruins' then-play-by-play announcer Dave Goucher, now the TV play-by-play man for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Other drivers who have retired in recent years are Tony Stewart - still an active car owner with Gene Haas and the owner of Eldora Speedway - Carl Edwards, and Brendan Marks also cites Danica Patrick. This is where his argument gets weaker - NASCAR's attendance declines where happening during elements of their peak as drivers, and also Marks oversells their star power. There has never been any evidence Danica Patrick brought anyone to racing that otherwise would have ignored the sport, while the unlikeability of Stewart and Edwards weakens their star power. If anything the sport has gotten a certain freshness now that the abrasive and periodically dangerous Edwards is no longer participating.
Carl Edwards authored two of the most malicious melees in recent NASCAR memory - to imply his star power is something the sport misses is nonsensical.
In short, Marks exaggerates the star power of those drivers he lists who have retired. He also is ignoring the obvious when it comes to the young guns. He quotes Ryan Blaney's argument -
"We're trying. We're trying our hardest. It's not like I go out there and I'm happy for fifth every single week. Any other guys under the age of twenty-five I'll just say is the same way."
The issue is less whether the young guns are trying hard enough - it's always open to debate just how hard drivers are trying; one certainly wants to believe they truly are fighting as hard as possible, yet given how much importance is put into points as opposed to going for the lead, doubts become inevitable. The issue is - is this class of young guns really that good?
Chase Elliott by default is the "leader" of the young guns and with his third Winston Cup season droning forward his inability to finish the mission is becoming more and more of an issue. He's posted 26 top-five finishes in Cup so far, yet has shown no evidence of learning how to win. Running up front has never been an issue; actually doing what it takes to win is the issue.
Ryan Blaney, meanwhile, stunned the sport by winning at Pocono in the Wood Brothers #21, and thus were expectations raised with the switch to a third Penske Ford in 2018. And running up front hasn't been a problem. If anything it's surprising that Blaney hasn't won to date in Penske's Ford.
Erik Jones' Firecracker win adds to the issue, as one now awaits how he follows up the win. He's been the quiet member of the young guns with the win and just six other top-fives in his two seasons in Winston Cup.
Overall, Brendan Marks gets it wrong - the young guns are not being given an undue burden because of Saunders' remark. The sport instead is seeing a generation of young drivers who were promoted as something they really are not. The old racing saw is a driver needs five years to see if he's truly that good, yet this has been forgotten given the immediate success of rookies like Davey Allison (1987), Jeff Gordon (1993), Tony Stewart (1999), Dale Junior and Matt Kenseth (2000), Kevin Harvick (2001), Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman (2002), and Kyle Busch (2005). So rookies are supposed to win right out of the chute, that's no longer any kind of unfair expectation.
Now some of the young guns of this season may indeed blossom into legitimate powers and thus "build their brands" as Saunders put it. But they have to actually do it first. The young guns have to win, they have to prove they're not doing less with more.
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