Ryan Blaney believes the key to growth for the popularity of NASCAR is by making the drivers more “personable.”
Blaney is obviously known for being one of the top drivers in NASCAR. The 31-year-old won the NASCAR Cup Series in 2023 and finished No. 2 in the standings behind fellow Team Penske member Joey Logano.
In an exclusive interview with Racing Tipster, Blaney speaks about his new Netflix show, “NASCAR: Full Speed,” which gives an in-depth look on the drivers on and off the racetrack.
The show is currently in its second season where it takes a look at the 2024 season. That follows the first season in which Blaney’s path to winning the NASCAR Cup Series in 2023 was covered.
Blaney says the show is a good way of showcasing the drivers and making them more “personable” to the common person.
“How can you make the drivers more personable — how do you increase their stardom? It starts with not only showing the product on the track, it’s also showing these people and these athletes and things like that,” Blaney told Racing Tipster in an exclusive interview “I’ve always said NASCAR is hard to relate to people to the mass population because unfortunately unlike football, basketball, baseball you can’t go to a park and play it. You can’t just go have a car and go to the racetrack, it’s different. It takes a lot of time and money to kind of do it.”
NASCAR’s popularity peaked in the early 2000’s behind mainstream and personable names such as Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmy Johnson. It has since declined, with television ratings averaging 5.1 million viewers in 2015 to its mark of 2.8 million viewers in 2024.
One of the reasons for NASCAR’s stagnant popularity is that it’s not attracting the younger fan base. According to a study, 34% of NASCAR’s fans are between the ages of 55 and 64.
Blaney — who is in the midst of his 10th full season in the NASCAR Cup Series — says the show is a “good step” forward when it comes to developing that connection between the fan and the sport.
“People don’t have that connection of, ‘I played that sport as a kid, so I really enjoy it now as an adult watching it,’” says Blaney. “Racing is hard to do that. So how do you do it in a certain way to where you just get people interested, if maybe they haven’t driven before, and how do you describe it in a way that they can relate to? That’s what we’re working at. I think this is a good step, and hopefully it can continue to grow that way.”
The show saw strong numbers in its first season, garnering mostly non-NASCAR viewers. According to Nielsen data (via Sports Business Journal), 88% of “Full Speed” viewers did not watch the 2023 championship race.
Blaney compares the show to similar Netflix series such as NFL’s “Quarterback” and “Receiver” along with golf’s “Full Swing.”
“I was happy that Netflix wanted to do a second season, because everyone really enjoyed the first one,” says Blaney. “I enjoyed being a part of it, and kind of just showing a different side. You have a lot of shows like that, you have the ‘Quarterback’ show, ‘Receiver,’ ‘Full Swing,’ and it just kind of shows a little bit of behind the scenes of what goes on. Because people watch the product on the weekend, but whether it’s on the field, on the court, on the racetrack, but then you don’t really see behind-the-scenes, all it takes to get there, how many people are involved in it.”
The veteran driver continues to hammer home how it shows drivers in a different light where viewers can see the difference between how they are off of the track and how they are on the track.
That’s key in being able to showcase the different personalities and making the drivers more marketable to casual fans.
“I think that’s what amazes a lot of folks: there’s hundreds of people that are involved that put this car on the racetrack, that don’t go to the track,” Blaney said. “They don’t travel, but they have a huge part in its success. I thought: that’s really important to showcase, and then focusing on the athlete. What is that person like? I think competitive sports are so different, because you can be a totally different person doing your sport than what you are in your personal life — we’re competing out there.”