Why Even Less Love For Dale Jr.?

Given the tongue bath Kyle Busch has been receiving by the media ever since Nashville, methinks ’tis a good time to repeat something I wrote after this year’s Daytona 500:

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.

Since then, the media mancrush on Shrub has grown greater with every week while the scorn heaped on Dale Jr. has grown at an equal rate.  When you have a driver openly insulting the fan base, plus throwing sideswipes at the like of Mark Martin, and yet he is praised… yeah.

And the media wonders why no one loves them.

P.S.  On a lighter note, adding to Mike Davis’ comment the other day on Twitter (“at JR Motorsports, we break hearts, not guitars”) I will be most disappointed if at the #88 souvenir trailers we don’t soon see a t-shirt bearing the slogan “Kyle Busch thinks I’m crazy.”  ;-)