NASCAR: Like it or not, Kevin Harvick is 100% correct
By Asher Fair
Why Kevin Harvick was 100% correct
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is by far the sport’s most popular driver, yet he has never won a championship in 17 full-time seasons, and he likely won’t win it this season in his 18th attempt, as this season has been arguably the worst of his career. Meanwhile, he will still likely win his 15th consecutive Most Popular Driver Award this season. That’s great that he brings in tons of fans, but the results just aren’t there to actually grow the sport a whole lot.
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Like Harvick said, Earnhardt Jr. has only won nine races in 10 seasons driving for Hendrick Motorsports, the team that has dominated NASCAR recently, winning 12 of the last 22 championships. It makes no sense why a driver who has not had nearly the amount of success that many other drivers have had gets the publicity that he does, especially since he hasn’t had great success despite the fact that he drives for the team he does.
Harvick is also correct in saying that popularity of athletes in other sports is driven by success. Examples he used are players like LeBron James and Stephen Curry of the NBA or Peyton Manning of the NFL. All of those players have won multiple championships and multiple Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards in their respective sports, and their success has positively affected their popularity.
For Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Not so much. Why should he be an exception?