Kyle Busch believes 1990s NASCAR fans ‘went away’ after star drivers left the sport

We hear it all the time about how NASCAR isn’t the sport it used to be. Kyle Busch, at least in part, subscribes to that notion. In many ways, it isn’t the same sport.

There are pros and cons to those changes but one thing is obvious, there is a lack of star power. Yes, you have Chase Elliott, the most popular driver in the sport. Compared to Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and others – he isn’t in the same ballpark in terms of broad popularity. Neither is Kyle Busch or anyone else.

Part of that has to do with the sports culture in America. The boom of the NASCAR industry led the sport to reach astronomical heights in pop culture. It also led to bloated stadiums and tracks that had too many seats than they knew what to do with.

Kyle Busch talked to the Kansas City Star about “star power” in the sport. For him, things have just changed and a lot of fans just didn’t keep up with the changing times.

“I’m not sure what it is, but you have the die-hard fans of NASCAR, of Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Harry Gant … you name it — guys from the ‘90s, mid-90s, late-90s, all of that,” Busch said, via The Star. “Our world now, today, of 2024, is a lot different fan base that’s following along. I don’t feel like we were able to transition a lot of the fans that were fans of those drivers into a William Byron fan, into a Kyle fan or whoever.

“They kind of all probably went away, just stopped following as much. Which is hard to say because honestly, when you look at NASCAR, the fans love the drivers. The driver star power, that’s what brings people to the racetrack, is the drivers.”

It definitely didn’t help the sport when Dale Jr., Tony Stewart, and Jeff Gordon all kind of made their exit stage left about the same time. A lot changed in the sport between 2015-2020. At least now, it feels like NASCAR has momentum, it’s building its brand once again.

Will it ever reach the level where 10 million people tune into the races each week? No. Probably not. That doesn’t mean that Kyle Busch and others can’t help grow the sport and build their fanbases.