Unlike many other sports, NASCAR thrives on the individual rather than the collective. Drivers may lean on teammates, but only up to a point, and that’s why the sport has always been built around names, not teams. It’s what fueled its rise.
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Fans once clamored for their heroes, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, to win every week. But today, NASCAR lacks that larger-than-life superstar, and Petty himself believes that absence is keeping the sport from scaling the same heights of popularity.
When Josh Berry asked a question to Petty through the 12 Questions Series by Jeff Gluck, to recall his favorite memory racing with the Wood Brothers, ‘The King’ admitted he tore up plenty of their cars in last-lap battles, but also celebrated victories with them.
He reflected, “Those were the growing days of NASCAR, and you basically had just two people who were racing. There weren’t 14 (drivers) in one line and 14 in the other.
“It was two cars racing, and the grandstand stood up for the whole last part of the race. So the excitement of stuff like that, I don’t see it in racing today. How do you bring it back? I don’t know.”
Petty traced the lineage of NASCAR’s defining figures: his father Lee Petty, Junior Johnson, and Fireball Roberts in the early years, followed by David Pearson, Bobby Allison, and Cale Yarborough. Then came Darrell Waltrip, then Dale Earnhardt, then Jeff Gordon, and later Jimmie Johnson.
Each era had its fox leading the hunt. Today, he argued, the field is crowded but leaderless. He added, “We’ve got no leaders. We’ve had, what, 15 different winners this year?
“That does not create a following. No matter what happens, you need a fox out front. We don’t have any leader, whether he’s good, bad or indifferent.”
12 Questions with THE KING. @therichardpetty https://t.co/aZdNlsuGpI
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) September 3, 2025
To make his point, Petty offered a reminder: when Waltrip was stacking up wins, fans nicknamed him “Jaws,” and people filled the stands either to watch him dominate or to see him knocked off his perch.
The same held true with Earnhardt, who polarized crowds week after week. That kind of figure, Petty said, is missing today, and with it, some of the prestige that once defined NASCAR.
Petty opines on the NASCAR format debate
NASCAR remains split between those who want a return to the old 36-race grind that crowned the most deserving, season-long performer, and those who back the drama of the Chase format. But Richard Petty has made it clear where he stands, siding with Mark Martin in support of the traditional style.
As Petty put it, “I’m still from the old school. I’m with Martin, that they start races in February and you run all year to November and it’s, “OK, who was the best that year?” They should be champion…
“When they give points for leading different (stages) in the race and they give points for all this other stuff, that’s a bunch of crap, OK?… I don’t care if you lead 499 laps of a 500-lap race, if you get beat, then you’re not the winner, and you shouldn’t have any (extra) points.”
According to him, NASCAR is trying to modernize stuff, and they’re trying to keep up with other sports. They’re trying to come up with new ideas. And so far, none of them are really working.
For Petty, a true NASCAR champion isn’t the product of one hot streak or a last-minute win; it’s the driver who delivers week in and week out, proving consistency is still the gold standard.
