When did the Daytona 500 start losing some of it's prestige?

Big Al Rogorson

Big Al Rogorson

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Gotta be when we started introducing Michael Waltrip as a Daytona 500 champion.

The last real good one was 1999.
 
The real season has always started in week 2 except those years when Riverside opened the season.

But about the time they figured out the tandem drafting deal, and the racing style that followed that has really killed the quality of racing at both Daytona and Talladega.
 
NASCAR in general has lost a lot of it's appeal, I think one reason is that it doesn't have any characters anymore. Back in the day, guys like Petty, Parsons, Yarborough, Earnhardt, Bonnett, the Allisons, Darryl Waltrip, etc all had unique personalities and character. Nowadays, it's too clean and sanitized and regardless of who wins, every after race interview seems like the same cookie cutter guy.
 
rsw626 said:
NASCAR in general has lost a lot of it's appeal, I think one reason is that it doesn't have any characters anymore. Back in the day, guys like Petty, Parsons, Yarborough, Earnhardt, Bonnett, the Allisons, Darryl Waltrip, etc all had unique personalities and character. Nowadays, it's too clean and sanitized and regardless of who wins, every after race interview seems like the same cookie cutter guy.
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When Tony Stewart retired, NASCAR lost a ton of personality, and Harvick is done after this season, so now there’s really gonna be none left. I still say the late 90’s/early 00’s were NASCARs golden years. There were enough competitive cars in the field that the days of the winner lapping the field were over, and you had a ton of personality. Ward Burton had a pretty unremarkable, but respectable career, but is still well remembered because of his personality. You don’t get interviews like this anymore:



But the bad thing is other than super speedways, the racing today is actually pretty good with the new cars when the tires can hold up. There’s some young up and comers that have personality, I just hope they get to show em. The Busch Series has been more entertaining than the Cup Series because of it in recent years
 
And what has hurt NASCAR more than anything since its popularity peak in 2007 is that the most popular driver at the time wasn’t one of the best(still had a very good career and if his last name wasn’t Earnhardt, his on track career would be seen more positively, 26 wins is nothing to sneeze at), and the most dominant driver of the period had the personality of cardboard and the only time he ever showed any emotion was when Kurt Busch was getting the best of him
 
Illustrious Potentate said:
When Tony Stewart retired, NASCAR lost a ton of personality, and Harvick is done after this season, so now there’s really gonna be none left. I still say the late 90’s/early 00’s were NASCARs golden years. There were enough competitive cars in the field that the days of the winner lapping the field were over, and you had a ton of personality. Ward Burton had a pretty unremarkable, but respectable career, but is still well remembered because of his personality. You don’t get interviews like this anymore:



But the bad thing is other than super speedways, the racing today is actually pretty good with the new cars when the tires can hold up. There’s some young up and comers that have personality, I just hope they get to show em. The Busch Series has been more entertaining than the Cup Series because of it in recent years
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I think a lot of these guys do have personality and character, but I think NASCAR, as a governing body, and Team/Corporate sponsors stifle them so they don't appear too controversial, politically incorrect, etc.
 
rsw626 said:
I think a lot of these guys do have personality and character, but I think NASCAR, as a governing body, and Team/Corporate sponsors stifle them so they don't appear too controversial, politically incorrect, etc.
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Probably so. I’m probably gonna pull for Noah Gragson after Harvick retires because of how he was in the Busch Series. Would be a shame if they took that away from him
 
rsw626 said:
NASCAR in general has lost a lot of it's appeal, I think one reason is that it doesn't have any characters anymore. Back in the day, guys like Petty, Parsons, Yarborough, Earnhardt, Bonnett, the Allisons, Darryl Waltrip, etc all had unique personalities and character. Nowadays, it's too clean and sanitized and regardless of who wins, every after race interview seems like the same cookie cutter guy.
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Nailed it pretty good.
 
F1 has a similar problem with many drivers sounding the same and very few characters.

Kimi Raikkonen was the last great character in F1 IMO, he gave no fucks in interviews or on the radio, probably the main reason he is so loved by fans and will be missed.

Bottas has a great personality, similar to Kimi (they're both Finnish) but was obviously made to stifle it at Mercedes, it's come out more at Alfa. Verstappen has a good racer personality, just wish he didn't race for Red Bull. Ricciardo has a great personality and is probably more suited to NASCAR than F1 (his idol is Dale Earnhardt), probably why he's a big fan favorite, if not for his age, he probably would've made the jump to NASCAR this season.

The rest, including Hamilton (great driver though), all seem to always be the "say the right thing" types.
 
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I'm not familiar with most of these drivers in today's 500 but I'll pick the top three.

1 - Chase Elliott
2 - Kyle Busch
3 - Jimmy Johnson
 
rsw626 said:
NASCAR in general has lost a lot of it's appeal, I think one reason is that it doesn't have any characters anymore. Back in the day, guys like Petty, Parsons, Yarborough, Earnhardt, Bonnett, the Allisons, Darryl Waltrip, etc all had unique personalities and character. Nowadays, it's too clean and sanitized and regardless of who wins, every after race interview seems like the same cookie cutter guy.
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This is spot on. It went too corporate. The guys are all the same.
 
Massive 10-car collision with 8 laps to go. That's what I hate. When the race becomes a moving parking lot, three cars wide.
 
Kburjr said:
Restrictor plate racing. Everybody is in it til a crash takes you out.
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Restrictor plate racing wasn't always like that. 1988-2005ish it was still pretty good racing, minus the 2000 snoozer.
 
rsw626 said:
I think a lot of these guys do have personality and character, but I think NASCAR, as a governing body, and Team/Corporate sponsors stifle them so they don't appear too controversial, politically incorrect, etc.
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There is a lot of money in maintaining a corporate image.
 
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