Christopher Bell Says NASCAR Has “Fallen Down The Path Of Political Correctness”

Need some more personality from the drivers.

NASCAR is a sponsorship-driven sport, more so than pretty much any other major sport out there. Drivers and teams need sponsors to be able to afford to hit the track every weekend, so it’s no surprise that drivers are focused on keeping those sponsors happy – especially at a time when several major companies have left the sport altogether and sponsorship seems to be getting harder and harder to come by.

So it’s really no wonder that teams expect drivers to say the right things in interviews and be good ambassadors for their sponsors. But the result seems to be the erasure of all personality from many of the drivers in the sport these days.

Gone are the days of the NASCAR drivers like Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Mark Martin…even Tony Stewart, who was one of the most fiery personalities in the garage area and gave some all-time interviews throughout his career:

And I get it. Teams have entire PR departments to make sure that they’re able to control the narrative around their driver, make sure their guy says the right things to keep the sponsors happy, and keep the focus on the teams and the sponsors and not on what the driver says.

But the result is a bunch of sanitized interviews and bland personalities – and fans who have no attachment to a driver.

Let’s face it: With guys like Dale Earnhardt you either loved him or you hated him. But one way or the other, you had a strong opinion on him. Now, it’s become harder and harder for NASCAR fans to have a strong opinion one way or the other on most of the drivers because they’re all so…boring.

Of course there are a few personalities in the Cup Series garage. Guys like Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch are still polarizing figures, but they’re veterans of the sport who have been around a long time. The new drivers are polished and PR trained, careful not to say anything that could be the least bit controversial. But the problem with that is they also show no personality.

And Christopher Bell is acknowledging that it’s a problem.

YouTuber and race car driver Cleetus McFarland was at Talladega this past weekend, and he managed to bring a ton of eyes to the sport through his hilarious content and his entry into the ARCA race. At one point, Cleetus had 70,000 viewers on his in-car stream during the race, which is just an insane number for a single stream of an ARCA race.

He also had some hilarious interviews, like this one describing the fans he saw on Talladega Boulevard over the weekend:

“I’m gonna tell you something about the Talladega Boulevard. I preach just living the freedomatic life of being an American. But I don’t know if I really knew the true meaning of freedom until I stepped foot on Talladega Boulevard. I mean, we’re parked up and there’s just action happening. I can’t get into the details, because honestly, it’s not cool man, whatever happens on Talladega Boulevard has to stay there. I would say that, if I posted some of the things that we saw, my channel would be deleted.”

And he couldn’t hide his admiration for the fans who party on Talladega Boulevard:

“You go on Talladega Boulevard and you’re seeing purebred Americans enjoying life to the absolute maximum. They love two things, that’s boobs and turning left. That’s Talladega Boulevard down there and they’re just living that life.”

I think I saw more content from Cleetus over the weekend than I did from any of NASCAR’s official channels. And when asked about why Cleetus is so popular and drawing new eyes to the sport, Christopher Bell admitted during an interview with Frontstretch that NASCAR had become too sanitized and politically correct:

“It’s the name of the game, kind of fallen down this path of political correctness and you have to say the right things, do the right things, act a certain way, and it’s refreshing whenever you get a guy like that. I don’t think he’s trying to make a career out of this, and maybe one day he will, I don’t know, but he definitely does it his own way and I respect that.”

Of course there are some people who think that Cleetus is somehow drawing the “wrong type” of fan to the sport and perpetuating the stereotype of NASCAR fans as southern rednecks, but at a time when the sport is struggling to attract new fans, it seems that any attention that can be brought to the sport is a good thing.

NASCAR needs more big personalities like Cleetus McFarland. These days most of the drivers just aren’t able to show their personality or be themselves in front of a camera, and the sport is worse because of it.

The post Christopher Bell Says NASCAR Has “Fallen Down The Path Of Political Correctness” first appeared on Whiskey Riff .