NASCAR takes its talents to South Beach today in what’s sounding like it could be a high-rating race (relatively speaking). Bubba Wallace’s answers to the pressures of his time have vaulted him and the sport into the spotlight. The organization has publicly turned on a seemingly not insignificant portion of its fanbase—the portion that believes the flag of a group of anti-American rebels which rose out of fear the federal government would try to stop their brutal, explicitly racial practice of human slavery is, for some reason, a cultural touchstone to be borne proudly—and in the process earned itself some support and awareness in the consciousness of more mainstream fans of American sport. Combined with the absence of most other professional sports right now (it’s easier to compete with non-major golf than even baseball), NASCAR has an opportunity today.
Now, I’m not saying NASCAR should rig things.
Just kidding, I think rigging things is a great idea. I’ve been hinting at this or saying it for weeks. NASCAR is a great sport to rig. It’s a collection of individual competitors who almost all look and talk and act similarly. There are no geographic rooting interests. Rivalries need to be built. There need to be heroes and villains. NASCAR needs to turn this into a less-clearly rigged (but still rigged), automobilic equivalent to the WWE.
Who, then, should NASCAR have win today?
Well, the obvious answer would be Bubba Wallace, but given Wallace’s lack of career victories, this might feel suspiciously outlandish to some who’ve been paying attention. Maybe get him in the top five instead? For winning, four options stand out: Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, and Ryan Blaney.
Blaney, Wallace’s best friend in the circuit, could bear the emotions of the time. He, like Wallace, is among NASCAR’s wave of younger drivers. He has good hair. He’s got the car to do some winning, but he hasn’t done any of it yet this season. The man could gather some fans, as long as he doesn’t talk too much about Star Wars right away.
Elliott is already NASCAR’s most popular driver. He, like Wallace and Blaney, is part of the young guard. Doubling down on his appeal—which I think probably centers around some combination of his skill, handsomeness, affability, and just-enough-honesty—and hoping he can rise to the occasion of stardom is, some could argue, NASCAR’s best bet to get folks tuning in again next weekend for Talladega (if you want folks to start to like NASCAR, give them a track they’ve heard of, a good share of big crashes, and cars going really effin’ fast—i.e., Daytona or Talladega).
Truex Jr. won on Wednesday, but his true worth from a gaining-fans perspective is his willingness to cuss out other drivers over the radio feed with his crew chief and spotter. Getting Truex to absolutely lay into another driver—maybe a rookie, or Ricky Stenhouse Jr., or Logano—and then win the race could be gold. The more f-bombs Truex unleashes through a drawl and the crackle of a radio, the higher the chance people will find this sport entertaining.
Finally, Logano. The villain. Having Logano win only works if he does it by wrecking somebody, but oh boy, does it work if he wrecks somebody. The more egregious the wrecking, the better. NASCAR needs new fans to utterly despise Joseph Thomas Logano. They need to see with their own eyes why they must hate this man. They need to tune in next week in the hopes that his car is absolutely pummeled in a massive collision at Talladega (one in which nobody gets hurt, of course). They need to fall in line strongly behind whomever got wrecked. If NASCAR can set up a world in which Logano wrecks Wallace, or Elliott, or Blaney…
There are other candidates. Jimmie Johnson probably has the best name recognition of anyone on the circuit right now, and always speaks well to the camera. Kyle Busch could also pull a Logano, though he’d be contrite about it, which would hurt the cause. Kevin Harvick’s willing to throw hands, so having him involved isn’t a bad idea. Alex Bowman might be a bad idea, because all I’ve learned as a casual follower of NASCAR is that his name is Alex Bowman, which makes me think there is a non-zero chance the man is extremely boring.
We’ll see what they go with. If they go with anything (come on, guys—rig it). Pressure’s on, NASCAR. Opportunity awaits.
