Anyone who knows me knows a few interesting sports tidbits. One of them is I am a HUGE Steelers fan. Another is I am a big fan of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
That’s right folks: I’m a black dude who keeps an eye on NASCAR.
The reason why I am a big Junior guy is because my dad was a big Dale Earnhardt, Sr guy. So, like father like son I guess…
At any rate, do you know how good it was for NASCAR that its most popular driver won a Sprint Cup race? Do you have know glad NASCAR is that a “boring” personality like Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, and Matt Kennseth didn’t win today’s race?
You know that NASCAR – and ESPN – will milk the hell out of this while they can. And you know what, I can’t be mad at NASCAR – but not ESPN – for doing so.
After all, it’s good for business. Again, the sport’s most popular driver finally broke through after 143 races. If you quantify it in its proper perspective, Junior won his last Sprint Cup race in 2008. Either way you slice it, that’s a long-ass time for its most popular driver to not win a race.
Junior is the leading endorser for NASCAR – by a lot. Nothing sucks more than a sport’s leading endorser not winning a Sprint Cup race for almost four years.
For those of you who do not give a damn about NASCAR, let me explain this in a way that you all would understand. Junior not winning in 143 Sprint Cup races is like the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys not playoffs. It’s bad for business in the NFL. It’s also like the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, or New York Knicks not making the playoffs. It’s bad for business in the NBA.
Getting back to NASCAR, what has kept the sport popular are its bad boys winning: the Brothers Busch and Tony Stewart. Everyone wants to see the bad boys go down, it’s what drives interest.
But nothing beats Junior being back in victory lane. NASCAR should be dancing a nice jig right about now…
Categories: auto racing, sports story
Leave a Reply