Now in his 21st season in NASCAR Cup, including two championships, Kyle Busch has seen NASCAR at its highest level of popularity, as well as its downward slide that began in 2008 and 2009 when the economy tanked.
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The stock car racing series has tried numerous things to bring old fans back as well as attract new fans to the sport. Some things have worked, like the Chicago Street Race, as well as increasing road course races at places like Circuit of the Americas, racing at last week’s venue (Iowa Speedway) and more.
But still, NASCAR seems to have an identity problem that it just can’t seem to overcome. And as optimistic as Busch has tried to be over the years, he’s just not as bullish about the sport’s popularity as he used to be.
“That’s a tough one,” Busch told The Athletic when asked about why NASCAR isn’t as popular as it was, say, nearly two decades ago. “I think it’s a culture problem, and I say that in regard to the world culture. In the ’80s and ’90s, you had a bunch of Hot Rod guys who were cool with souping up their 1970s, 1980s street rods. A lot of those guys are aged out.”
And unfortunately for NASCAR, the children, especially the sons of those aged out parents have other distractions such as video games, drift racing and souped-up import rides rather than the Detroit muscle their fathers used to enjoy.
“I just think the problem we’re running into is there’s not a lot of race fans anymore,” Busch said. “People would always bring their kids to the track, but now there are just so many other things people can do otherwise. Going to the lake, taking your kids to a bounce house.
“No offense, but we just stood outside, right? It’s 90-something degrees outside. Who wants to sit in metal bleachers under the sun for three hours? If you’re out there, God bless you. More power to you. I appreciate that. We need to do more for those people who are here and who give us their time and their money. But you’re not going to find me out there.”
Could Busch’s son and Kevin Harvick’s son attract new fans?
Busch is in a unique situation. He’s hit 40 years and his son, 10-year-old Brexton, is a budding racer himself and could very well follow in his father’s footsteps in NASCAR someday. Ditto for 13-year-old Keelan Harvick, son of former Cup champ and current broadcast analyst, Kevin Harvick.
Brexton and Keelan could very possibly be the future of NASCAR, but unless NASCAR does something spectacular and so far removed from its comfort zone, it likely will continue to struggle to attract new fans.
That’s why the sanctioning body went to Mexico City this year (and likely will return there in 2027). It’s also why the sport will have a “street race” next year on Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, the first time NASCAR has ever raced on a military facility and which makes sense, as the U.S. military, including the Navy, is celebrating its 250th anniversary through next summer.
Busch said, “A little bit of it too was, back in that day, guys were getting hurt, the speeds were getting faster, cars were getting a little bit safer, obviously we lost Dale (Earnhardt), but there was this sense of ‘What are these guys going to do next? What’s this next crash going to look like? Are they going to come out of it OK?’”
Unfortunately, as NASCAR became safer with devices like the HANS device, soft walls and the like, fans began to get less interested in the sport as well.
“Now it seems like everything is neutered,” Busch said. “I got hurt in 2015, so I can talk, but nobody really gets hurt. The safety aspect isn’t there. So there’s not this Evel Knievel type thing happening anymore. It’s just going to watch a race on Sunday and people feel like that’s boring.”
It’s sad to think that some so-called “fans” only watched the sport to see mayhem, spectacular wrecks, injuries and even death. And when the sport became safer, much of that risk was greatly reduced, which isn’t really a bad thing to begin with.
