“They don’t have a Jeff Gordon, a Dale Earnhardt” - Motorsports Influencer reacts to NASCAR’s ‘driver-centric’ marketing focus for 2025 season

Eric Estepp claimed that NASCAR no longer has influential personalities like Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt present on the grid to promote the sport on its own and hence is resorting to paying the current drivers to boost publicity. NASCAR recently revealed its marketing would be centered around the drivers beginning in 2025.

Estepp, a Motorsports Influencer, feels this is essentially a way to 'bribe' the drivers into promoting NASCAR. He feels that the absence of major racing personalities has led to the authorities making a decision like this. However, he also thinks that the drivers actively promote the sport through media like podcasts.

"It's wild to me honestly that NASCAR basically has to bribe its drivers to go out and promote themselves," he said (at 3:00).

"But I hope this does work. A lot of drivers do put themselves out there. Denny Hamlin puts himself out there every single week on Actions Detrimental, Joey Logano does a spot on Sirius during the season, Ryan Blaney, RJ Chastain, and others let the Netflix crew into their lives last year. So it's not like drivers aren't actively promoting themselves and the sport."

Despite the drivers' constant ways of indirectly promoting the sport, Estepp feels that they could do more as NASCAR no longer has those personalities like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt who were known and followed by people worldwide.

"NASCAR right now does not have that Transcendent star they don't have a Jeff Gordon, a Dale Earnhart... They've got the talent, the Kyle Larsons, the Elliots, the Busch. They just don't have a personality or a character that seemingly resonates with millions and millions of people that transcends the sport hopefully bribing its stars to go out and promote the sport."

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Jeff Gordon on racing with Dale Earnhardt

Both Gordon and Earnhardt Sr. were the face of the sport in the 90s. The latter had been a dominating factor on the grid, loved by fans worldwide, meanwhile, Gordon debuted as a strong prospect and his youngblood personality helped him gain quite a persona in the early years of racing.

While both drivers shared a rivalry on the track, Jeff Gordon mentioned that he also enjoyed driving alongside Dale Earnhardt and he was a respectable figure for him.

"As much as me and him butted heads and had wrecks and had this rivalry, I still looked up to him so much and respected him and enjoyed racing with him, and learning from him on and off the track and I looked at him as this superhuman person that was almost untouchable. I saw him wreck and walk away every single time," Gordon said.

Earnhardt Sr. passed away in 2001 after his crash during the Daytona 500. Jeff Gordon, meanwhile, continued to race full-time till 2015 with Hendrick Motorsports.