During a recent conversation with Elliott Sadler, one of NASCAR’s longest-serving veterans, former driver Kenny Wallace, opened up on how Mike Helton communicated where he stood in the eyes of the governing body. Wallace, who hosted Sadler on his podcast show, spoke to the part-time driver on a variety of subjects and topics, one of which was how NASCAR pushes out older drivers.
Advertisement
Sadler mentioned his tale of how his winning the most popular driver in the Xfinity Series was something that NASCAR hated, considering he was “too freaking old.” He then described how during the first year he won that award, at the banquet, they let him talk. But in the second year, they told him he couldn’t. And when he won it the final time, they didn’t even bring it up.
“If I ever felt like being pushed out … I get that NASCAR and Xfinity and they’re trying to do all these promotions and they want all these young kids coming up, but the freaking fans, they love me,” Sadler said.
This prompted Wallace to reveal his own tale on similar lines as he recalled, “I called Mike Helton and I said, ‘Mike,’ I said, ‘I don’t see you using me anymore to advertise the Xfinity Series.’ There was this long pause, and our boss at that time, Mike Helton, he says, ‘Well basically, you’ve been there and you’ve done that.'”
“And I thought to myself, ‘They’re done with me.’ You could keep racing but we’re done advertising you. We’re looking for the 22-year-olds.”
Is NASCAR going through a personality crisis right now?
There was a time in NASCAR when the sport was full of personalities and drivers that fans could easily identify with and rally behind. There were names such as Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, Carl Edwards, and many more. However, these days, such personalities are missing across the sport.
A common criticism is of drivers not showing any personality or not speaking their minds and hearts in front of the media and instead playing it safe. But then again, there have been more than a handful of instances where a driver said or did something and found themselves in troubling waters.
Having said that, there are still drivers like Denny Hamlin who are relatively fearless and are promoting the idea that drivers need to show more personality so that NASCAR as a sport thrives. Of course, not everyone in NASCAR agrees with Hamlin’s ways of conduct.
But then again, it cannot be denied that NASCAR needs what it had to get to where it was.
