I relate to this. There's no deep passion in this anymore. It's kind of like when all the old school wrestlers left WWE and we went to the pg era. It just was never the same. It just doesn't feel like the same hobby at all. Feels weak and watered down
I’m in the “no favorite driver” crowd. Why is this?… as a kid Earnhardt was super man. His posters covered my walls. Wore an Earnhardt shirt, hat, watch, sunglasses. 30 years later I run into folks I haven’t seen since that remember me as the Earnhardt kid.
I wanted to be Earnhardt. I wanted to replace him in the 3 when he retired. I wanted to drive it to 8 championships and 201 wins. See those numbers? You’re never satisfied. You always want more. Dale too.
The possibility of an 8th championship is the only reason he was on the track in Daytona in 2001.
He should’ve retired after 2000 to run DEI. 10 year old me would have thought that was the end of the world but it’d be better than what 11 year old me experienced.
My love of the sport didn’t die in 2001 but my belief that these guys are invincible did. I remember when Adam, Kenny and Tony passed in 2000. My thought was that it was unfortunate but it couldn’t happen to Dale. He was superhuman. If he wasn’t, nobody was.
I became a Dale Jr fan post 2001 but to me he wasn’t Superman, but he was a driver named Dale Earnhardt. In 2008 when Dale Jr went to HMS I was livid. He was supposed to go to RCR and drive the 3! I was too young to understand at the time he wanted to be “dale JR” not “DALE jr”.
I became a Tony Stewart fan while angry at the Hendrick move and got my “fan championship” in 2011. For some reason after that box was checked it seemed okay to be a Dale Jr fan again and I enjoyed the resurgence from 2012-2015. Those were good years to be a Dale Jr fan and tough years to be a “Smoke” fan, but there was one last great win at Sonoma. I screamed at the tv as Stewart rooted that “damn Toyota driving Hamlin” out of the way to win for the final time.
Stewart retired in 2016 and Dale Jr retired in 2017 and I’ve not latched on to a driver since. And honestly I just “pulled for” those guys. They were never the hero to me Big E was. And nobody ever will be. They don’t cut drivers from that cloth anymore.
Not only do I not have a “favorite” I also don’t have one I hate. That may be worse. I HATED Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano. I don’t anymore. That may be what Kyle Busch’s passing did to me. By 2026 I was pro-Kyle but a former hater. Now I don’t even feel any hatred toward Logano or Hamlin. Just a bunch of indifference. And THAT is exactly what is wrong with today’s NASCAR. There’s zero passion. If a guy that ate, slept and breathed it for 30 years feels that way then how closely do you think the casual fan watches today?