The Taylor Swift mania has been running wild off late in the world of sports. With the singer’s relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce turning up the viewership and ratings to great heights, NASCAR is obviously intrigued. As notable drivers and icons expressed their interest in wanting to see a similar external influence on stock car racing things resulted in Swift becoming all the heat.
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Though some like Kenny Wallace and Chase Elliott openly expressed their support for the “Swiftie” phenomenon, not all are that impressed. One person who is undoubtedly on the other side of the scale is Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson. A fan recently shared the driver’s tweets from back in 2011 and they aren’t very polite towards Taylor Swift. In one of them, Larson wrote, “Taylor Swift is a has been”.
Kyle Larson: Professional hater pic.twitter.com/XKDZJvBJ9Y
— RJ (@Jimmie_DennyFan) December 29, 2023
Larson’s hate for Swift has not turned any green over the years. Talking to Jeff Gluck in 2018 he mentioned, “I was never a big Taylor Swift superfan like a lot of teenagers were growing up. She just didn’t do it for me.” He also said that he wouldn’t meet her even if he was forced to and made it clear that he did not care about her.
Though Larson said to Gluck that he did listen to Swift when she was into country music one of his 2011 tweets calls the Academy of Country Music Awards rigged for granting Swift the Entertainer of the Year award. The 2021 Cup champion was clearly not a big fan of her songs.
How much has Taylor Swift appealed to other NASCAR stars?
Though Larson is not so much into being a “Swiftie”, his teammate Chase Elliott certainly is. The Most Popular Driver Award winner said earlier this year, “You know, I am not really sure that I would consider myself a Swiftie, but I feel like I should get on the bandwagon. I mean it looks like a lot of fun, and who doesn’t like Taylor Swift? So, I’m on board.”
Elliott is probably unaware that the answer to his question is within his own Hendrick Motorsports garage.
Former racer Kenny Wallace too has given into the mania around Swift. He said, “Things aren’t too great right now everywhere in everybody’s life. If it takes a girl who sings good music, and she fell in love with a football player, it don’t bother me. Hell, actually, maybe I’m a Swiftie.”
One driver who would side with Larson is Denny Hamlin. The JGR driver’s opinion is that Swift’s relationship with Kelce is weird. Swift’s influence on the NFL courtesy of her relationship ended with a reported 400% increase in sales of Kelce jerseys and a 22% increase in average viewership year-on-year. With such numbers on the table how much the strength of her relationship or her music matters is a question.
