Comparisons with stick and ball sports have not done much good for NASCAR over the past few years. The sport is right back where it was with the Chase championship format, and this reversal has taught the community an important lesson in celebrating stock car racing in its truest form. It has also been a reminder to emphasize how NASCAR is better than every other sport.
In a 2016 interview, RFK Racing co-owner Brad Keselowski delivered a slice of his wisdom on the edge that NASCAR holds over other sports like the NBA or the NFL. He said, “The biggest strength that NASCAR has over any sport is that all the top drivers compete at the same time at the same track. Without a question, it is the number one thing about our sport.”
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Top players like Stephen Curry and LeBron James only play in a handful of fixtures in the NBA. The same applies to the NFL. Keselowski used these examples to make his case and added, “In NASCAR, every week, top drivers compete against each other. Bar none. That’s the best thing going on for our sport.” Not stopping there, he also went on to speak about what’s misunderstood about NASCAR
The biggest misconception in his eyes is the athletic performance it takes to be a race car driver. This is something that many drivers before and after him have pointed out. The world generally doesn’t see race car drivers as athletes, despite their craft demanding the most severe physical toughness out of them.
Asked what drivers and their pit crews go through, Keselowski said, “Well, besides the element of danger and the willingness to risk your life, the physical training and sustained G-forces that punish your body, and the acceptance of injury that could cause fatality. Beyond that, the ability to sustain a heart rate in the car.”
The Cup Series champion doesn’t take this lightly. He further went on to explain that the amount of blood a driver’s heart pumps during a race is even higher than the fuel consumed by his car’s engine and that the sustained heart rate is on par with what is endured when running the Boston marathon.
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This view is slowly but surely changing with time as drivers continue their pursuit of fitness to improve their on-track performance, a mantra seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson also swore by.
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