A good racing team, raw speed, and talent behind the wheel can only take a driver so far in NASCAR. What differentiates a winner and a superstar at this level is how strong the PR team of the driver works, and if Dale Earnhardt Jr. is to be believed, the modern-day driver has his task cut out for him.
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Speaking to former driver Kenny Wallace, the NASCAR Hall of Famer claimed it was the PR manager’s job to secure a driver quality interviews and speaking opportunities to put himself in front of the cameras as much as possible to reach out to the audience. But there is one key difference from back in the day that is negatively affecting the drivers.
“Well, right now, all of the PR people are usually employed by the race teams. In 2004 man, or when me and you were racing, the PR people were hired by the sponsor and so when you are a PR person that is employed by Budweiser, there’s a lot of pressure, you better perform.”
“They don’t wanna see you getting an article or a piece written in the local paper, that ain’t gonna do it. They want to see you on the front page of the USA Today, they wanna see you on the front page of the Rolling Stone…”
Earnhardt expressed that now the onus is more or less on the teams and not the sponsors to handle the public image of the drivers, stating, “I wonder now since that shifted, the PR people are really now employed more by the race teams, that the motivation and the real true role of the PR person has evolved.”
What is Earnhardt’s solution to this problem?
The two-time Daytona 500 winner added that the lack of effort from the corporate sponsor leads to the drivers rolling around the media system without getting any meaningful opportunity to promote themselves and the sponsors.
“So maybe if we could figure out a way to get that shift back to where these corporate sponsors are investing in people that will help push this driver and help him promoted,” he said.
What about NASCAR? Can they do anything else?
The JRM co-owner expressed that the organization is doing as much as it was doing back in his day, and what is missing is the promotion that ‘Corporate America’ once indulged in to promote NASCAR drivers.
