SI Cover Story Takes An In-Depth Look At The State Of NASCAR

The sport of NASCAR and driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. are examined in an SI cover story by Jeff MacGregor, who writes the sport is "so successful ... because unlike most other sports, in which fans can see only dim reflections of themselves, ... NASCAR is at once death-defying and prosaic. When was the last time you drove?" NASCAR also "makes sure fans have unprecedented access to the athletes," as it "enforces a grassroots interaction between its stars and paying customers." NASCAR "understands the responsibilities of mythmaking and corporate endorsement and touts its heroes as good ol' boys from right next door who will sign just about anything." MacGregor: "NASCAR manufactures matinee idols of several stripes. ... And once a driver earns himself a ride in the Show, he'll find that he's got a prefab, presold fan base and a gleaming merchandise hauler on the racetrack midway." Meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr. "embodies ... NASCAR's gleaming future," and he is "arguably the sport's first cross-over star, a full-bore billboard MTV breakout bad boy, running wide-effing-open down Madison Avenue, bringing beer and sass and sex into your shabby, joyless living room." But Earnhardt Jr. said of his rise in popularity, "I'm finding now, more and more, that we're under the microscope, that some of the things I would do in the past aren't acceptable now. Something that was just a prick on the rosebush before is a huge problem now, something I might say in an interview or something. It's taken quite a lot more seriously now" (SI, 7/1 issue).