Here's my "hot take" of the day: NASCAR is finished. It will never be what it was. I am not just saying this to try to grab people's attention (assuming anyone on Steemit actually cares about NASCAR). I really believe this to be true.
I mean, why would anyone want to watch NASCAR in 2018? It is boring as hell. It was once pretty entertaining, as it brought the allure and charm of being a sport rooted in the US's deep South. Nearly all the races were held in the southeastern states, and almost all the drivers were southern as well back in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Many of the drivers were truly colorful characters back then who spoke their minds and were more than happy to fight other drivers if things did not go their way on the racetrack.
In the early 90s, NASCAR enjoyed another surge in popularity on the back of Dale Earnhardt's success. It had begun to capture the attention of fans outside the southern states. People enjoyed watching them rev those engines, go three wide, draft other cars, feud, and even wreck. However, around that time the sport began getting too corporate.
NASCAR was always run by a bunch of rednecks who loved religion, "family values," and taking a conservative approach to everything in life. However, NASCAR's growth in the mid 90s brought in new types of sponsors (as opposed to just tobacco, alcohol, and automotive companies) who wanted more control in the sport. Instead of rednecks with their own personalities, these companies wanted polished "spokesmen" such as Jeff Gordon to pitch their products in a professional manner. They also wanted to take the fun and unpredictability out of the product in order to make it more "family friendly" and more presentable to the masses.
-Jeff Gordon ruined NASCAR (image from dupont.com).
In the meantime, the cars got so high tech that they didnt even have wipers and headlights (cause God forbid they ever drive in the rain or in any other imperfect conditions) to the point where they were more like speed carts than actual automobiles that regular people drive. And as drivers started coming from places outside the southeast such as California and acting more like executives in a corporate boardroom, fans begun losing interest in a sport that was getting more watered down by the second. As drivers such as Richard Petty, Fireball Roberts, and Donnie Allison gave way to Jimmy Johnson, Brad Keselowski, and Joey Lagano, the sport lost something.
It took a while to sink in, but I think fans have had it with NASCAR. Its the only sport where the biggest race of the year is the first one (the Daytona 500 is this weekend, and it is all downhill from there). Also, every little crash brings the field of drivers back together due to the caution flag, so a driver cannot build a lead. And, they never turn right.
I think NASCAR had its chance and it blew it. It was the sport's southern charm that intrigued people and brought them in, but instead of selling that, the buttholes in the boardroom suppressed it in favor of aiming to put out a product with "mass appeal." Basically a bunch of dumb ass rednecks got too corporate and listened too much to a bunch of sponsors who had just come aboard and did not really know anything about the sport.
I do not think NASCAR will ever be what it was again. Everything is too PC now. The Winston Cup is now the Nextel or Monster Energy Cup (or something), and the Busch League is now Xfinity (or some crap). Technology drives the sport, along with a bunch of boring drivers with no personality who have been peddling products since they were racing go karts. Now its just a soulless business where the competition sucks and there is no reason to get excited about anything. I do not see this changing anytime soon either. The sport is not headed in a positive direction and its not coming back. NASCAR is done.