NASCAR is still searching for its next signature superstar: ‘The times are different’

Like most sports, NASCAR has been defined by its dominant champions.

Richard “The King” Petty ruled the 1960s and ‘70s, winning seven cup championships, a record matched by Dale Earnhardt Sr. during the 1980s and ‘90s. Jeff Gordon came on to win four titles at the turn of the millennium, and Jimmie Johnson joined them atop NASCAR’s Mount Rushmore by winning seven championships, including five consecutive titles during 2006-10.

But since Johnson’s last championship in 2016, no one has stood above the rest and emerged as the transcendent face of NASCAR.

In fact, eight different drivers have accounted for the last 10 championships, and only two active drivers, Kyle Busch (2015 and 2019) and Joey Logano (2018 and 2022) have won multiple titles.

Has the day of the sport’s signature driver come to an end?

“I’ll never be bold enough to say we won’t see another Jimmie Johnson, but I’m just not sure we’re ever going to see another driver winning multiple championships like that,” said Larry McReynolds, the crew chief for Earnhardt’s 1998 Daytona 500 win and now a Fox television analyst. “Seven championships is a tall order. Only three drivers in the history of our sport have ever done that, but to me, the thing that has set Jimmie apart was five in a row when the competition was getting tougher and tougher, and all these different generations of cars and rules changes and aero changes.

“It’s like they were always changing the rules and the format to keep Jimmie from winning, but he and (crew chief) Chad Knaus kept figuring it out.”

The biggest changes were the introductions of new cars, including the Gen-6 car in 2013 and the Next Gen car in 2022; and the adoption in 2014 of a 10-race playoff format in which four postseason qualifiers were eliminated every three weeks until four drivers remained for the final race. One poor finish in any of the first three rounds of the playoffs could doom a championship contender.

“Kyle Busch put it best,” McReynolds said. “With this format, you can win 35 races and not win the championship, because it’s about making it to that Championship Four in Phoenix and being good on one race day.”

Johnson, who will compete in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway as part of his partial schedule this year, won six of his titles before the current elimination format.

“Since the current playoff system started, the back-to-back opportunity has vanished,” Johnson said. “It’s such a volatile system, which creates great excitement for the fans, but it doesn’t allow the consistency or hot streak that a team might be on during the course of the year to show up in championship form.”

‘That’s what brings people to the racetrack’

The Next Gen car — in which NASCAR, in an effort to control costs, supplies the race cars’ chassis and parts other than the engines — has succeeded in diminishing a driver or team’s dominance. Of the 83 cup races since the start of the 2022 season, there have been 25 different winners, including the now-retired Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, one win each. Seven drivers have won the first 11 races of this season.

“The last few years with the Next Gen car have been the biggest change, I would say,” said Martin Truex Jr., the 2017 cup champion. “It has constantly evolved since I came into the sport as far as trying to tighten things up, but the Next Gen car just has taken it to a new level. You are talking about everybody having the same parts and pieces, that’s never been a part of this sport. That’s definitely been the game changer.”

Busch, now driving for Richard Childress Racing after winning his two titles for Joe Gibbs Racing, said fans yearn for the days of a dominant driver to follow.

“I’m not sure what it is, but you have the die-hard fans of NASCAR, of Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Harry Gant … you name it — guys from the ‘90s, mid-90s, late-90s, all of that,” Busch said. “Our world now, today, of 2024, is a lot different fan base that’s following along. I don’t feel like we were able to transition a lot of the fans that were fans of those drivers into a William Byron fan, into a Kyle fan or whoever.

“They kind of all probably went away, just stopped following as much. Which is hard to say because honestly, when you look at NASCAR, the fans love the drivers. The driver star power, that’s what brings people to the racetrack, is the drivers.”

‘Now we have more parity’

Two drivers who have adapted best to the new car are Byron, who has won 11 races since the debut of the Next Gen car in 2022 and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson with eight.

“It’s been incredible,” Gordon, a Hendrick vice-president, said of Byron’s ascension in the No 24 Chevrolet that Gordon raced to championships. “When you look at history and some of the best of the best throughout the years, you just don’t see somebody with this progression or this path to succeed at this level the way that he is.”

Christopher Bell, winner of seven races since 2022 who advanced to the Championship Four in Phoenix last year, has no problem identifying NASCAR’s superstars.

“I would say in my eyes the superstars in the sport are Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, probably (Joey) Logano and (Brad) Keselowski … the guys that have won the most races out of the group,” said Bell, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “It’s becoming harder and harder to do that. The days of the big three – Truex, (Kevin) Harvick and Kyle Busch – are a long way away now. I don’t know if we will ever get back there.

“There’s positives and negatives. We’ve gotten away from those key guys winning races, but now we have more parity in our sport, and you never know who is going to win going into a Sunday. It could be one of 15-20 cars. I guess in my eyes, the superstars are the winners and the guys who have won the most, just like Kyle and Denny.”

Reigning cup champion Ryan Blaney, wonders whether there is any reason to worry about a lack of a true star.

“We’re all superstars,” Blaney said. “Every driver. Everyone is special in their own right. Everyone is successful with how they’ve approached everything. Some branch out more than others in different aspects outside the racetrack and some decide to stick around the racetracks and grow their stardom there with the fans at the racetrack, so everyone approaches it differently.

“Yes, Jeff Gordon through the ‘90s was the biggest star in anything, but times change. The times are different. You don’t have guys winning 10 races anymore. This car doesn’t allow that, so how do you separate yourself to make yourself stand out? How do you make yourself different from the rest of the drivers who are all really good at what they do?

“It starts with success on the racetrack and then the organizations marketing these drivers with how great they are at what they do, and then the drivers have to be willing to do it and be in that role. You don’t need to pluck out one person. There are a lot of us here and you can push it, you can make 36 superstars. I think that’s definitely possible.”