No crying in NASCAR. Unless you're Kyle Busch. For me, NASCAR didn't die when Earnhardt did. But I was an Earnhardt fan FIRST. General NASCAR fandom was down the totem pole. He was the ONLY reason I even took an interest in NASCAR to begin with in the 80s. Hands down the reason I even bothered to go to the races in the first place. Don't know about other places, but the Darlington races were a Beeyotch to get tickets to and wasn't worth the trouble for me post-Earnhardt. Gant made it fun to root for Oldsmobiles, and loved to hate Bill Elliot and Crusty Wallace as part of the "enemy", but I certainly enjoyed it while it lasted. When my favorite driver was suddenly gone, there wasn't much interest left in it for me, personally, so I quit going to the races, and it eventually lost my interest in watching it on TV. It progressively got worse with all the changing rules and in-fighting and other shenanigans. I don't miss it like I thought I would. It was akin to if they suddenly closed the doors to Yankee Stadium. NY Yankee fans all over the world would be lost. Not that I'd be sad about that, but they certainly would.
At this point, there's likely nothing that NASCAR could do to draw me back. I hope they continue for the fans that still like it, but I couldn't care less. This EV proposal BS is the last bit of boot-licking that isn't a great look for them. I hope they abandon it, but as pointed out, if the sponsors are willing to pay, NASCAR's willing to play.
