Why No Love For Dale Jr.?

Each season, when NASCAR comes to Auto Club Speedway there’s an overriding theme permeating the assorted scribbles by those who cover the stock car racing beat.  “Oh, how we hate this place.  The races are boring.  There’s no one in the stands.  You can’t find a Martinsville hot dog anywhere.”  Yatta yatta yatta whine whine whine.  The volume of vinegar is so extreme you’d think you were reading the Daly Planet.  But I digress.

This week has seen a variance in the norm.  The primary topic hasn’t been ripping on Auto Club so much as endless ripping, under the guise of rehashing last Sunday’s Daytona Not Quite 500, on Dale Earnhardt Jr.  His press meeting yesterday was quite the testy affair, with Dale Jr. growing more than a little defensive as question after question about what went down between him and Brian Vickers dominated the proceedings.  I was fully expecting him to ask the assembled if they knew there was a race this weekend, given how apparently no one was either aware of this or thoroughly disinterested in the upcoming event.  Granted, most of the media is thoroughly disinterested in all races out here save for using them as an excuse to complain about everything, but still.

Regardless of how one views the aforementioned moment during the Daytona Not Quite 500 or the driver of the #88 car, the endless harping on the subject and sniping at Dale Jr. has gone way past overkill.  There are other stories in NASCAR, aren’t there?  Aren’t there?

Here’s a thought: might some of the daggers currently being thrown at Dale Jr. by the media be due to the dire straits currently facing professional journalism?  Consider the reasons why this may well be so.  The mainstream media is in a world of hurt.  Newspapers and magazines are shedding staff at a furious pace and in some cases folding altogether.  The media owning corporations are drowning in red ink.  No one buys print media anymore and no one is buying ads anymore.  The businesses that used to run ads in them are no longer doing so because they’ve either found more efficient channels to get their message out or they’re no longer able to buy ads.  The individuals that used to populate the want ads now use eBay and Craig’s List.  The Internet has now become the vessel of choice for those who prefer reading the news, and advertisers have found it isn’t a good channel through which to spread the message as its users demand their content clean and free.

Also factoring into the environment is how NASCAR itself has hit a bad stretch.  Too many dull races plus overall economic woes has equaled fewer fans in the seats and watching the broadcasts along with sponsorship and manufacturer dollars growing scarce.  A lot of people who were working in the sport last year are now trying to make their unemployment checks cover the bills.  It’s not a good time.

Now, who is the only driver in NASCAR with a fan base so massive it can make perceptible movements up and down in the sport overall depending on its level of interest?  Yup, Dale Jr.  Who’s been down the past couple of years?  Yup again, Dale Jr.  So, who’s the easiest person to blame for NASCAR’s woes?  You’ve hit the trifecta.  Dale Jr.

Irrational though it is, it’s easy to see how the press can subconsciously or perhaps even overtly feel tremendous resentment against Earnhardt.  They are scared for their jobs.  If interest in NASCAR further dwindles, this combined with professional media’s woes will result in fewer reporters being sent to cover races.  And if they’re not at the track, in all likelihood they’re not going to be drawing a paycheck.

Which they’ll blame on Dale Jr. not having had a run lately like the one Kyle Busch has enjoyed.  Weird, but plausible.