Five thoughts after Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway…
1. The Kids Are All Right
Four years ago, NASCAR focused its marketing efforts on a bunch of young drivers who had barely won a thing.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart had retired, leaving NASCAR anxious to help fans get attached to the next generation. So the series pushed drivers such as Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson — hard — and irritated some veterans in the process.
Kyle Busch called the emphasis on young drivers “stupid” and “bothothersome.” When Texas Motor Speedway put up a large banner featuring caricatures of Blaney, Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, William Byron and Erik Jones, Kevin Harvick laughed it off because those drivers had a combined one career victory.
“If you like good marketing, it’s good,” Harvick said then. “If you like winners, you go for the old guys.”
Harvick also took a Twitter jab at the youngsters after the veterans came out strong at the start of the 2018 season. He noted the average age of the winners in the first six races was 38.5 and tacked on the hashtag #oldguysrule at the end of his tweet.
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Four years later, that’s no longer the case. The average age of the winners after 2022’s first four races is 26.8. Meanwhile, Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass noted there have been 10 consecutive Cup Series races won by drivers under 30 — a series record.
Now, it’s not like today’s veteran drivers stink.
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