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30 comments
It feels like most are taking Gordon’s comments out of context. He’s not saying “Don’t be yourself or show your personality”. He’s saying “Don’t do or say things for the express purpose of causing controversy.” Gordon made it clear that he thinks Denny is playing an alter ego, just for the sake of being controversial on his new podcast.
thank you. everyone is taking what gordon said wrong. he said don’t be controversial, not don’t have a personality. he’s basically just saying don’t be denny lol
@Grizzly Jexactly he’s saying drivers need to think about certain things before they do them or say anything.
Denny was never told “no” as a child…this is Gordon’s way of saying that.
I was a team fan for Robert Yates Racing when Davey Allison was their driver and upon his passing, I was an Irvan fan and then Jarrett, etc. The #28 was the car I pulled for and the team. I’d say Gordon is modeling his persona after Roger Penske, a leader but in the background more than in front of the camera.
As a Diehard Ford fan I have always been more invested in rooting for Ford teams vs specific drivers. I never really got too attached to drivers since they may leave for another manufacturers team. There are definitely these types of fans out there but I understand I may be the in the minority. I am all for teams building their brands like Trackhouse and getting eyes on their brand, I’ve even come around to Trackhouse being my favorite Chevy team because of this. I realy want whats best for the sport and the fans who love it
I’m on the same boat. I had always been a Ford till I die guy, but Trackhouse and Daniel Suarez really attracted my support.
Jeff is right…I was a huge Paul Menard fan and whenever he moved to a different team, the team he left suddenly meant nothing to me.
I grew up as a Jeff Gordon fan because I’m from Indiana and he was ‘from’ Indiana as well. Him winning the Brickyard in 94 was my introduction to NASCAR. When he retired I had kinda gotten away from the sport a little bit as i was getting more into Indycar. I started paying more attention to it a few years ago and found that I couldn’t really find one particular driver that I wanted to root for. What I found is that I was paying attention to where the HMS cars were and now I consider myself a Hendrick fan more than a particular driver.
Jeff Gordon fan from Indiana. I feel the same way. I am more of a Hendrick fan than any particular driver.
I know what you mean. I’m also from Indiana, and the Brickyard 400 and Gordon are really what drew me to NASCAR when I was a kid. After he retired, I jumped over to Elliott because I respected his dad, and he took over Gordon’s car. I find myself always rooting for HMS drivers, even though I’m actually a Ford guy.
Gordon was born in California not Indiana
@Andrew Vrablic Man, nothing gets by you lol. His family moved to Indiana when he was a kid so he could race.
I have been Gordon fan since the beginning of his then Busch racing. Followed the number 24 car to become Chase fan. But I also pull for all four HMS drivers. By the way I’m from sw Mich just north of Indiana border. Ryan Newman grew up close to my house. Was also fan of his.
I think the “newer” teams to the sport (namely 23XI and Trackhouse) have really started to succeed at the “teams” model. They really have their branding down, they know their fans, and that makes them loyal to all the drivers that drive for them. As a 23XI fan, I always root for them, no matter if it’s Bubba, Kurt, Tyler, even Kobayashi or Pastrana when they drive the 67. It’s about building that culture, and that’s gonna be REALLY hard for these old, established teams to show off.
Exactly. I enjoy both teams and am heavily a fan of 23XI. Even if my driver were to leave, I’d still be a fan because of the brand 23XI has built. I love what trackhouse is trying to do as a brand.
It’s at least 6x more harder to sell a brand nowadays because you have 6x the amount of advertising outlets. I don’t care for Brad, Buscheaur is ok, but I like what Brad is doing for the RFK brand (and resurrecting Roush).
I grew up a Gordon fan. I follow whoever is in the 24 car. I really like Byron and have a ton of his diecasts/merch, but if he went to JGR or Penske I would still be a HMS/24 fan. If the 24 number went away I’ll probably root for HMS as a whole or probably Larson as my number 1 driver. I think that’s basically exactly what Jeff is talking about in hopes of the company being what you root for.
As someone who grew up a Dale Jr fan when he retired I was left much like everyone else when their favorite driver retires, kind of lost… Over the last 4-5 years I went from being a fan of just the driver to a fan of Hendrick as a whole, which for me is a way better way to watch the races. Instead of having 1 Favorite driver, who if the car is off or wrecks out would pretty much end the fun of the race for me. Now I have 4 drivers to root for every week and I enjoy the sport now more than I ever have.
If the teams are going to raise their star power as a team then they have to have a big personality as a team. Rick Hendrick is not going to bring that, but Jeff Gordon probably could. He’s got to be more visible. I love Jack Roush, but Brad has to (forgive the pun) take ownership of team branding. Justin Marks seems to have it right, and 23XI looks like they are getting there, but not because of Denny. I don’t see Richard Childress, Roger Penske or Joe Gibbs trying to market themselves, so they need to hire someone.
Also, whatever it takes to get these Trackhouse Racing videos turned into real commercials needs to happen. They are so good.
As a Diehard NASCAR Fan for 25 years and counting It’s absolutely fascinating how the sport has changed
I think it’s a lot easier to relate to an individual than to a company. NASCAR has always been unique in that aspect because the driver is the one with the most time in front of a camera regardless of who their owner is. I like some of the owners but as an average person, it’s hard to relate to someone who, in a lot of cases, has never even sat behind the wheel. It’s like being an employee and trying to relate to a hand-me-down CEO who has never put in an hour on a production floor.
I believe that Jeff Gordon is implying that building up the team brands will allow the teams the opportunity to get/hold sponsorship deals for their cars regardless of the drivers. It would hypothetically create funding for the entire “team” to use for the betterment of the “team.” From driver to driver the sponsorship revenue they can bring has to be vastly different. I.e. Chase Elliot to Michael McDowell. But, maybe the teams would be able to offset that difference by having their individual brands bring in more revenue which isn’t necessarily dependent upon the driver(s).
To be fair, i think brad keselowski has done a great job at branding RFK as a team, when you think about RFK you think of a chrome number and the three pillars on the side, it’s uniquely RFK and I if you read most comments from fans when RFK does good or one of their driver wins they are excited to see RFK as a team being successful
I don’t think teams can do too much to get the casual fan behind them without an identifiable driver being the face of it, but I do think car numbers are huge. People will attach to a favourite driver and then one way to keep them interested once their favourite driver steps away is to keep the car they were in strong afterwards.
I personally love how Denny is going about how he’s acting. “hey, i beat your favorite driver” was such a good line in that moment to get people to have a reaction.
It just seems he’s the only one trying to get personality back in the sport. Even Kyle Busch has lost a little of that attitude that made everyone have an opinion about him.
The drivers are what made the sport popular in the late 90s, early 2000s. I’ve known plenty of people who never watched a nascar race in their life, but knew the names Earnhardt, Stewart, Gordan, and so on.
Yes the teams themselves probably would like their brands to be at the forefront of peoples thoughts when they think about the sport, but at the end of the day its the drivers who push the sport forward and give it life. Dale Sr. Was a master at that and this sport could use someone like him right now
Man, and just like that, Brad K is like a full-fledged, respectable and established team owner. Love it.
You have become my main NASCAR news source. You do an amazing job covering the sport and make the content entertaining. As an announcer at a few different dirt tracks, I crave great news and content and you provide that!! Keep it up
I think one of the big factors in this is that the sponsorship money is not as readily available as it was back in the early 2000s. Teams want their sponsors to be connected to the teams, because if they become connected to the driver and leave when the driver leaves, that is bad for the teams and threatens their survival. Take a look at SHI right now losing Busch beer when Kevin Harvick leaves. If the sponsor had been more connected to SHR than the driver that might not be happening.
As a Jeff Gordon fan growing up, I WAS a Hendrick homeboy. Gordon was always the one I was rooting for to win, but I also built a lifelong love for Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch because of that mid-2000’s Hendrick team. If Gordon crashed out, then I was rooting for Johnson or Busch. As time went on, the two juggernauts of Gordon and Johnson sort of drove the fan bases apart, but even now in my 30’s I still have a special place in my heart for Hendrick Motorsports, and the drivers that came from them. ❤