NASCAR Needs a Return to ‘Bumpin’s Racing’ Mentality

Have NASCAR fans turned their back against good old-fashioned racing?

Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway saw Joey Logano use the bump-and-run technique against defending Monster Energy Cup Series champ Martin Truex Jr. to notch his second win of the 2018 season and a spot in the final four for the championship.

Truex, understandably, wasn’t happy with the act. After all, this is the second race this chase playoffs that he was crashed and/or moved out of the way on the final lap to prevent him from winning.

However, what was more surprising was the crowd reaction. Rather than cheering the move and its callback to some of NASCAR’s most memorable finishes, the crowd at Martinsville Speedway showered a cascade of boos on Logano.

It’s surprising, because Martinsville is a tight, short track where scraped cars at the end of a race is the expected norm. Not only that, but this race is in an area where NASCAR and auto racing in general is quote popular in NASCAR’s southeastern U.S. proving grounds.

So why would the fans boo such a “vintage” move by Logano?

The late Dale Earnhardt is a hero in many racing fans’ eyes (including mine), and he used similar tactics to gain positions and win races. Yet, when Logano and Kyle Busch duel other drivers in this manner, they’re rejected by the fans, many of them the same ones who also saw Earnhardt race this way.

Sure, Busch fuels the fire by gesturing to fans and generally treating reporters badly during interviews, but Logano? He’s just a chipper, clean-cut guy who smiles a lot. Is it a generational thing, like Baby boomers versus millennials?

Clean racing is boring, and Sunday’s finish at Martinsville should serve as an example of how NASCAR can be more than just “making left turns all day.” Instead, NASCAR’s general fanbase seems to have an “everybody, play nice” mentality that’s boring, lacks drama (remember, Logano was below the cutoff line before this win) and doesn’t serve any purpose in reigniting the series’ popularity.