The most prestigious race at the sport’s most hallowed ground pretty much guarantees extra media attention. It’s a little like the Indianapolis 500 in that it picks up a lot of casual viewers who probably don’t watch many other NASCAR races all year.
Then, the sport’s most popular driver – by the length of the back stretch at Daytona – Dale Earnhardt Junior, held off the field in a frantic last-lap dash o the finish line, recording his second victory in what’s known as the Great American Race.
It’s not an over exaggeration to say that there could be no more popular winner at Daytona than Earnhardt, whose legendary father, driver of the black #3 Chevrolet, and known as The Intimidator, lost his life on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, blocking for his team’s cars, driven by Dale Jr. and eventual winner Michael Waltrip, as they went like scalded cats for the line.
Oh, did I mention that the signature moment happened during primetime because of a record-breaking weather delay of more than six hours? A few late-race cautions bunched the field up and set the stage for a thrilling service. NASCAR’s Twitter and the companion account run by host broadcasters FOX, were working in overdrive late in the race, pounding out Tweet after Tweet, encouraging people to tune in, promising a memorable finish.
Well, NASCAR got what they wanted, and they got the winner they must always yearn for whenever there’s a race at Daytona – or anywhere, really, because Dale Junior’s fans, dubbed ‘Junior Nation’ so outnumber the fans of the next most popular drivers it isn’t funny.
Take a walk through the stands at any Sprint Cup Series race and you’ll see at least one in every three fans wearing something with Dale Junior’s face, sponsor or car number emblazoned across it. The man is a marketing machine. He always has, even before his father’s tragic death, generated huge fan buzz, and will continue to be for as long as he is even reasonably competitive in NASCAR.
The only problem was that the race’s climax didn’t make the sort of inroads television executives at FOX were surely hoping for. Unlike two years ago, when Brad Keselowski Tweeted from his car during a red flag period brought about by Juan Pablo Montoya ploughing into the jet drier during a weather caution ensuring huge broadcast numbers that even led some to suggest the Daytona 500 should be a primetime event annually, this year’s race was a television disappointment, averaging only 5.6 overnight rating.
That’s down a whopping 44% from last year. To put it into layman’s terms, the race averaged 9.3 million viewers this year; last year’s averaged 16.7 million viewers. Against the race was the spectacular closing ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games, which never fails to generate big viewers. It’s tough sledding going up against an event that draws in sports fans and non-sports fans alike.
Certainly, it’s not the result NASCAR would have been hoping for, particularly not on the eve of what you feel is, if not exactly crucial, certainly an important season for the Sprint Cup Series. Why? It’s all about eyeballs. 2014 marks the final year for long-time TV partners ESPN and TNT, and the sport’s powers-that-be in Daytona Beach will be hoping for an uptick in crowds and television numbers this year.
Despite a relatively mediocre showing in terms of eyeballs at the time, Earnhardt Junior’s memorable win is generating headlines in newspapers, on ESPN’s SportsCentre, in magazines and online. He’ll do the media tour this week, starting in New York City with an appearance on Letterman, before racing in Phoenix over the weekend.
With that exposure on various platforms suggests we’re likely going to see a renewed interest in the sport from some fans whose interest might have waned over the last few years, which have mostly been a parade of Jimmie Johnson race wins and Championship titles. It’s the best publicity the sport could hope for, far more effective than even if another favourite – say, Tony Stewart – had gone to Victory Lane. Even Stewart’s popularity is miniscule in comparison.
Earnhardt Junior really carries the torch of popularity for Hendrick Motorsports. His teammate, Johnson, is nowhere near as beloved as the man who sits behind the wheel of the #88 Chevrolet. Nor is the other big gun in the Hendrick stable – with all due respect to the team’s fourth, and oft-forgotten driver, Kasey Kahne, he isn’t quite there yet in terms of superstar status – Jeff Gordon.
A four-time Sprint Cup Series champion, Gordon is hated because he dared challenge Earnhardt Sr. and Johnson, who has won the series six times and is easily the era’s most dominant driver, is loathed in most circles because he simply doesn’t have the persona of so many legends of the sport. He’s clean cut, polished and barely says anything bar tired old racing clichés and sponsorship plugs in media interviews. Entirely not like Dale Sr. You get the distinct feeling that The Intimidator would be appalled at the way the sport has become such a corporate machine.
Holding back Junior Nation from launching into the stratosphere has been those pesky wins. Or, more specifically, lack thereof. Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t exactly been what you’d call a frequent race winner since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2008. In fact, it’s been nearly two years last won, at Michigan International Speedway in the summer of 2012, 55 races ago, and he suffered through an interminable 143-race slide before that.
Crucially, Earnhardt has visited Victory Lane only five times since 2005. From a marketing standpoint, that’s far too long for NASCAR’s most popular driver to be out of Victory Circle. Even 5 races is too big of a gap, really. Now, here he comes, making the biggest of big bangs by driving to the front at Daytona, and winning the sport’s biggest and most important race.
You get the feeling that with Junior goes NASCAR’s fortunes. People tune in and want to watch him win. He has brand recognition through a raft of ads, arguably the most mainstream driver not named Jimmie Johnson. His win on Sunday was perfect, and exactly the sort of narrative that’s going to get people tuning in and, perhaps just as importantly, talking about NASCAR racing on social media. That’s what really counts these days: social media buzz.
With Junior running well, the sport can start scaling back towards the heights of the early 2000’s, where tracks were throwing up grandstands just as quickly as their construction could be organised. It is true that the sport has fallen from there recently – horrible economic conditions affecting the sport’s traditional southern heartland certainly has not helped – but you might also trace poor attendance and receding TV numbers to Dale Earnhardt Junior not winning.
Let’s face it, when he drove the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, Junior was winning Sprint Cup Series races often enough. His first Daytona 500 crown came ten years ago, driving that now-famous Budweiser ‘Born on Date’ car, and the sport was about as high as it had ever been, catapulted even higher after it’s favourite son finally emulated his father in winning the biggest event there was.
There is a chance here and now. Many believe this is Earnhardt Junior’s year. He and his crew chief Steve Letarte – who will leave the pit box for a less stressful job as an NBC Sports analyst in 2015 – seem primed and ready to take a shot at that elusive Sprint Cup Series championship after a fifth place finish last year. Certainly, Sunday evening did little to dissuade many of that.
Under NASCAR’s new ‘Chase for the Championship’ rules, a win gets you in, so Earnhardt figures to be a focal point from now until the weekend before Thanksgiving, when the Sprint Cup Series ends at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and if Junior wins a few more races early this season, watch the promotional machine kick into gear.
If Junior wins it all in 2014, especially if it involves a close battle with Johnson…well, watch out world, because NASCAR racing might well be on the way back.
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