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NASCAR: Clint Bowyer is fine with young driver marketing campaigns

By Asher Fair

FORT WORTH, TX - NOVEMBER 05: Clint Bowyer, driver of the #14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil Delvac 1 Ford, is introduced prior to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 5, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TX - NOVEMBER 05: Clint Bowyer, driver of the #14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil Delvac 1 Ford, is introduced prior to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 5, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) /
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NASCAR Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer is fine with the sport’s marketing campaigns that promote the younger drivers, unlike Kyle Busch.

2015 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, 32, recently made headlines when he said he was not a fan of the sport’s marketing campaigns that promote the younger drivers of the sport. In fact, he flat-out referred to those marketing campaigns as “stupid.”

Clint Bowyer, 38, a 13-year veteran of the sport, disagrees with Busch, a 14-year-year veteran of the. He attributes this to the fact that these young drivers are “good kids” and are “filling some pretty big voids” that have been left by some of the sport’s best and most popular drivers retiring in recent years.

Here is what Bowyer said on the subject, according to ESPN.

"“I don’t care. They’re good kids, and I understand. They’re filling some pretty big voids. You got somebody getting into Jeff Gordon’s car. You’ve got somebody getting into Dale Jr.’s car. We have to figure out how to fill that void somehow, and it can’t all be on the same old guys that have been there.“I get it if they deserve it. … Look at Matt Kenseth: He was outrunning them pretty much each and every week and not getting the limelight. Some of those things are bothersome at times. Did I deserve it? I wasn’t running as good as I needed to. But if I was running up front and should have been in the limelight, I would have been barking, biting back a little bit.”"

What Bowyer says is right. Look at all the young drivers, who he refers to as “good kids”, who have replaced some of the NASCAR’s greatest and most popular drivers over the past few seasons or are set to do so this season.

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Kyle Larson replaced Juan Pablo Montoya at Chip Ganassi Racing in the #42 Chevrolet in the 2014 season. Chase Elliott originally replaced Jeff Gordon in the 2016 season, and William Byron is now set to drive the iconic #24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in the 2018 season as Chase Elliott is set to move to the #9 Chevrolet after two seasons behind the wheel of the #24 car.

Alex Bowman is set to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Hendrick Motorsports in the #88 Chevrolet this season, and Erik Jones is set to replace Matt Kenseth at Joe Gibbs Racing in the #20 Toyota this season as well. With several other veterans in the sport right now, expect this trend to continue.

Next: Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time

Should NASCAR’s marketing campaigns be focused on the young, up-and-coming drivers who are, like Clint Bowyer says, “filling some pretty big voids”? Are Bowyer’s comments more accurate than those of Kyle Busch, who does not think these campaigns are all that fair? Regardless, the people in charge of these campaigns seem to know what they are doing, as these younger drivers have prevented the sport from losing even more popularity than it has as a result of the retirements of some of the sport’s best and most popular drivers.

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