Kevin Harvick takes a cheap shot at Dale Jr

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Harvick says Dale Jr (harvicks former boss) has stunted the growth of Nascar.



Bob Pockrass
NASCAR



DETROIT -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he found comments from Kevin Harvick "hurtful" over whether Earnhardt's lack of championships while also being the sport's most popular driver has stunted the growth of the sport.
Harvick, who has a weekly two-hour show on SiriusXM's NASCAR channel, on Tuesday said it's confusing to him that Earnhardt can be the sport's 14-time most popular driver when he hasn't won a title, compared to Jimmie Johnson, who has won seven.
"For me, I believe that Dale Jr. has had a big part in kind of stunting the growth of NASCAR because he's got these legions of fans and this huge outreach of being able to reach different places that none of us have the possibility to reach, but he's won nine races in 10 years at Hendrick Motorsports and hasn't been able to reach outside of that," Harvick said.
"I know that those aren't the most popular comments, but those are real-life facts that you look up and see on the stat sheet. Imagine how popular he would have been if he won two or three championships?"
Harvick theorized other sports are successful because their most popular athletes -- he listed LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning as examples -- are also among the most successful.
"The growth in the sport has not reached the levels that it should have because our most popular driver has not been our most successful driver," Harvick said. "... He hasn't been anywhere close to our most successful driver."

Dale Earnhardt said he has "an incredible amount of respect" for Kevin Harvick, but found his comments that Dale Jr. has stunted NASCAR's growth to be "hurtful." Jerry Markland/Getty Images
Earnhardt, at the Chevrolet unveiling of its 2018 NASCAR Cup Camaro ZL1, seemed surprised by the comments of the 2014 NASCAR Cup champion.
"I have an incredible amount of respect for him," Earnhardt said. "I found some of those comments hurtful. I still respect him as a champion and ambassador for the sport.
"That's just the way it is, I guess. I hate that's how he feels."
Earnhardt has won 26 races, including two Daytona 500s. The 2017 season will be his final one in Cup, and he sits 23rd in the standings, winless this year.
He disputed the notion that he has stunted the growth of NASCAR.

"I certainly hope that's not the case," Earnhardt said "I put a lot into this sport, and I know that I might not have met everyone's expectations, but I certainly exceeded my own and I'm super proud of what I've been able to accomplish.
"I hope that I brought something to the table and left a good impact."
Harvick replaced Earnhardt's father when Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed in the 2001 Daytona 500, so he has a natural connection to Earnhardt Jr., in addition to driving for JR Motorsports from 2014 to 2016 in the Xfinity Series.
"I've got a unique type of respect for Harvick that's different from most of the drivers because of his history and more recently with what he's done with JR Motorsports -- he brought an attitude and a commitment and a change in performance," Earnhardt said.
"He brought new partnerships, just numerous, numerous things that he brought to our company that we still feed off of today and we still have success today because of that impact that he made at JR Motorsports."

[AlaCowboy]

Jr. has attracted a lot of fans mainly because of his father rather than his ability or talent. But Harvick missed on his overall impact. Jr. has attracted sponsors because of his name and popularity.
That said, Jr. has prevented a lot of the younger drivers from building a bigger fan base because the number of fans is not growing. In fact, the sponsor dollar is shrinking because of this lack of fan growth. Sponsors are beginning to negotiate lower contracts with the car owners, and this is reducing the money available to pay drivers. This is one reason we are seeing younger drivers coming in and established drivers struggling to find a ride.
Car owners are paying less in guaranteed salaries and offering a bigger share of the purse. But track owners are starting to negotiate lower purses and the networks have maxed out their spending. The spiral will likely continue downward until or unless NASCAR can figure out a way to bring in more fans. Increasing the number of races was a temporary fix but fan attendance is still dropping, and that also translates to less network viewership and lower commercial rates. Watching a race now is frustrating due to way too many commercials. NASCAR changes formats and rules so much that one needs to research before and during a race.
I could go on and on but that's enough for now.

[cbisbig]

Aug 11, 2017 19:28:38 GMT -5 AlaCowboy said:

Jr. has attracted a lot of fans mainly because of his father rather than his ability or talent. But Harvick missed on his overall impact. Jr. has attracted sponsors because of his name and popularity.
That said, Jr. has prevented a lot of the younger drivers from building a bigger fan base because the number of fans is not growing. In fact, the sponsor dollar is shrinking because of this lack of fan growth. Sponsors are beginning to negotiate lower contracts with the car owners, and this is reducing the money available to pay drivers. This is one reason we are seeing younger drivers coming in and established drivers struggling to find a ride.
Car owners are paying less in guaranteed salaries and offering a bigger share of the purse. But track owners are starting to negotiate lower purses and the networks have maxed out their spending. The spiral will likely continue downward until or unless NASCAR can figure out a way to bring in more fans. Increasing the number of races was a temporary fix but fan attendance is still dropping, and that also translates to less network viewership and lower commercial rates. Watching a race now is frustrating due to way too many commercials. NASCAR changes formats and rules so much that one needs to research before and during a race.
I could go on and on but that's enough for now.

There are only 6 active drivers with more wins than Jr and the other 35-40 are miles behind so imo his ability and talent have certainly benefitted him. As for the fan base, maybe when the other drivers start winning more races, they will gain popularity. I remember when Jeff Gordon first came on the Winston Cup scene back in the day, it took him winning and beating drivers like Dale Sr, Dale Jarret, Darrel waltrip, Harry Gant,Ernie Earvin, Allan Kulwicki, all Nascar legends. You don't get popular very fast by not winning (unless you're Danica Patrick).

I agree about the changing of formats, hard to keep up with and I;m not a fan of the 3 stage races, but the commercials are more often than not on a split screen with the race, at least past the half way point.

Never been a fan of Harvick though and Dale Jr. gave him a ride via JR Motorsports back when Harvick was on the Busch series. He should show more respect to an icon of the sport. Shame on him