“It’s sad in our sport how vanilla and wimpy all these drivers are,” said Tony Stewart, sharing his thoughts aloud about present-day NASCAR drivers. ‘Smoke’ was quite a personality back in the day, and was known for his fiery hot temper and fearless driving style. It almost seems like something from a bygone era, with drivers trading fists on the pit road or roasting each other off the track. His rivalries with Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth were the stuff of legends, providing blockbuster value for fans tuning in.

But that’s in the past. NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin blames the sport’s commercial greed for the lack of big personalities on the track. And that ‘forbidden truth’ is also coinciding with a steady decline in the sport, with fans losing interest since there is an absence of action, drama, and controversy.

Mark Martin wants drivers to be unshackled

Long-term fans always reminisce about the good ol’ days. When the likes of Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, and David Pearson tore up the racetrack. It felt like stock car racing was more ‘raw’ back in the day, with tempers flaring and rivalries piquing the interest of those sitting on the edge of their seats in the grandstands. It’s a stark contrast from today, where the racing is more clinical, and confrontations are limited to drivers waiting to get home and exchange words on ‘X’, where nobody has to face each other.

And NASCAR legend Mark Martin knows exactly why that is. Sharing his thoughts on the Kenny Conversations podcast, he said, “I agree 100% that there doesn’t seem like there’s enough super high rivalry. First of all, you had to water down the personalities, and that hasn’t helped. I truly believe that the drivers today are not nearly as vanilla as they appear to be. And I’ll guarantee you, Jimmy Johnson was not. In fact, Jimmy Johnson was one hell of a character, but he never showed that because of the commercialism of the sport. That has stopped the next generation from emerging as big superheroes.”

In an era of political correctness, sponsorship money is key for teams to be sustainable. Big brands don’t like controversial figures who would make headlines for all the wrong reasons. They want ‘racers’, who will perform well on the track and not rub anybody the wrong way off it. Even Kyle Larson admitted that the biggest team in the sport lacks personalities, going on to say, “We’re all pretty vanilla at Hendrick.” That’s good for business after all, but is it what fans want? Probably not.

As Mark Martin said, fans want ‘superheroes’, icons of the sport that would add a bit of edge. While Carson Hocevar can be considered one of those figures in the modern era, the sophomore’s aggressive driving style is also reckless, and his off-track comments, particularly about Mexico City, are exactly what not to do. The sport has evolved, and drivers have been forced to adapt with it. But that doesn’t mean the ‘big names’ need to lose their edge in the process. If anything, stock car racing could do with Ross Chastain’s ‘bad boy era’ or Kyle Busch being ‘Rowdy’ once again.

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Stewart learnt racing from NASCAR greats

Back in the day, drivers didn’t wait for NASCAR to hand out justice. They took matters into their own hands, teaching lessons the hard way. That’s what ignited rivalries, with the all-time greats showing their personalities just by driving their cars. That’s why Dale Earnhardt was called ‘The Intimidator’, simply because seeing his black No. 3 Chevy in the rearview mirror sent chills down the spine of any driver. Such characters are missing in the sport today.

Taking a trip down memory lane, Tony Stewart said, “It’s about the stuff that Dale [Earnhardt] Sr. and Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon … all these greats that I raced with, they taught us the etiquette of how to do it the right way, and if you didn’t do it the right way, there was an easy fix for those guys. They turned you around and backed you in the fence, and when you’re sitting there, sliding down the racetrack or stopped or trying to get fired up to drive to the pits, you have that time to go, ‘I think I made a mistake,’ and you had to figure it out, but that’s how you learn.”

It’s stuff like that which made the sport interesting. Big personalities who weren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty. But now, even the once edgy Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held ‘discussions’ with Carson Hocevar off the track to smooth things over after the incident at Nashville Superspeedway, only to be spun again in Mexico City. NASCAR needs to allow drivers to show their true colors, and that in turn will lead to big rivalries going forward.