I know this is all over now but what was Kevin thinking....just because someone wins a race it isn’t going to win them over with the crowd, I liked Ricky Rudd during Tide when he barely won. If anything Jr helped the sport a lot because what would happened if their wasn’t another Earnhardt in 2001? I know fans who couldn’t watch it anymore after Dale passed, and many others who only watched it for Dale Jr.
So what he is saying is people who don't win can't help a sport ?? There are football teams that haven't had a winning seasons for a long time and still have fans in the seats every home game. You don't have to be a winner to have fans or be popular. You need to be a good representative for your sport, as Jr. has always been. Of course he had a ready made fan base due to Sr., and his passing moved more his way. Was he the greatest driver, nope, but that has not been the bases for the most popular driver. Bill Elliott, my favorite, was perennial most popular, but didn't win like a Gordon or Johnson. Jr. by far was the driving force for NASCAR's popularity for quite a while. NASCAR shot itself in the foot by there own poor choices, nothing to do with who was most popular driver .
@@WestcoastWallyDriver that’s like saying the NFL teams with the biggest fan bases have to win the Super Bowl every year - or else they’re stunting the growth of the sport. That doesn’t even make sense. Harvick was just bitter about Jr’s popularity that he didn’t think he deserved. It’s worth noting that Harvick went on Jr’s podcast and apologised.
