NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Junior, On The Move

"We've been in a unique situation to go to different places and show people a little bit about NASCAR," says Earnhardt. "I might not represent the average mold for a NASCAR driver, but we were able to go to certain areas and certain people throughout the country, especially toward the West Coast last year, with some of the articles and some of the networks we worked with, and showed ourselves and our sport to some interesting groups of people."

Bringing Them In
It may seem odd that Dale Earnhardt Jr., with five wins in his first two Winston Cup seasons and a driver defined more by what he hasn't done on the track than what he has done, is the guy leading the NASCAR charge into new and mostly uncharted territory. It hasn't been that long ago when he was running Late Models at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Now he's the face of the sport. Does that sound right?

Nearly all of the sporting press, and some on the outside looking in, think so. Look around and the guy is everywhere: magazine covers, profiles, everywhere a story. Not to mention appearances on MTV and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, stories in People and Rolling Stone, an interview in Playboy ... the list goes on. This is definitely not his daddy's NASCAR, and that's the whole point.

Could it be that Dale Earnhardt Jr., the man of the hour in U.S. motorsports, is just the guy to stand before an entire country and represent stock car racing? He meets all the requirements.

NASCAR has long been about lineage and heritage and many of the things in society that speak family-from American-made automobiles to children hoisted high in Victory Lane. NASCAR remains to this day a family-run business, one born over 50 years ago in the South and raised on traditional Southern values of hard work, loyalty, and dedication. So who better to represent the sport than a third-generation driver who is the son of the man who personified the very soul of stock car racing?

If Earnhardt Jr.'s bloodline alone is not enough to justify his place in the sport, consider this: The NASCAR growth curve demanded a younger audience, some maintain, and Earnhardt Jr. has met and exceeded the demand, and that alone has set him apart from those who've gone before him.

Humpy Wheeler, the Speedway Motorsports president who is a respected observer of the sport, says the timing was right for Earnhardt to make his mark.

"I think the pop culture that they introduced him to-or he introduced them to, that's debatable there-that's the first time that has happened, and I think it signifies the broader market we have today compared to even five years ago, particularly the youth market," says Wheeler.

"A decade ago we were beginning to be concerned that our demographics were reaching up too high as far as age was concerned. But Jeff Gordon, as he started winning, began to change that. Now Gordon is 30 and along comes Earnhardt Jr. at the right time with the right kind of personality. He's bringing that youth group along. It's just extraordinary how the demographics of this whole business are changing even as we speak."

It's not just teenagers and twentysomethings who count themselves among the Earnhardt Jr. legion, though. Watch nearly an entire grandstand rise to its feet whenever Junior turns in a hot qualifying lap or makes a charge into the lead of a race and you'll see a cross section of fans. He can bring that young person into the NASCAR fold, but he'll also grab the loyalty of that young person's father and grandfather. Some of those fans come from his father, no doubt, but they're in the fold either way.

Another factor in Junior's ascension to the top of the sport is his ability to be himself. It's an old battle cry, but it remains a relevant one: A sport built on colorful characters lacks color today. And NASCAR drivers have long been poked fun at for their willingness to walk the walk and talk the talk to appease image-conscious sponsors. Then along comes Earnhardt Jr. with his laid-back personality, dash of color, and air of genuineness.