Really?
Joey Logano is sponsored by GameStop.
Alli Owens - ElectrifyingCareers.com, NECA
Chrissy Wallace - GEICO
Michael McDowell - Aaron's
Scott Speed - Red Bull
Michael Waltrip is sponsored by NAPA for chrissake.
If this doesn't prove my point, than nothing will....
Sponsors want someone who's marketable, someone who they can sell their product to, someone who investors will take a liking to. Sponsors want someone who will show up to their conventions and their big sponsorship events and will mention them on television win or lose.
Fans like the same respect from a driver. Why do you think Kenny Wallace, Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Ken Schrader are so popular? Wouldn't you agree that Wild Thing would have a lot more fans if he wasn't such a pompous ass all the time?
The other thing that sells is good hard racing. Richmond sells out every single time we go there. You know why? It's the action track, and action is guaranteed.
Go to a track like Fontana. They're in a large market, they have all the big names racing, and they can't even sell 80,000 friggin' tickets. Why? The racing sucks.
Every single time NASCAR goes there, the criticism is amped up and the writers and bloggers ask the same thing: Why does Auto Club Speedway have 2 dates? If you have a decent short track, you're going to have butts in the seats every single race you run. Look at Virginia Motor Speedway and Eldora Speedway. When it comes to racing, the thing that sells tickets is the racing action. If your track doesn't put on a good show, fans will not come.
The biggest problem for the Nationwide Series is the fans are slowly dissenegrating. The series has no identity. Sponsorship rights for the title of the series sold for half of what NASCAR wanted, and the fans are complaining more than ever about Nationwide Series races being boring. Now, I'm a long time racing fan, and the Nationwide Series used to be the most exciting series in NASCAR. Well, not anymore.